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Ballads
Lesson Plan
Cesily King
7th Grade
Content:
After studying
some ballads together as a class (including "Barbara Allen" and "Influenza"),
students will go into the American Memory Collection through the Library of
Congress Website, using a teacher-made list of possible people or events to
research. After choosing one and reading the information (or hearing or
seeing), the each student will write a short summary of an event. That
summary will be the basis of a student-written ballad.
State Standards:
|
7-R1.4 7-R1.9 7R2.6 7R2.7 7-R2.8 7W1.4 7-W1.6.2 7-W2.2 7-W3.3 7-RS2.1 7-RS2.3 7-RS3.2 |
Demonstrate the ability
to summarize, paraphrase, analyze, and evaluate what he or she reads. Demonstrate the ability to describe and analyze cause and effect and its impact on plot, character, and theme. Demonstrate the ability to analyze devices of figurative language such as the extended metaphor; continue identifying imagery and symbolism. Demonstrate the ability to identify the characteristics of genres such as fiction, poetry, drama, and informational texts. Demonstrate the ability to identify elements of poetry such as rhyme scheme, refrain, and stanza. Demonstrate the ability to revise writing for clarity, sentence variety, precise vocabulary, and effective phrasing through collaboration, conferencing, and self-evaluation. Demonstrate the ability to write...and expressive and informational pieces. Demonstrate the ability to use writing to learn, entertain, and describe. Demonstrate the ability to use texts to make connections and to support ideas in his or her own writing. Demonstrate the ability to use a variety of resources, including technology, to access information. Demonstrate the ability to conduct independent research using available resources, including technology. Demonstrate the ability to present his or her research findings in a variety of formats. |
Goal:
Ballads are poems that tell stories that deal with universal emotions. By using ballads to retell major events in a person's life or events or historical significance, we are able to understand different situations and empathize with others in situations that we might not personally experience.
Objectives:
At the end of the unit, the student will be able to:
1. identify
specified literary devices in class discussions and quizzes,
2. summarize the plot of a given ballad orally or in writing,
3. orally identify and discuss the abstract subject of a given ballad,
4. identify the characteristics of ballads on the end of unit
test,
5. determine whether a given poem qualifies as a ballad and
support that conclusion in a short essay,
6. use the computer and other sources to research an event,
7. write a short ballad based on an historical event.
Procedure:
1. Review basic
ballad characteristics using Power Point presentation.
2. "Barbara Allen"
(text in Harper's Bazaar) or "Barbara
Allen" (text and performed song)
A. Journal quick write- Ask the
students to briefly tell about a love story they have seen, heard about, or
read.
B. After reading "Barbara Allen,"
discuss the plot and the abstract subject.
C. Discuss the form of the poem and
the literary techniques.
3. "Influenza"
A. Journal quick write- Ask the
students to briefly tell about a disaster-personal or historical -or- ask the
students to
write about one of
the pandemics or epidemics listed below.
B. Discuss pandemics and epidemics
students are aware of (Bubonic Plague, AIDS, SARS) and fears of future
outbreaks
(Smallpox, Ebola,...). Ask about the dangers of flu as an epidemic. Then provide historical statistics
about the
influenza epidemic of 1918 (some are included in notes at the end of the lesson
plan).
C. After reading "Influenza," discuss
the plot and abstract subject. Compare to the abstract subject of "Barbara
Allen."
D. Discuss the form of the poem and
the literary techniques.
4. Use Webquest to begin researching an event.
5. Write a summary of the event.
6. Write a ballad about the event.
7. Review literary terms using the interactive element found
on this website.
Assessment:
Summary of research
Original ballad (See Rubric in
Webquest for elements to be assessed)
Unit test-literary terms, elements of
ballads studies, essay question to support whether a given poem is a ballad
Materials needed:
Copies of
"Barbara Allen" and "Influenza."
Internet access
Power Point presentation
paper and pencil
Notes:
Influenza-
(Information is available thanks to Zan King in her biology research paper.)
"To most people, the flu is just a
series of aches and pains, coughing, and weakness. However, the influenza
virus can be a very deadly disease. In 1918, the Spanish Flu (also called
La Grippe) was going around. During the year, twenty to forty million
people died of the flu pandemic. That is more than the four years of the
Black Death (1347-1351). In the U.S. alone, it killed more than World War
I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War combined. The country
worst off was India. Between June 1918 and July 1919, more than 16,000,000
people died. 'People were drowning-there was so much liquid in their lungs
that patients would have blood fluid coming out of their noses. When they
died, it would often drench the bed sheets.' (Gladwell, Malcolm, "The Dead
Zone," The New Yorker Magazine, September 29, 1997)
The two journal quick writes are to encourage the students to begin, on a personal level, to think about the strong human emotions (love, fear, regret,...) that form the core of the two ballads that will be studied. By being able to relate what happens in the story to their personal experiences, the students will be able to make comparisons between the two and be able to think beyond the literal level to an evaluation of how realistic the depictions of these emotions in the ballads are.
