Young scholars are asked to reflect on how personal experiences might influence points of view and perspectives. They read poems and biographies of the poets and then match the poem to the poet. To justify their matches, learners identify details in the poet's life that might have influenced their perspective of events detailed in the poems.

Concepts

bias, point of view, perspective, poetry analysis, figurative language, biographies, inferences, making inferences, critical thinking

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Instructional Ideas

• Print the poem strips on card stock and laminate them to permit reuse
• To avoid confusion, print each poem on a different color card stock

Classroom Considerations

• Requires projection equipment for the images
• Preparation includes making copies of the T-chart

Pros

• The exercise encourages close reading of both the poems and the biographies

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.9-10.1 RL.9-10.2 RL.9-10.4