Lesson Plan Critique

Carolyn Wilhelm provides an outstanding lesson plan for Grades K-2 that seamlessly intertwines all the areas of the ELA Standards. Creating a found poem by sifting appropriate words out of a text is a genius idea to promote literacy. First, it focuses on reading comprehension, since the reader must determine which words and phrases make sense to transfer to the poem. Then, of course, it helps children expand their writing skills, as they create a brand new work from their reading. Speaking and listening skills are developed in conjunction with all this, as the text is read aloud and the poem created together as a class before continued as individual or small group projects. The lesson can also be adapted to older grade levels with an extension of challenging students to create a parallel poem with original text.