Lesson Plans

Lesson 19 - A Poem Tells a Story

Subject: Language Arts - Grade Level: 6-11

Objective

Students will read and interpret the poem entitled, "The Laws of the Navy." In conjunction with interpretation of the poem, students will increase their vocabulary by looking up and finding the meaning of unknown words contained in the poem. Students can also examine the rhyming stanzas of the poem and create a similar style in the development of their own poems associated with the Battleship North Carolina or the Navy.

Activities/Procedure

Assign students to read the poem, "The Laws of the Navy." Students are to look up the meaning of any unknown words in the poem and write down the correct meanings according to their usage in the poem. 

Optional: Teachers can choose to have students read poem orally in class stanza by stanza and interpret the meaning of each one. This interpretation could be in open class discussion format with the teacher asking different students what each stanza means to them. Teacher may require students to read poem independently and interpret the meaning on their own. They could write what the poem means to them in narrative form. 

Assessment

Teacher evaluation of interpretation narrative.