Denise's+Design

Denise's Backward Design on Frost's "The Road Not Taken"

I. Have students write for about 10 minutes about a time they made a decision
 * It can be good or bad, with or without regret, ideally where the choice was not obvious

II. Students will now read the poem with their personal experience in mind
 * I'll have them spend five minutes writing their first impression of the poem - thoughts, feelings, interpretation...

III. We will then engage in a class discussion where the students will share their first impressions
 * The idea is to see the variety of responses that the students come up with, showing that poetry is subjective and validly open to multiple interpretations/readings
 * I will use questions that we came up with in the Results section from Our Page to stir discussion, getting the students to link their personal experiences with the poem and how that shapes individual meanings for them.
 * Additionally, I will ask the class if whether or not this poem is about individualism or conformity

IV. The class will read the poem aloud, one student per stanza, with the teacher cold-calling the students. They will be encouraged to read the poem in various inflections.

(Wow, this looks exactly like Prof Hanley's exercise on our class discussion on "what we learned" moments, eesh.)