Choose, Select, Opt, or Settle: Exploring Word Choice in Poetry

Materials and Technology

Student Interactives

Printouts

Preparation

 

MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY

• Copies of "Choose Something Like a Star"
  
  
• Overhead projector and transparency markers
  
  
• Dictionaries and thesauri

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STUDENT INTERACTIVES

Grades   6 – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Learning About Language

Word Matrix

Explore the similarities and differences among words typically considered synonyms with this tool that allows middle- and secondary-level students organize groups of words by connotation on one axis and by register on another.

 

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PRINTOUTS

• Coleridge's Definitions of Prose and Poetry
  
  
• "Choose Something Like a Star" Discussion Questions
  
  
• Choosing the Best Word
  
  
• List of Alternate Poem Titles
  
  
• Poetry Analysis Guide
  
  
• Evaluation Guide for Poetry Analysis

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PREPARATION

• This lesson assumes that students have some preexisting experience and facility with reading and discussing poetry.  The lesson provides instruction regarding the poetic concepts of diction, connotation, and register, but assumes students have a basic familiarity with the concepts of speaker, subject, and tone. Use or adapt activities from the ReadWriteThink lessons Poetry: Sound and Sense , Sonic Patterns: Exploring Poetic Techniques Through Close Reading, and Thinking Inductively: A Close Reading of Seamus Heaney's "Blackberry Picking" to help students become familiar with ways to approach poetry.
  
  
• Make one copy of Coleridge's Definitions of Prose and Poetry and the Poetry Analysis Guide for each group of students.
  
  
• Make copies of "Choose Something Like a Star," the Choosing the Best Word handout, and the Evaluation Guide for Poetry Analysis.
  
  
• Review the "Choose Something Like a Star" Discussion Questions and determine which questions you would like to share with students to focus the analysis.
  
  
• Arrange for access to internet-connected computers in Sessions One and Three. Bookmark the Word Matrix on student computers and familiarize yourself with the tool. If necessary, download the Flash plug-in from the Technical Support page.

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