Inferring with Poetry

I found that my students were really struggling with inferring. They tend to take things very literally. I thought that poetry would be the very thing to expand their thinking. Interestingly, they unanimously decided that they loved poetry and since have requested more! The following lesson uses texts at a fourth-fifth grade level, but could be easily adapted for any grade level.

To begin, I read aloud one of my favorite poetry books: Fold Me a Poem. This book includes a variety of poems about making different origami animals.

Initially, I read aloud a few poems from the book to the students for enjoyment. Previously, I had copied one of the poems, "Camel," onto chart paper, but did not include the title. I read aloud the poem to the students and together we tried to figure out what animal the boy was making. We used highlighting tape to identify the clue that helped us identify the animal.

I always have students provide reasoning for their inferences. Next, we read two poems by Langston Hughes. His poems are challenging for students, but certainly not out of reach. The first poem we read was "Dreams."

Dreams

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.

-Langston Hughes

First, we read aloud the poem together. Then students read the poem to themselves several times. Poems often take several readings to get a really good understanding. (Not to mention the help with fluency!) The students did not have a clue at first when reading this poem, but they really surprised me. One student came up with this insightful interpretation:

Students highlighted reasoning for their inferences. Next, we read "As I Grew Older," also by Langston Hughes, and "Listen to the Mustn'ts," by Shel Silverstein, following the same procedure. Shel Silverstein is a particular favorite of the students. The poem below really took some thinking. At first students thought the poem was just a conversation between a child and an adult. They were missing the message of the conversation. After multiple readings, they began to discover the deeper meaning. These poems also provided a great opportunity to discuss rhyming, similes, and metaphors.

We also discussed how poetry deals a lot with feelings. The following poem is called "The Teakettle's Song." It is from a past Highlights magazine and can be found at www.infohio.org. The poem talks about how a kettle was thrown away to the junkyard, but eventually found a new home. As with the other poems, students highlighted evidence for their inferences. This time, however, they were providing evidence for feelings.

 

Since I found out the students loved Shel Silverstein so much, we completed the same procedure for his poem "Us." This poem is about two people who are stuck together, and how one is annoyed with the other. The students really thought that was hilarious. Initially the students were not used to the fact that there might be more than one interpretation to the poem. The important part was that students could provide reasoning for their thinking. Once they really got into it, students truly enjoyed inferring with poetry. I plan to include much more poetry in my lessons from now on!

Synthesizing

This week I worked with my fifth grade tier 3 reading group on synthesizing. Synthesizing is a challenging reading strategy for many students. Students reflect on how their thinking changes throughout the text and how this new information combines with what they already know.

To begin the lesson, I read aloud the book Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg.

I really enjoy Chris Van Allburg's books. This book works perfectly for synthesizing because the reader slowly realizes that the author is trying to teach us a lesson about the environment. At first the students simply thought the book was about a child's dream. As we read further, students thinking evolved as they discovered what could happen to the environment if we are not more careful.

As we read, we created an anchor chart. We paused throughout the story to record our current thinking.

Next, we read Mirette on the High Wire. This constituted the guided practice portion of the lesson.

This book has a strong message about overcoming your fears, which works well for synthesizing. Students would read a few pages at a time, and we would discuss the text. Then, we would work together to fill out our synthesizing graphic organizer.

Below is a picture of  the original synthesizing graphic organizer. You can download a copy at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Synthesizing-Strategy-Graphic-Organizer.

Then, for independent practice, students read the short story "The Hoot and Holler Hat Dance." This is a folktale in which a spider learns not to be greedy. It is a funny story that the kids really enjoyed. A copy of the story can be found at www.infohio.org. 

Students completed the synthesizing graphic organizer for this story independently. I was very pleased with their progress. Here is an example of one student's work. 

Summarizing

While I have already posted a lesson on summarizing with my fifth graders, I wanted to show the beauty of working with a variety of grade levels. The following lesson was used with fourth graders. As an intervention teacher, I coordinate a great deal with the classroom teachers, but am also in the unique position to see the entire scope of the elementary curriculum.

Fourth graders require more scaffolding with summarizing, but we introduce the formula of main idea + important details to help prepare them for more complex summarizing in the fifth grade.

I began the lesson with the following anchor chart. (Students also glued a copy into their reader's notebooks.)

We discussed the key components of a summary: main idea + important details. I also tell students that it is important to incorporate the key words into our summaries. These key words help us figure out what is important in the text. We also discuss writing the summary in our own words and not simply copying from the book. Last, but certainly not least, we must remember not to tell too much! This is something my fourth graders struggle with. If you tell everything in the entire story, you can't forget anything important right?! (That is missing the point of a summary!)

For this lesson, I used a book about the Wright brothers. They are local legends around here. Also, students have a big biography assignment due in their classrooms this month, so this provided a nice connection. Students independently read the introduction of the book.  Then we identified the main idea together, and students wrote this main idea on a post-it. (labeled main idea.)

I also added the main idea to our anchor chart.

The book was broken up nicely into sections with headings. Students independently read one section at a time and then we determined what the important detail(s) were. We then wrote these details on  post-its and stuck them to our books. 

Breaking the summary up into small sections helped introduce the concept and make it more manageable for students. We continued with this process throughout the entire book. Once finished, students used their post-it notes to compile a full summary of the text in their reader's notebooks. As students worked independently, I took a running record using a few pages of the text with each student.

Also, to continue reviewing nonfiction text features, we completed a text feature "scavenger hunt" with the text. Students had to find the correct page number for each text feature. The "scavenger hunt" form can be found at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Non-Fiction-Feature-Scavenger-Hunt.