Unit Plan 14 (Grade 6 ELA): Poetry Craft – Figurative Language & Imagery
Grade 6 poetry unit: students explore figurative language, imagery, and structure to interpret meaning and tone. They analyze how stanzas, repetition, and word choice shape emotion, then write focused poetry analysis paragraphs.
Focus: Figurative language; imagery; structure and meaning
Grade Level: 6
Subject Area: English Language Arts (Reading Literature; Language)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 45–60 minutes per session
I. Introduction
Poetry compresses meaning. This week, students learn how figurative language (simile, metaphor, personification) and imagery (sensory details, connotation) shape a poem’s meaning and mood. They’ll also analyze how structure—stanzas, line breaks, repetition—guides emphasis and contributes to understanding. By week’s end, they’ll write a focused analysis paragraph using precise textual evidence.
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to…
- Determine meanings of words/phrases in poems, including figurative and connotative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape tone and meaning (RL.6.4).
- Explain how a stanza or structural choice (line breaks, repetition, refrain) fits into a poem’s overall structure and contributes to meaning (RL.6.5).
- Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances:
- Interpret figures of speech in context (e.g., personification) (L.6.5a),
- Use relationships between words (e.g., cause/effect, part/whole, item/category) to better understand each word (L.6.5b),
- Distinguish among connotations of related words to choose meaning/impact (L.6.5c).
Standards Alignment — CCSS Grade 6
- Reading Literature 6.4 (RL.6.4): Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of a specific word choice on meaning and tone.
- Reading Literature 6.5 (RL.6.5): Analyze how a particular sentence, chapter, scene, or stanza fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the theme, setting, or plot (or meaning in poetry).
- Language 6.5a–c (L.6.5a–c): Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances: a) interpret figures of speech in context (e.g., personification), b) use relationships between particular words to better understand each, c) distinguish connotations of words with similar denotations.
Success Criteria — student language
- I can identify and interpret a simile, metaphor, or personification in a poem and explain its effect.
- I can point to sensory images and connotative words that shape tone.
- I can explain how a stanza/line break/repetition contributes to meaning.
- I can write a clear analysis paragraph with quoted lines and precise language.