Close Reading of an Image:L. O. Students will view a photograph and poem and

describe in detail what they see and read.

• When we go back to the picture, let’s say details that you see in the picture, and then you will write them down.

• What colors?¨• What shapes? • What textures? • What kind of lines? • What patterns? • Go back and study the picture.

Now you write down details from the picture.

• Colors • Shapes• Objects• Lines• Textures• Patterns• What’s the story in the picture?

• What do you wonder about the picture?• How does the picture make you feel?

Close Reading of a Poem.1 “Literary Analysis requires that one not only read the text, but look closely at what the author is saying as well as how the author is saying it. • “When close reading, it is important to look at the small details and understand how they work together in the piece to create meaning.”

1. “Close Reading of Poetry and Fiction.” http://www.lima.ohio-state.edu/academics/writing/

Close

Reading.

Look for: • Repeated images, words or ideas• Words or phrases that jump out as important• Words or phrases that can be interpreted in more

than one way• Irony or ambiguity• Passages you don’t understand• Figurative language

Mankind Does Not Agreeby Gordon J.L. Ramel

I have no use for birds in cages, but mankind does not agree; they’ve been jailing them for ages and they just don’t seem to see that the beauty that inspired, inevitably fades, and what once was writ in diamonds will in time be played in spades.

Wings are made for flying, for dancing with the air, and wings that cannot open are the color of despair, and an anger in me rages and I long to set them free, but it’s the sadness of the ages that mankind does not agree.

Reading and Responding• Read the poem.• Underline phrases you wonder about or find

interesting in the poem.• Write 3-5 sentences about what you underlined.• Exchange your writing with a partner.• Read what your partner wrote, and make a comment

or ask questions about what your partner wrote.• With the whole class, share what your partner wrote

and how you responded.• Whole Class Share of our thoughts about the poem.

Big Ideas-Essential Questions (EQs)

Reflect on your details and wonderings, • What big ideas does this picture raise for you?• What essential questions?

Possibilities• Taming Nature, Intelligent AnimalsEQs: • Should we tame wild animals? • Can birds think and feel?• Other

Day 2. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

by Maya Angelou

A free bird leaps on the back of the windand floats downstream till the current endsand dips his wing in the orange sun’s rays and

dares to claim the sky. But a bird that stalks down his narrow cagecan seldom see through his bars of ragehis wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he

opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trillof things unknown but longed for stilland his tune is heard on the distant hillfor the caged bird sings of freedom. The free bird thinks of another breezeand the trade winds soft through the sighing

treesand the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright

lawn And he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreamshis shadow shouts on a nightmare screamhis wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he

opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trillof things unknown but longed for stilland his tune is heard on the distant hillfor the caged bird sings of freedom.

Close Reading.Look for: • Repetition: Repeated images, words or ideas• Words or phrases that jump out as important• Words or phrases that can be interpreted in more than one

way• Irony or ambiguity• Passages you don’t understand• Figurative language

Big Ideas-Essential Questions (EQs)

Reading and Responding• Read the poem.• Underline phrases you wonder about or find

interesting in the poem.• Write 3-5 sentences about what you underlined.• Exchange your writing with a partner.• Read what your partner wrote, and make a comment

or ask questions about what your partner wrote.• With the whole class, share what your partner wrote

and how you responded.• Whole Class Share of our thoughts about the poem.

Big Ideas-Essential Questions (EQs)Reflect on your details and wonderings, • What big ideas does this picture raise for you?• What essential questions does “I Know Why the

Caged Bird Sings raise for you?•

Big Ideas Essential Questions

Compare and ContrastL. O. Students will devise categories for comparing and contrasting two poems, “Mankind Does Not Agree” and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

When you compare and contrast, you have to compare and contrast like things, such as Author’s Purpose, Big Idea, Essential Questions, Point of View, Problem, Questions the poem raises.

L. O. Students will complete a graphic organizer comparing and contrasting the Big Ideas, Essential Questions, Point of View, Author’s Purpose, Problems, Questions raised in two poems about birds.

Compare and Contrast how “Mankind Does Not Agree” and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” How are they alike and how are they different?

Author’s Point of View (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person, 3rd person omniscient narrator)Provide proof. Does the poet use pronouns?

Main Idea Hint- Big Idea

Relevant Essential Question(s)

Author’s Purpose

Compare and Contrast how “Mankind Does Not Agree” and “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” How are they alike and how are they different?

Relevant Magnet StandardsSustainability, Sense of Place, Activism, Inquiry, Careers, Technology

Mankind Does Not Agree I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Students investigate how to balance human needs and natural laws.Activism. Inquiry

Does the author present a problem?

What questions do the poems raise for you?

Day Three – Teen Biz Articles - How smart are birds?L. O. Students will read and respond to multiple choice

questions based on a non-fiction article on birds.• Go to http://www.empower3000.com/• Log-on• Search “birds.”• Available articles to assign.• Animals Can Dance! Scientists have found that some

animals can dance. (3rd story down on search page)• Bird Brains? Not These Birds! How smart are birds? Some

people tried to find out. (4th story down on search page)• Have You Heard? Don’t Mess With Mockingbirds! Can

mockingbirds recognize people? Some researchers say yes. (5th story down on search page)• After reading, Complete Activity and Poll,

Extended Learning PBS Nature Episode- A Murder of Crows

• Go to: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/a-murder-of-crows/introduction/5838/

• New research has shown that they are among the most intelligent animals on the planet. Read text, watch introduction, take notes.

•

Day 4 – Group Work

•

Sources

• Picture of bird. Photograph: Crested Caracara by Mark Willocks (USA). [December 17, 2010].

• Ramel, Gordon J. L., “Mankind Does Not Agree.” Ecology.info “where the world goes for information about ecology.” [December 17, 2010].

• Ohio State University at Lima Writing Center. “Close Reading of Poetry and Fiction” http://www.lima.ohio-state.edu/academics/writing/. [December 17, 2010].

• Teen Biz, Achieve 3000. Animals in Action.http://www.empower3000.com/. [December 17, 2010].