Irish Tenor

Bluebonnet Writing Project
Teaching Demonstration


Title of the Book: Song and Dance Man
Author: Karen Ackerman
Illustrator: Stephen Gammell
Publishing Information: Alfred Knopf
ISBN: 0-679-81995-9
Suggested Grade Level: This lesson was developed for a 6th grade class, but it can be used for grades 4-12 with a few modifications.

Goal: Students will weave thick description into a piece of prose to create a poem.

Objectives:
1. Students will write the lyrics of a song in poetry form
2. Students will write a description of the person who shared the song
3. Students will blend the two short pieces into a poem
4. Students will draft, revise, edit, and publish the poem
5. Students will work cooperatively with a partner

TEKS:
6.1) The student listens actively and purposefully in a variety of settings.
(A) determine the purposes for listening such as to gain information, to solve problems, or to enjoy and appreciate
(B) eliminate barriers to effective listening
(6.2) The student listens critically to analyze and evaluate a speaker's message(s).
(A) interpret speakers' messages (both verbal and nonverbal), purposes, and perspectives 6.3) The student listens to enjoy and appreciate spoken language.
(A) listen to proficient, fluent models of oral reading, including selections from classic and contemporary works
(6.12) The student analyzes the characteristics of various types of texts (genres).
(A) identify the purposes of different types of texts such as to inform, influence, express, or entertain
(B) recognize the distinguishing features of genres, including biography, historical fiction, informational texts, and poetry
(6.15) The student writes for a variety of audiences and purposes and in a variety of forms. (A) write to express, discover, record, develop, reflect on ideas, and to problem solve (D) write to entertain such as to compose humorous poems or short stories
(E) select and use voice and style appropriate to audience and purpose
(H) produce cohesive and coherent written texts by organizing ideas, using effective transitions, and choosing precise wording
(6.16) The student composes original texts, applying the conventions of written language such as capitalization, punctuation, penmanship, and spelling to communicateclearly.
(A) write legibly by selecting cursive or manuscript as appropriate
(B) capitalize and punctuate correctly to clarify and enhance meaning such as capitalizing titles, using hyphens, semicolons, colons, possessives, and sentence punctuation
(6.18) The student selects and uses writing processes for self-initiated and assigned writing.
(C) revise selected drafts by adding, elaborating, deleting, combining, and rearranging text
(D) revise drafts for coherence, progression, and logical support of ideas
(E) edit drafts for specific purposes such as to ensure standard usage, varied sentence structure, and appropriate word choice
(F) use available technology to support aspects of creating, revising, editing, and publishing texts
(6.19) The student evaluates his/her own writing and the writings of others.
(A) apply criteria to evaluate writing
(B) respond in constructive ways to others' writings
(C) evaluate how well his/her own writing achieves its purposes

Research Supporting this Lesson:
Atwell, N. (1998) In the middle: New understandings about writing, reading, and
learning (2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Atwell, N. (2002). Lessons that change writers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann
Bernabei, G. (2005). Reviving the essay: How to teach structures without formula.
Shoreham, VT. Discovery Writing Press.
Ward, C. (2006) How writers grow: A guide for middle school teachers.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Introduction to author and/or story:
Think about people in your lives, especially grandparents.
What kinds of entertainment did they have when they were your age?
Sit back and enjoy a trip back in time to when these children’s grandpa was a young man.
Read the story Song and Dance Man by Karen Ackerman

Previewing the Text: After reading the story answer these questions to prepare for writing lesson:
1. What did you notice in the story?
2. What was happening?
3. Who were the characters?
4. Who was the main character?
5. What did he do for the children?
**Get the students to notice that the grandfather shared his past with the kids. He shared song and dance.

Procedures:
1. Hand out pieces of paper to each student
2. Draw a line across the middle of the paper, separating the top from the bottom. If you want, just fold the paper in half hamburger style.
3. Now look at the top half. Draw a line dividing the top half into two halves.
4. Show sample

**Since we are in the computer lab, you may create this on your computer**

5. Now, I want you to think of a song you remember someone singing to you when you were little. It might be a lullaby, a Broadway show tune, or any kind of song at all. The important thing is that you remember someone singing it to you. It might also be something they said, like a nursery rhyme, or a saying; the important thing is that you remember the sound of someone saying it to you.
6. In the top right hand section of your paper, write the words to the song. Write as much as you can remember, but please have at least four lines. Write the words in poetry form, not in paragraph form.

**Use your computer if you need to get the words for your song**
**Show example of “I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen”**
***Time to write***
***Share***

7. Now that you have your song in mind, think of the person whose voice that was. How did they look at the time they were singing to you? Picture this person in your mind.
8. On the left side of the top, write a paragraph describing them as clearly as you can, so that we can picture them as you do in your mind’s eye. Were they sitting? On what? What did their eyes look like? What do you remember most about how they looked? What might have been going on at that time?

***Time to write***
***Share***

9. Look at the lines on the right. Number every line using only even numbers.
10. Look at the paragraph on the left. Underline five or six phrases that are the most important (the best phrases or words) in the paragraph).Now number the underlined phrases using only odd numbers.
11. The hard work is done. Look at my fingers and see how I weave them together. That’s what you are going to do with your writing.
12. Write your poem on the bottom of the page. Start by copying line one first. Directly underneath it, copy line two. Continue until you’re finished. If you need to, repeat lines from your song.

***Time to write***
***Share with table partner***
***Share with class***

**Share mine at the end**

Debriefing Questions for writing:
Did you hear any that “got you”?
What made those pieces so effective?
Did you hear any that didn’t work at all?
Was anyone surprised at what happened, how it sounded, when you wove the two together?

Reading/Writing/Drawing Connection:
Use a picture book to help students go back in time to remember
Write about a person who sang to you
Illustrate the poem you created

Discussion Protocol:
What did you think of the lesson?
What was easy for you?
What was challenging for you?
What did you like about the lesson?
What will you remember about the lesson?
How could you use this lesson with your students?

Extension/Service Projects:
Write a memoir that includes the person you mentioned in this poem.
Use lines from famous speeches and a description of the person who made the speech.
Use lines from famous speeches and a description of leadership.
Use significant lines of text from a piece of literature you are reading in class as one of the columns and a first person character analysis as the other column.
Share poems with residents of a nursing home and have them share song memories of theirs.