Respond to the Reader’s Journal question. Then compare your response with that of a partner. With your partner, read and discuss the second paragraph in the Reader’s Resource. Think about your personal knowledge of memories of a special person and about what you have learned about the relationship between humans and nature as you read “My Father’s Song.”
1. Listen as your teacher reads the first stanza of the poem aloud. What does the speaker remember about his father? How does he seem to feel about his father? How do these feelings compare to the feelings you described in your Reader’s Journal response?
2. Continue reading the poem on your own. What does the speaker remember his father doing? Why did his father do this? How does the information you learned before reading the selection help you understand the father’s motivation?
If you are uncertain about the speaker’s relationship with his father and what the father does, use the Guided Reading Questions to focus on some key points in the selection.
With your partner from the Before Reading activity, discuss the Respond to the Selection question. Compare the relationship you wrote about in the Before Reading activity with the relationship the speaker presents in the poem.