ALEX Lesson Plan

Students will review the meanings of connotation and denotation. Students will apply knowledge of connotation and denotation to "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke.

This is a College- and Career-Ready Standards showcase lesson plan.

• Highlighters
• copies of the poem "My Papa's Waltz" by Theodore Roethke

• Internet access to access the text at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172103
• Google Chrome logins for teacher and students if the teacher wishes to have students submit annotations via Google Docs

• Students should have prior knowledge of connotation and denotation.
• Students should have prior experience annotating text for specific elements.

Before Activity

1. Bellringer: Talk with a partner to review the meanings of connotation and denotation.  With your partner, talk about the difference in meanings using the words "house" and "home."
2. Introduce the activity by using the following introduction:
3. Close your eyes and think back to your clearest memory from when you were a small child. Do you remember where you were? What you were wearing? What you were doing before, during, and after? Do you remember specific colors, smells, and sounds?
4. Have students share their thoughts and experiences with the whole group.

During Activity

1. Read the poem aloud to students as they listen.
2. Either provide the students with a copy of the poem or have them access the poem via the internet at http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172103. Have students read the poem themselves and contemplate the possible meanings of the poems. Discuss possible meanings as a whole group.
3. Have students annotate the poem for connotation and denotation. Have them mark words that can be perceived as positive and mark different words that can be perceived as negative. If you provide students with a copy of the text, they may use highlighters to annotate. If students are using computers and the internet to annotate text, they may copy and paste the text into a Google Doc and use the highlight feature to annotate the text on the computer. Finished products may be shared and submitted via Google Chrome.

After Activity

1. After students have submitted annotated poems, as a whole group, discuss possible annotations. Draw a T-chart on the board, one side being positive and one being negative. Have students come to the board and fill in the chart with some of their responses.  (You may provide another copy of the text for them to view as they complete this part of the lesson.)

The chart may include:

Positive – waltz, papa, romped, held

Negative– whiskey, dizzy, death, unfrown, battered, scraped, beat, caked hard by dirt

• Informal assessment by walking around the room during bellringer to monitor discussions between partners.
• Assess by reviewing connotations and denotations with the whole group.
• Assess by discussing possible meanings of the poem.
• Assess completed annotated poems. In order to receive credit, students must have at least two words/phrases marked for both positive and negative meanings.  Annotations must be clearly marked and easily understood.
• Whole group activity with T-chart at the culmination of the lesson will assess general student understanding of the lesson.

Higher level learners may be required to annotate for more words/phrases.

Higher level learners may be required to annotate text for figurative language other than connotations and denotations.

Struggling learners may be provided with definitions and examples of connotation and denotation at the beginning of the class. 

Struggling learners may be provided with  a copy of the text with highlighted examples already marked on the text prior to beginning their own annotations. 

Struggling learners may be partnered with a peer for the annotation portion of the lesson.