Subject: Language Arts Grade: Six

Standard: #3: Literary Response and Analysis

Key Concept: Students respond to tone and meaning that are conveyed in poetry through word choice, figurative language, line length, punctuation, rhythm, alliteration, and rhyme.

Generalization: Students respond to poetic language in "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes.

Background: Students have been working on a poetry unit and have been studying how the elements of poetry help the poet convey thoughts and meaning. This lesson extends the focus of language as a key to meaning.

This lesson is tiered in product according to readiness

All students read the following poem (from The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes):

Mother to Son

Well, son, I'll tell you:

Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

It's had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor-

Bare.

But all the time, I'se been a-climbin on,

And reachin' landin's,

And turnin' corners,

And sometimes goin' in the dark,

Where there ain't been no light.

So boy, don't you turn back.

Don't you set down on the steps

Cause you find it's kinder hard.

Don't you fall now-

For I'se still goin', honey,

I'se still climbin'

And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.

Tier I: Below Grade Level Learners: Knowledge/Comprehension Activity

This group struggles with understanding ideas clearly. They will answer the following questions that are distributed on a work sheet for them to do individually:

1. What is a "crystal stair"?

2. What does the "crystal stair" mean in this poem as mentioned by the Mother?

3. What do tacks, splinters, torn up boards, and places with no carpet on the floor mean in this poem?

4. Why is the word "bare" in a line all by itself? Why is it capitalized?

5. Make a list of words that are not considered examples of "good English." Why does Langston Hughes use these words in this poem?

6. What advice does the mother give the son?

7. Why has she continued to climb? What are the corners and the dark places in life?

8. Why shouldn't the son sit down on the steps?

9. What does this poem say about survival?

10. This seems like a conversation poem, what do you think the boy asked her to get this response from her?

Now put the students in workable groups of four to go over their answers with each other so that they can get some clarification about facts from each other. They should be ready to share their factual information with the entire class.

Tier II: Grade Level Learners: Analytical Activity

These students need to read the Langston Hughes poem individually, making notes about why the mother would tell these thoughts to her son. What did he ask her? They need to analyze the poem for the elements mentioned above in the "Generalization" section of this lesson. Line length, repetition, word choice, and rhythm are especially important. Analyze the poem for the way meaning is conveyed through these elements.

After students take time to do individual analysis, they should meet in workable groups of four students to discuss their analysis. They should be ready to share ideas with the class as a whole.

Tier III: Above Grade Level Learners: Synthesis/Evaluation

These students should read the poem individually. They need to think about the 1920's when Langston Hughes wrote this poem. Depending on how much they know about African Americans in the 1920's, they should research some information about what life could be like and why the Mother would write this poem. Next, individually, they should make note of how effective the Mother is in conveying meaning in this poem. What poetic devices does Hughes use to emphasize how rough life is and yet how she survived? Finally, what effect would this poem have on her son? What would lead to the conclusion? Share ideas within workable groups of four, and be ready to share with the entire class.

Assessment: Each group had a very different task, but all were responding to the same poem. The poem is an answer. To assess understanding, have students write a poem of the same structure and length as a beginning to this poem, or as a response to what Mother has just said. Students should take the role of the son who asks the initial question that elicits her response or the son who responds to the advice she has just given. These products can be shared with the class.

________________________________________________________________________

6LR-FAD