Wearing Someone Else’s Shoes BY: Mary McCullough

Question: How can I make main idea and perspective/P.O.V. in a poem visible to students? Hypothesis: Students tend to understand the main idea and perspective of a poem when they

interpret their own meanings of main idea and perspective of the poem. Standards: Goals/Content Standard(s): GA Standards: 3rd Grade English Language Arts Common Core Georgia Performance Standards (ELACCGPS) READING Informational Key Ideas and Details: ELACC3RI1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text referring explicitly to the text as

the basis for the answers. ELACC3RI2: Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main

idea Craft and Structure: ELACC3RL4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from

non-literal language.https://www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core/CommonCoreFrameworks/CCGPS ELA Grade 3 Standards.pdf

Understandings: Main Idea and Perspective/P.O.V. 1) What is a main idea? Why is a main idea important in a poem? 2) What does perspective/POV mean? 3) How can perspective/POV help you to think about and to learn to be in someone else’s shoes?

How Can I make the main idea and perspective/P.O.V. in a poem visible to students?

Ms. Paige Inzinia- 3rd Grade teacher at Garden Hills Elementary School – Buckhead (Atlanta Public Schools). She has 24 students in her class.Names of Students in 3rd Grade Small Group: Joshua, Tanya, Jackson, Maria, Luis, Leslie Dates: March 7, 8, 2013

Context:

Silverstein, S. (1974). Where the sidewalk ends: The poems & drawings of Shel Silverstein. New York: and Row. (28-29, 70-71), sentence strips, “See-Think-Wonder” Graphic Organizer, I Phone, 2 Main Idea Graphic Organizer, T.V. images: www.principalspage.com , lego.wikia.com, www.proteinppower.com, www.dailymail.co.ukShel Silverstein Website: www.shelsilverstein.com/indexSite.html T.V. Statistics: http://www.statisticbrain.com/television-watching-statistics/Garbage images: http://whatdoyoumeanishouldstartablog.blogspot.com/2011/03/clean-garbage.html , welchhappenings.blogspot.com , yourpopfilter.com , www.technobuffalo.comwww.stlouiscountymn.gov , commons.wikimedia.org, muppet.wikia.com, www.paullynde.info, Templeton” See-Think Wonder” Graphic Organizer, You Tube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvNhhEtUGJY, Talking Trash Poem Sheet

Materials:Main Idea Sheet S,T,W Sheet Main Idea Sheet 2

Templeton’s S, T, W Talking Trash Poem

Day 1: Lesson: Main Idea and Perspective/P.O.V. of Poem 1

 Hook: “See-Think, Wonder “ with T.V. images . Students write down thoughts about T.V.’s on “See, Think, Wonder” Graphic Organizer. Show students the statistics of how much T.V. children watch per week. http://www.statisticbrain.com/television-watching-statistics/

1) Show Shel Silverstein’s Website: www.shelsilverstein.com/indexSite.html

• 2) With partners, students look at Shel Silverstein’s poem, “Jimmy Jet and His TV Set” and they make predictions about the poem on their Main Idea Graphic Organizer.

3) Discuss Main Idea with the students. Ask “Do you know what a main idea is?” (the important message or point the author makes in his/her poem.) Ask “Why do you think an author writes a main idea in a poem?” (to make an important point, moral or lesson learned).

4) Read the poem, “Jimmy Jet and His T.V. Set” to the students but DO NOT READ the title of the poem.

5) Ask students, “What do you think the main idea of the poem is?” Students with partners, write down the main idea of the poem on their Main Idea Graphic Organizer (Jimmy Jet watched too much T.V.)

6) With partners, students title their poems on

the Title section of the Main Idea Graphic Organizer.

7) Read the real title of the poem to the students, “Jimmy Jet and His T.V. Set.” Ask students, “How did the real title of the poem compare with your title of the poem? “

8) Discuss Perspective/POV with the students. Ask the students, “What do you think Perspective/POV means?” (taking on the role of someone else, putting yourself in someone else’ shoes)

9) Tell students to take on the perspective/POV of the T.V. and they write their thoughts in the If I were a T.V. section on the Main Idea Graphic Organizer

Main Idea and perspective/P.O.V Lesson Day 1

Day 2: Lesson: Main Idea and Perspective/P.O.V. of Poem 2 Hook: Show garbage images. 1) Show images of Templeton to the

students. Ask how they relate to the garbage pictures.

2) Ask students, “What did we say yesterday that perspective/POV means?” (putting yourself in the shoes of another person).

3) Do “See – Think Wonder” about garbage from Templeton’s P.O.V. Students write down their thoughts on See-Think Wonder from Templeton’s P.O.V. Sheet

4) Tell students that they will be learning another Shel Silverstein poem called “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out.”

5) Show students a You Tube Video of Shel Silverstein reading the poem “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvNhhEtUGJY

6) I read the poem “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out” to the students.

7) Ask the students, “What do you think the main idea of this poem is?” Students with partners discuss and write the Main Idea on their Main Idea Sheet (Sarah Stout did not take out the garbage when she was supposed to take out the garbage

8) Students take on the perspective of Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout and they write their ideas and thoughts from her perspective/POV on their Main Idea Sheet.

10) Students with partners will each write a poem from the perspective of garbage persuading their peers on the uses of paper and recycling.

Main Idea and perspective/P.O.V Lesson Day 2

The purpose of the learning experience was to make the main ideas and perspectives of the poems , “Jimmy Jet and His T.V. Set” and “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out,” known to the students. They learned that perspective/P.O.V means putting yourself in the shoes of someone else, in a different situation. Students transferred what they knew about T.V.’s and garbage to taking on the perspective s of a T.V., a rat, a girl and garbage. Finally, from the garbage’s P.O.V, they wrote a poem persuading their peers on the uses of paper and recycling.

Purpose of Learning

The T.V. pictures activated students’ background knowledge of T.V.’s and how watching too much T.V. is not good for them. Shel Silverstein’s poem, “Jimmy Jet and His T.V. Set” showed how watching too much T.V. turned Jimmy Jet into T.V. The garbage pictures and the Templeton pictures activated students’ background knowledge about garbage and about Templeton, from Charlotte’s Web, who eats too much garbage. The garbage images and Templeton images helped the students relate the garbage images in the poem, “Sarah Cynthia, Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out.”

Background Knowledge

Day 1:Supporting Artifacts“See-Think-Wonder” about T.V.’s Luis, “ I wonder how T.V.’s are made.”

Tanya “I wonder if old T.V.’ s are expensive.”

Main Idea of Jimmy JetLeslie, “The main idea is the main point of a poem.” “Jimmy Jet watched too much T.V. so he turned into a T.V.”

Day 1: Supporting Artifacts (Cont.)

“If I were a T.V. P.O.V.”“You can’t eat or drink anything.” “Why do I have to be still?”

Jackson Joshua

Luis “I will feel sad because I won’t go to school.”

Leslie Tanya“ I see people watching me” “If I was a T.V. I will prefer to be free.”

Day 2: Supporting Artifacts“S-T-W “Templeton’s P.O.V”

Tanya, “ We see that Templeton is too fat because he ate too much garbage.”

Luis, “I think Templeton lives in the trash.” Why does Templeton like to eat trash ?”

Sarah Stout’s P.O.V.Jackson, “I would take the trash out because I do not want Templeton in the house.”

Leslie, “I would take out the garbage and I hate garbage.”

Tanya, “If my parents tell me to take the garbage out I would listen to them.”

Day 2: Supporting Artifacts (Cont.)Main Idea of Sarah Stout

Joshua, “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take the garbage out.”

Garbage P.O.V. PoemLuis, “Sammy Hammy would not take the garbage out because he loved to recycle to save the earth. Sammy Hammy’s trash was filled with paper that touched the ceiling and he was feeling happy because they recycled everything and he was not sad because they did not throw peelings of bananas. So Sammy Hammy was so happy that they recycled.”

What did the Students Learn?1) Shel Silverstein’s poems have characters, main ideas, lessons learned/ morals, and different perspectives/P.O.V.2) Students learned about different perspectives/P.O.V. from T.V’s., Templeton, Sarah Stout and from garbage, and what it means to wear someone else’s shoes in different situations.3) Students learned to write a poem, from the perspective of garbage persuading their peers on the uses of paper and recycling.

“The Story of Learning”

1) I learned that students understand main idea but they do not necessarily understand perspective.2) I learned that the students’ perspectives of T.V.’s, Templeton, Sarah Stout and garbage allowed the students to be more creative in their thinking and their writing.3) I learned that the students preferred to be Templeton rather than Sarah Stout.

Assessment As Learning

Assessment For Learning:1) Writing a poem from the perspective of garbage persuading classmates on the uses of recycling and paper allowed student partners to collaborate and express their ideas freely2) “See-Think-Wonder” routine was a new but difficult concept for the students to understand, but this routine allowed students to see different view points from T.V.’s, garbage, Templeton and Sarah Stout. 3) Perspective was hard for the students to grasp but they really got into the roles of being T.V.’s, Templeton, Sarah Stout and garbage.4) Students understand what perspective/P.OV. means but they do not understand what putting yourself in someone else’s shoes in other situations means.

Assessment For Learning

1) I need to incorporate more guided practice and scaffolding with students. I need to write more information on the board for students.

2) I planned too many abstract and complex ideas in my lesson for the students.

3) I gave the students too many graphic organizers to fill out with their partners.

4) It is hard to teach and document simultaneously with video and/or pictures.

5) I need to simplify my lessons and focus on doing a few ideas in each lesson.

What Have I Learned From This Experience?