NAPLAN 2011 Teaching Strategies

NAPLAN 2011 TEACHING STRATEGIES » Literacy » Reading » Interpretive Comprehension (Poetry) » » Overview
teaching strategies
Stages
2-4
3-4
overview
4-5
Interpretive Comprehension Poetry
Overview
Interpretive meaning is often hidden throughout the text and requires the use of inference and understanding the relationship
between events and characters or causes and consequences. Readers need to link like information to fully understand the
text. Sometimes these relationships can be stated and are often found near causal words such as because, so and therefore.
Information may need to be linked from sentence to sentence, across paragraphs or chapters, and is often referred to as
information that is given 'between the lines'.
Connecting Literal Information
To answer more complex questions, students may need to connect literal ideas in sentences by searching for information in
text, illustrations or graphs. If no interpretation is required to locate the information, students are employing literal
comprehension skills. Where students need to connect information that is directly stated in the text and there needs to be an
understanding that particular information belongs together, this is classed as an interpretive question.
Identifying key words, skim reading and scanning will help students to locate and connect information efficiently.
Key words
Key words are the content words that carry the most meaning in a text. Students can underline or highlight the key words.
Skimming
Skimming is reading quickly through a text to get the gist or main idea. Students can skim read by looking at headings and
sub-headings, pictures, diagrams, captions, any italicised or bold words, and the first and last paragraphs of the text.
Scanning
Scanning is reading to locate particular elements or specific details in a text, such as key concepts, names, dates or certain
information in answer to a question. Students can scan by looking through the text to locate key words to find the specific
information quickly.
Poetry Interpretive
Understanding and interpreting poetry requires readers to connect and interpret ideas and meaning from both the structure
and the linguistic styles and devices used. Information may need to be linked from sentence to sentence or across stanzas.
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NAPLAN 2011 TEACHING STRATEGIES » Literacy » Reading » Interpretive Comprehension (Poetry) »Exploring a poem » 2-4
teaching strategies
Stages
2-4
3-4
overview
Item & Stimulus
4-5
Reading
Year 5 Q: 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Year 7 Q: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Skill Focus: Exploring a poem
STAGE 2-4
Item Descriptor
Exploring ideas in a poem
Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), English poet. A Defence of Poetry (written 1821; published 1840)
Statements of Learning for
English
p. 14
Activities to support the strategy
Four Blocks Guided Reading Lesson Using Poetry
Links
Poetry Zone
Poetry Foundation
Quality Teaching Framework
Intellecutal quality: metalanguage/
higher order thinking/ substantive
communication/ deep understanding
Quality Learning Environment:
engagement
Significance: Background knowledge
Related strategies
view and print
Modelled/Guided
Background knowledge/connectedness
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Activate prior knowledge about the world under the sea. Ask the students what kinds of things may be seen if they went diving
in The Great Barrier Reef? Show students only the title of the poem and ask them to make a prediction about what the poem
may be about.
Understand vocabulary - Each student should have their own copy of the text with sufficient place to annotate. Read the text
aloud to or with students. Ask students to underline words they do not understand as you read. After whole class reading ask
students to read the text once more and underline words they do not know/understand.
Invite students to share their words and note the words on the board/IWB. Discuss the meaning of each word in context.
Mini- Lesson-Self- Monitoring- tell the class that this is a strategy that good readers use to make sure they understand what
they are reading. Read the first verse/ line/ section of the poem out loud and model how good readers construct meaning by
retelling what they have just read. Call on volunteers to self-monitor from the first verse of the first poem.
Model the retell for students: In these lines the poet wears his equipment to go underwater to explore.
Set a purpose for reading- Student need to be aware of why they are reading the poem. The teacher can set this agenda
according to the levels of the students. For this lesson, the aim is to concentrate on the diction to find out what the poem is
about. Follow on lessons can focus on form or language and imagery etc.
Deconstructing poetry
Independent
As students gain confidence in unpacking a poem, they may independently annotate other poems and present their findings to
their peers
VARIATION
'Exploding a poem' is a strategy sourced from www.teachit.co.uk. It provided prompt questions to guide detailed readings of
poetry.
view and print
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The diver
I put on my aqua-lung and plunge,
Exploring, like a ship with a glass keel,
The secrets of the deep. Along my lazy road
On and on I steal –
Over waving bushes which at a touch explode
Into shrimps, then closing, rock to the tune of the tide;
Over crabs that vanish in puffs of sand.
Look, a string of pearls bubbling at my side
Breaks in my hand –
Those pearls were my breath! ... Does that hollow hide
Some old Armada wreck in seaweed furled,
Crusted with barnacles, her cannon rusted,
The great San Philip? What bullion in her hold?
Pieces of eight, silver crowns, and bars of solid gold?
I shall never know. Too soon the clasping cold
Fastens on flesh and limb
And pulls me to the surface. Shivering, back I swim
To the beach, the noisy crowds, the ordinary world.
Ian Serraillier
3
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NAPLAN 2011 TEACHING STRATEGIES » Literacy » Reading » Interpretive Comprehension (Poetry) »Deconstructing poetry » 3-4
teaching strategies
Stages
2-4
3-4
overview
K–6 Outcome
4-5
RS3.7: Students infer a character's
changing feelings
Skill Focus: Deconstructing poetry
STAGE 3-4
Although the following teaching strategies relate specifically to poetry, they can also be used to assist the development of
students' interpretive and inferrential skills in deconstructing prose texts.
The challenge of reading poetry
Students often struggle with poems because they do not always make immediate sense. It would be useful to discuss with
students why poets might choose to write such apparently impenetrable texts:
Poetry often communicates complex thoughts and feelings. More direct ways of communicating for example, through
prose might not capture this complexity of thought and feeling.
The fact that most poetry is so brief compared to other imaginative forms of writing means that poets are more likely to
use the considerable resources of language to communicate in intense and subtle ways. Often the language can
deliberately carry different meanings at the same time.
Poets often want their readers to work with them in contributing to making meaning of the poetry. Of course this is true of
all texts to some extent, but it is particularly true of poetry. The fact that we often have to work hard is all part of the
challenge and delight of poetry.
KLA Outcomes
English 4.1.7: Students learn to
respond to and compose texts
beyond the literal level
English 4.1.18: Students interpret
metaphorical, figurative language and
themes in poems
English 4.1.18: Students learn about
inference, figurative language and
alternative readings as strategies for
responding to and composing texts
beyond the literal level
English 4.5.10: Students learn about
the ways in which inference,
emphasis and point of view shape
meaning
English 4.7.9: Students learn to make
predictions, infer and interpret texts
Some poets might even say that their purpose in writing poetry is to express their own private thoughts and feelings,
and that the communication of these thoughts and feelings to an audience is only of secondary importance, so why
should they be concerned about obscurity? Such a view, however, begs the obvious question: why then would poets go
to the trouble of publishing their poetry if they did not want it to be read?
Item & Stimulus
Reading
Yr 5 Q: 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Yr 7 Q: 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
Strategy for reading a poem
Here is an easy three–step strategy that can be used to assist in the reading of any poem:
Item Descriptor
Identifying and deconstructing poetry
in terms of language and themes
Statements of Learning for
English
Students have the opportunity to draw
on their knowledge of texts and
language to clarify meaning.
Related Strategies
Identification of language features that
are used to construct persuasive texts
(modality)
Links
http://www.poetryarchive.org/
poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?
poemId=7075
Quality Teaching Framework
Intellectual quality: Metalanguage;
Deep understanding
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Students may need access to a glossary explaining the meanings of some of the metalanguage needed for analysing poetry,
highlighted above. Such glossaries are readily available in text books as well as on the internet.
Remember:
Looking
seeing
Listening
hearing
Thinking
understanding
Activities to support the strategy
These activities are based on 'Wasp', a poem by Douglas Stewart.
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Exploring metalanguage (QTF)
Consider Question 30, 2008 Year 7 NAPLAN Reading Test.
Ask students:
How do you know that the first verse is a question, and not a statement, instruction or exclamation? (Despite the unusual
syntax of the first verse, students will identify the question mark, and eventually the word what.)
Who is the poet addressing through this question?
What is the poet asking in this question? Rewrite the question so that the meaning is clearer.
Choose another verse (or stanza). Note again the unusual syntax, or arrangement of words. Rewrite in your own words. What
has been gained and lost by rewriting the verse in more simple and direct language? (Hopefully students will see that
although the meaning, or at least a meaning, may be clearer, the verse will have lost some of its poetic effect.)
Ask students to write down the meanings of the following words: cool, web, dumb, hot. Now consider the title and first verse
of this poem by Robert Graves:
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Discuss:
Are the words cool, web, dumb and hot being used in the way you expected them to be used? What sort of web might be
described as cool? In what sense are children dumb? We all know what a hot day is, but how can the scent of a summer
rose be hot?
Now consider the second verse in Graves' poem:
But we have speech, to chill the angry day,
And speech, to dull the rosess cruel scent,
We spell away the overhanging night,
We spell away the soldiers and the fright.
Discuss by asking probing questions like:
How are the meanings of the four words confirmed or challenged in the light of the second verse?
Is it clear now what dumb means?
Who is the word we referring to?
Can you guess now what the cool web refers to?
For a summary of Graves' life and a discussion of this poem, see:
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoem.do?poemId=7075
Discuss by asking probing questions like:
How do poets play with the different meanings of language?
Why do they do this? How does this impact on the ways in which we read poems?
Exploring deep understanding (QTF)
Get students to apply the easy three–step strategy to your reading of 'Wasp'. Discuss whether it makes the meaning of the
poem clearer?
Responding to techniques to make meaning when reading
Consider Question 33, 2008 Year 7 NAPLAN Reading Test.
This question does not ask students to identify or comment upon any of the poetic qualities used in the third verse or stanza.
However, a consideration of these poetic qualities will assist students to understand what is being described here.
Ask students to use the TIE strategy to analyse the techniques used in the third stanza.
T: Identify the Technique.
I: Illustrate with examples.
E: Explain its effectiveness.
The following tables show a blank pro-forma and a sample completed analysis:
view and print
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Clearly, the third stanza describes what the wasp longs for, in contrast to what it is currently experiencing.
This exercise demonstrates:
how composers use techniques, particularly drawing upon the resources of language, to create meaning in their texts
how good readers consider the ways these techniques are shaping their response to the text and helping them to make
meaning.
Discuss how readers could use an understanding of techniques in the poem to help them identify the answers for other
inferential questions in this section, such as Questions 31, 32, 34 and 35 NAPLAN 2008 Year 7 Reading Test.
Perspective
The poem is written from the point of view of the poet. The fact that he is addressing the wasp indicates the use of second
person – notice the references to you and your. However, what he is encouraging readers to do is to see the world from the
perspective of the wasp. He does this by:
imagining what the wasp is thinking, e.g. World's all wrong
imagining how the wasp sees things in its world, e.g. Air itself in treason/Turns a sudden solid/ And shuts you in prison
directly capturing the feelings of the wasp, e.g. happy goes wasp
indirectly capturing the feelings of the wasp, e.g. the repetition and heavy rhythm of But up wasp down wasp/ Climb
wasp and fall shows the wasps frustration and weariness
Consider Question 29 NAPLAN 2008 Year 7 Reading Test.
Can you see now why the correct answer is that the poem is encouraging the reader to think about a wasp's view of the
world?
Exploring deep understanding (QTF)
Students are to write a paragraph from the wasp's point of view which is considering the human and how he or she might see
the world.
Then write a paragraph addressed to another animal (other than a wasp) in which the student captures the perspective of that
animal.
Students are to use their knowledge of poetic techniques gained from these exercises to convert one of the above paragraphs
into a poem. They should try to use the poetic techniques described above to take readers into the world of the subject of their
poem, so that they really see things from this other perspective.
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Technique
Illustration(s)
Effect
Imagery
Flowers (trigger-flower, daisy
and gold billy-button) in long
green paddocks
Creates in the mind of the reader
a scene of beauty, presumably the
natural home of the wasp.
Repetition
and
Suggests the vast expanse of flowers
in the paddocks, as if stretching
forever.
Alliteration
wall wasp
Continuous sound created through
the alliteration suggests the
impenetrability of the windscreen,
despite the wasp’s efforts.
Strong sounds add to the sense of
liveliness presented in the scene of
flower-filled paddocks.
billy-button
Rhythm
Conveys the joy of flitting about the
Irregular beats in longer lines,
natural environment, denied to the
with more syllables than other
stanzas, creates a tripping, playful wasp trapped behind the glass.
rhythm
Contrast
The third stanza contrasts
with other stanzas in terms of
imagery and sound qualities.
Emphasised by the use of but at
the start of the next stanza.
Highlights for the reader the
contrast between the misery and
frustration of the wasp when it is
trapped, compared to the happiness
and freedom it enjoys in its natural
world.
Technique
Imagery
Repetition
Alliteration
Rhythm
Contrast
Illustration(s)
Effect
The Cool Web
Children are dumb to say how hot the day is,
How hot the scent is of the summer rose,
How dreadful the black wastes of evening sky,
How dreadful the tall soldiers drumming by,
But we have speech, to chill the angry day,
And speech, to dull the roses’s cruel scent,
We spell away the overhanging night,
We spell away the soldiers and the fright.
There’s a cool web of language winds us in,
Retreat from too much joy or too much fear:
We grow sea-green at last and coldly die
In brininess and volubility.
But if we let our tongues lose self-possession,
Throwing off language and its watery clasp
Before our death, instead of when death comes,
Facing the wide glare of the children’s day,
Facing the rose, the dark sky and the drums
We shall go mad, no doubt, and die that way.
Wasp
Well wasp what’s
To do about you
Battering at the windscreen
You can’t get through?
World’s all wrong,
Air itself in treason
Turns a sudden solid
And shuts you in prison.
And still through the wall wasp
The long green paddocks sweeten
With trigger-f lower and daisy
And gold billy-button;
But up wasp down wasp
Climb wasp and fall,
Can’t beat your way
Through the clear strange wall.
Out and away then
When the car stops;
World’s come right again
And happy goes wasp.
Douglas Stewart
8
THINK about the poem.
Consider the words and their meanings.
Summarise each stanza in the poem in your own words. Then put these
summaries together to develop an overall understanding of the poem.
How has the poet used particular techniques to add to the impact of the
meaning of the poem?
Consider:
Imagery and other appeals to senses
igurative or metaphorical language (such as metaphors, similes
F
and personification)
hetorical devices (such as repetition, rhetorical questions and
R
unusual syntax)
Structure
Sound qualities, as described above.
After several re-readings, in groups or alone, decide if there are other more
subtle meanings at work in the poem.
Does it matter that the poet might not have intended all these meanings?
Does it matter that one reader’s meaning may be different to that of another
reader?
LISTEN to the poem.
In fact, listen to the poem read out loud several times.
Traditionally, most poetry was accompanied by music – not surprisingly, it
often retains musical qualities. The word lyrical, sometimes used to describe
such poetry, actually comes from the word lyre, a musical instrument.
You could even consider poetry as an art form that lies somewhere between
prose (which depends on language for meaning and effect) and music (which
depends on sounds for meaning and effect).
What moods and feelings do the sounds stir in you? Even before you consider
the meanings of the words in the poem, are the sounds communicating
something to you?
Pay particular attention to sound qualities:
Rhythm
Rhyme
Alliteration: repetition of consonant sounds
Assonance: repetition of vowel sounds
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NAPLAN 2011 TEACHING STRATEGIES » Literacy » Reading » Interpretive Comprehension (Poetry) »Deconstructing Poetry » 4-5
teaching strategies
Stages
2-4
3-4
overview
KLA Outcomes
4-5
English 4.1.7 Students learn to
respond to and compose texts
beyond the literal level
Skill Focus: Deconstructing Poetry
STAGE 4-5
Strategy
English 4.5.10 Students learn about
the ways in which inference,
emphasis and point of view shape
meaning
English 5.7.3 Students learn to infer
from and interpret texts
Deconstructing poetry texts to understand how they convey meaning
Activities to support the strategy
Item Descriptor
Exploring metalanguage (QTF)
Interpreting ideas in a complex poem
It is important that students understand the metalanguage of poetry as this provides them with a language for deconstructing
poetry and for articulating their interpretation and analysis of poems. Following is an extensive list of poetic techniques.
Teachers should consider the ability level of their students when deciding which techniques to focus on in the teaching of a
poetry lesson or unit.
Statements of Learning for
English
p. 14
Alliteration
Enjambment
Paradox
Allusion
Figurative language
Persona
Quality Teaching Framework
Apostrophe
Hyperbole
Personification
Assonance
Imagery
Refrain
Intellectual quality: Metalanguage;
Deep understanding; Higher-order
thinking
Caesura
Irony
Rhetorical questions
Significance: Connectedness
Connotation
Metaphor
Rhyme
Consonance
Motif
Rhythm
Diction
Narrative voice
Simile
Dissonance
Onomatopoeia
Symbol
Emotive language
Oxymoron
Tone
There are many comprehensive glossaries that can be accessed online. Some are listed below.
http://www.poetsgraves.co.uk/glossary_of_poetic_terms.htm
http://www.poeticbyway.com/glossary.html
http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/glossaryIndex.do
The Poetry Archive site provides detailed explanations of poetic terms, a section on 'How to use this term', and related poems
that employ the technique to convey meaning.
Modelled
Choose a poem to deconstruct with students. Model how to annotate the poem by identifying the language techniques the
poet uses to shape and convey meaning. Once the language techniques have been identified, discuss the effect of these
techniques on meaning. Write statements about the techniques to model the TIE strategy for students.
T : Identify the technique
I : Illustrate with examples
E : Explain its effectiveness
For example:
The considered use of alliteration and assonance in the opening stanza of Kenneth Slessor's 'Beach Burial', "At night they
sway and wander in the waters far under", creates an eerily quiet and sombre mood lamenting the dead soldiers.
Guided
The teacher supports students in deconstructing the poem 'No one is a loser' by Ben Okri, from Mental Fight by Ben Okri,
Phoenix House, U.K., 1999.
view and print
Exploring metalanguage (QTP)
Together, the teacher and students read the poem and discuss its meaning. Get students to suggest what they think the
poem is about and the underlying message that the poet wants to convey. Ask students:
What do you think the poem is about?
What negative aspect of contemporary life is the poet commenting on?
How do we label people in our world?
Are labels usually positive or negative?
What do you think the poet would like to see individuals do?
What do you think is the overall message of the poem?
A discussion of the meaning of the poem will allow students to better understand how poetic techniques are used for effect by
the poet. After class discussion, the teacher gets students to write a short paragraph consolidating their ideas about the
meaning of the poem. Students share their responses with the class so that the teacher can monitor student understanding.
The teacher provides students with a list of poetic techniques that can be found in the poem. Working in pairs, and with
teacher support, students identify the language techniques the poet has utilised. These include:
cummulation
imperative language
metaphor
emotive language
contrast
repetition
enjambment
inclusive language
caesura.
To provide more structured support, the teacher can provide students with a copy of the poem that has the poetic techniques
underlined/highlighted. Students then have to match the given techniques to the examples identified.
As a class, discuss the effect of the techniques. Students should further annotate their copies of the poem as the discussion
takes place.
Independent
Activity one
Exploring metalanguage (QTF)
Get students to answer the following questions on the poem, reminding them that they need to produce comprehensive
answers that include examples from the poem and explain the effectiveness of the techniques the poet has utilised.
1. According to the poet, how does society label individuals in a variety of ways?
2. What words does the poet use to signify the immediate need for change?
3. How does the poet contrast the negative reality of the world with his positive aspirations for change?
4. What does the poet mean when he refers to "masterly application"?
5. What does the poet mean by "Those who transcend their apparent limitations / Are greater than those who apparently /
Have little to transcend"?
6. Explain the metaphor "Our handicaps can be the seed of our glories".
7. How does the poet use inclusive language to position the reader?
8. What is the tone of the poem?
9. What is the overall message of the poem?
Activity two
Exploring deep understanding and higher-order thinking (QTF)
The poem explores the importance of not allowing ourselves to be restricted by actual or perceived limitations. Students write
a 400 word analysis of HOW the poet uses language to shape and convey meaning for the reader.
Activity three
Exploring connectedness (QTF)
Students compose a poem that utilises a number of different language techniques for effect. The poem must explore how to
overcome a problem in the students' world, for example, bullying, poor self-image, discrimination, peer pressure etc. Students
must draft their composition and edit it themselves before getting feedback from a peer and the teacher. Their published work
should reflect a consideration of the critical analysis of others.
Students write a reflection statement that:
explains the way they used language to shape and convey meaning
illustrates a deep understanding of the way language works
appropriately uses the metalanguage of poetry
is self-reflexive and comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the composition
illustrates a critical awareness of the process of writing.
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Type of
language
Example
Formal language
But is it used consciously or
Helps to communicate complex
instinctively? ... the golden ratio’s ideas more precisely.
ubiquity in nature ...
Informal language
Blame it on the art cover ...
Suddenly we see it everywhere
...
Relaxed and friendly approach
helps to engage the reader and
makes challenging ideas/language
more palatable.
Jargon
... the golden ratio ‘phi’, an
irrational number derived from
the Fibonacci sequence.
Reflects the content of the
book, which is written by a
physics professor, and appeals to
the scientific interest of Cosmos
readers.
Figurative language ... Atalay’s elegant book has a
whiff of opportunism about it.
Effect on how meaning
is made
Communicates ideas in more
colourful and imaginative ways.
Context
Review is fairly recent – written after the publication of the bestseller,
The Da Vinci Code. The recognisable layout and engaging style
indicate that the review was published in a popular print medium –
information in the Acknowledgements confirms that the review first
appeared in a magazine, Cosmos – the Science of Everything.
Audience
Readers of Cosmos are people with an interest in science. This is
confirmed by the use of some mathematical/scientific jargon, e.g. the
golden ratio ‘phi’, an irrational number derived from the Fibonacci sequence.
Purpose
Like most reviewers, Jeremy Chunn’s purpose in writing this text is to
inform readers about a new book and present his personal opinions
about it.
Math and the Mona Lisa:
The Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci
by Bülent Atalay
ISBN 0-06-085119-8
Collins
336 pages
A$24.99
Reviewed by Jeremy Chunn
Leonardo da Vinci will be long remembered after every copy of The Da Vinci Code
has turned to dust, so it’s a shame that Bülent Atalay’s elegant book has a whiff of
opportunism about it. Blame it on the cover art, because what lies within is a devoted
work where the relationship between science and art is investigated, and it’s not until
halfway through that da Vinci becomes the primary focus.
Atalay, a professor of physics, starts with the golden ratio ‘phi’, an irrational number
derived from the Fibonacci sequence. Suddenly we see it everywhere, in the pyramids,
the Parthenon and in art from all ages. But is it used consciously or instinctively?
Atalay can’t answer that question; he just reveals patterns. When he points to the golden
ratio’s ubiquity in nature, however, it is the perfect time to introduce da Vinci,
who instructed others — scientists and artists — to ‘learn from nature, not from
each other’.
It was the famous Italian’s capacity to observe, conduct experiments and collect
data that made him the first scientist, the author claims. It was also this curiosity and
diligence that informed da Vinci’s art: the curls in hair became a reference to the way
water moves; a subject’s gaze revealed his intimate knowledge of the human eye,
having dissected so many of them.
Leonardo produced maybe 14 000 pages of notes, but we are left with less than a
third of that amount. In his work he anticipated inventions that were realised hundreds
of years later.
Atalay himself is a Renaissance man: appearing within the book are etchings by the
author and he casts wide for references, including quotes from Milton on Galileo and
Tom Wolfe on sculptor Frederick Hart.
The other cheek
Atalay veers off to findings of sophisticated modern research, including why we
generally turn the left cheek when being photographed by a friend. It turns out the
right side of the brain, associated with emotions and which controls the left eye
and cheek, tells us to turn to the right, and show the left. Right?