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S T U D E N T G U I D E

When My Grandfather Holds My Grandmother

How does the speaker use repetition to capture the relationship between the poem’s two main characters as a “community of two”?

View this lesson at ThinkCERCA

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Table of Contents

Vocabulary Building

  • Map a Word

Direct Instruction Guide

  • Cornell Notes: Connotation and Denotation

STEP 1: Connect

  • Finding Your Purpose for Learning
  • Think-Pair-Share

STEP 2: Read

  • Pause and Reflect
  • Test Prep Strategy: Summarizing a Text (Optional)

STEP 3: Engage with the Text

  • Highlight and Annotate

STEP 4: Summarize

  • Write a Summary

STEP 5: Build an Argument

  • Collaborate: Share your argument builder

STEP 6: Create your CERCA

  • Peer Editing Activity
  • Writing Reflection

Throughout the guide, look for the laptop icon to find steps to complete online!

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Optional Extensions

  • Activity: Blackout Poetry
  • Inquiry to Research: Asking Questions of the Texts

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SYNONYM (SIMILAR OR LIKE WORD)

ANTONYM (OPPOSITE WORD)

(if possible)

PICTURE OF VOCABULARY WORD

SENTENCE USING VOCABULARY WORD

VOCABULARY WORD & DEFINITION

PART OF SPEECH

V O C A B U L A R Y B U I L D I N G

Map a Word: Intimate and Sensory Language

Understanding key vocabulary terms will help you understand the reading. Use the vocabulary word in the title to fill in the word map below.

Completing this process will help the word "stick" in your memory!

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D I R E C T I N S T R U C T I O N G U I D E

Cornell Notes: Connotation and Denotation

What is connotation?

Connotation is…

What is denotation?

Denotation is…

How does connotation help readers better understand the writer’s purpose and tone?

Connotation helps readers understand…

Take notes on the lesson using the organizer below:

Watch the Direct Instruction lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com

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D I R E C T I N S T R U C T I O N G U I D E

Cornell Notes: Connotation and Denotation (continued)

Summarize and Reflect

In your own words and in complete sentences, write a 3–4 sentence summary of this skills lesson. An accurate summary will cover the lesson's central ideas and include important details to support those ideas.

Record your summary here:

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S T E P 1 : C O N N E C T

Finding Your Purpose for Learning

When you've finished reading the overview, answer the following questions in the space below:

What more would you like to learn about analyzing theme in poetry? What would you like to know about repetition and how it is used in poetry?

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Read the Topic Overview provided at learn.thinkcerca.com

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S T E P 1 : C O N N E C T

Think-Pair-Share

  1. Think: On your own, think about your experiences related to the topic.

  • Pair & Share: With a partner, group, or a trusted listener, share the parts of your response that you feel comfortable sharing.
  • Reflect: If time permits, reflect on your experience. What ideas did others share that you hadn't considered? How were your ideas alike?

Complete the writing activity in Step 1: Connect at learn.thinkcerca.com

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S T E P 2 : R E A D

Pause and Reflect

When you’ve finished reading, go back and find the questions in the text marked “Pause and Reflect.” These questions will help you connect the text to yourself, to other texts, or to the world around you.

Use the space on the left below to answer the reflection questions. Then, discuss your answers, noting how they were similar or different.

Record “Pause and Reflect” answers here:

Record discussion reflections here:

Read the text for this lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com

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S T E P 2 : R E A D

Test Prep Strategy: Summarizing a Text

Before you answer questions about a text, summarize it! Writing a summary allows you to anticipate questions that teachers and test-makers might ask.

First, read the poem. Then, write a 2-3 sentence summary below. Your summary should use the SOAPSTone strategy—identifying the Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, Tone—to summarize the poem.

  • "The speaker of the poem..."
  • "He/She is speaking at the moment when..."
  • "The audience is readers who might feel __ about __"
  • "The purpose of the poem is to convey the idea that __"
  • “ The tone changes from __ to __ to __ etc."

Refer to the reading for this lesson at learn.thinkcerca.com.

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S T E P 3 : E N G A G E W I T H T H E T E X T

Highlight and Annotate

In this step, you will analyze the text closely, then discuss your findings to begin developing reasoning for your argument.

  1. Read the text again, highlighting and annotating important details. Follow the prompts provided.

The highlighting prompts will help you with the final writing task. You will find evidence to support your own argument or informational piece, as well as models of excellence that will help you better understand a writer’s craft in narratives. The evidence you highlight will be available when you begin building your draft in the next step.

  1. If time permits, pair and share your highlights and annotations with a classmate. Pay close attention to this conversation! Your thinking is important reasoning you may include in your final draft.

Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Step 3: Engage with the Text.

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S T E P 4 : S U M M A R I Z E

Write a Summary

Summaries help you process your thinking about a text and are often a great way to start off an argumentative or informational essay. A good summary shows you have knowledge about a topic.

Practicing summarizing also helps you prepare for the main idea questions posed on many standardized assessments. In addition, summarizing is a helpful skill for working with others, such as when you need to confirm your understanding of what someone else has said. That's a useful skill for all parts of life.

  1. ��Use the sentence stems provided to summarize the text.

Your summary should:

  • Be brief
  • Include the main idea and key details
  • Represent these ideas fairly and accurately �
  • If time permits, pair and share with a classmate. Read each other’s summary, and discuss how they are similar or different. What did you say were the main idea and key details? Were your summaries fair and accurate? Why?

Return to learn.thinkcerca.com to complete Step 4: Summarize.

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S T E P 5 : B U I L D A N A R G U M E N T

Collaborate: Share your Argument Builder

When you’ve completed the argument building step, share your results with others, and listen to how they responded to the same question. Ask questions and give feedback to help strengthen your partners’ reasons and evidence.

Share

Listen

How does the speaker use repetition to capture the relationship between the poem’s two main characters as a “community of two”?

How does the speaker use repetition to capture the relationship between the poem’s two main characters as a “community of two”?

1.

2.

3.

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S T E P 6 : C R E A T E Y O U R C E R C A

Peer Editing Activity

  1. Do a self-assessment of your CERCA. Use the online Rubric for the lesson on learn.thinkcerca.com, checking each box where you find evidence that you have achieved the criteria.�
  2. Next, collaborate with a peer or peers to read each other’s drafts. Again, use the Rubric to evaluate each other’s work.�
  3. Share insights into what might make your pieces stronger. Find two positive attributes and one area of growth for each draft you review.�
  4. Revise your piece using what you learned from your self-assessment and the feedback from your peers.

Complete Step 6 to create your CERCA at learn.thinkcerca.com

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S T E P 6 : C R E A T E Y O U R C E R C A

Writing Reflection

Before you submit your final CERCA, write a brief reflection describing your experience.

An area for growth for me on this piece or in my writing in general is…

The strongest areas of this piece of writing are…

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Through self-assessment and/or peer editing, I learned…

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Optional Extensions

The following activities can be used as optional extensions to this lesson.

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O P T I O N A L E X T E N S I O N : A C T I V I T Y

Blackout Poetry

Background

We can create art out of the objects that we encounter in our environment and communities. Blackout poetry is a form of “appropriation art,” or art that takes something that already exists and adapts it in a new shape and form. With this activity, you’ll create a new poem out of an existing text.

Create a Blackout Poem

  • First, take a page from a magazine or newspaper.
  • With a pen or pencil, circle words or phrases that appeal to you.
  • Blackout all other words on the page with a permanent marker or paint.
  • Be creative! You can be a “minimalist” and just have black and white print on the page (see example below), or decorate it with drawings and illustrations.

Reflect and Share

Share your poem with a partner. How did your approaches to this activity differ? How were they the same? And, share your poems with us! Use the hashtag #SparkCourageousThinking to profile your work.

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O P T I O N A L E X T E N S I O N : I N Q U I R Y T O R E S E A R C H

Asking Questions of the Texts

As you engage with texts in any subject, you can actively ask questions about the author’s purpose, intended audience, and occasion to understand the message. The table below provides examples.

Approaches

Example

Questions about the author

Is the author an authority on this topic? What was the author’s motivation in writing this piece?

Questions about the audience, purpose, and occasion of the text

Why was this poem written? Why was it published at this time?

Questions about civics, economics, geography, and history

What topics, themes, and ideas do poets explore?

Questions about concepts and ideas

How can difficulties and conflict shape human relationships?

Questions about self and community reflections

Why do people move from place to place?

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O P T I O N A L E X T E N S I O N : I N Q U I R Y T O R E S E A R C H

Asking Questions of the Texts (continued)

Use the table below to record questions about the text you read.

Approaches

Questions

Questions about the author

Questions about the audience, purpose, and occasion of the text

Questions about civics, economics, geography, and history

Questions about concepts and ideas

Self and Community Reflections

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