Before Reading
Make Preliminary Mind Pictures
Read the title of the poem. What images come to mind? Describe in detail what you see. Add details that relate to all of your senses, and share your images with a partner.
During Reading
Create Mind Pictures
1. Listen as your teacher reads the first stanza of the poem. As you listen, begin to create mind pictures that involve all of your senses. Then make quick sketches that show what you see, hear, or feel.
2. Continue reading on your own. As you read, continue making mind pictures. When you are done, make sketches or write a brief written summary of your mind pictures.
Fix-Up Idea: Vary Reading Rate
If you are having trouble visualizing, try reading more slowly. Read a line and pause to try and capture an image in your mind. Then read another line. Keep reading slowly and carefully, pausing to visualize. Once you have read the poem, read it again faster with fewer pauses.
After Reading
Share Your Mind Pictures
Share your sketches and describe in your own words the mind movie you made. Compare images with others in your group. Look back at sections of the poem that caused group members to create different pictures. Explain why those sections led to the creation of different images.
Before Reading
Set Up a Chart
Draw a line down the middle of a sheet of paper. Write the numbers 1–13 down the side of the page, leaving some room between each number. As you read, fill in information for each of the thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird.
During Reading
Complete Chart as You Read
1. Listen as your teacher reads the first stanza. Note a key image from the first stanza in the left-hand column. Then, think about what the image might mean to the speaker and write that in the right-hand column.
2. Continue reading on your own. Record an image and reaction for each stanza.
Fix-Up Idea: Connect to Prior Knowledge
Answer the Reader's Journal question. Think about what you already know about blackbirds. Consider fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Have you ever seen a blackbird? Discuss your responses with your classmates. Keep these ideas in mind as you read the selection.
After Reading
Summarize
Share your charts with a few of your classmates, and discuss the Respond to the Selection question. Then talk about why Stevens might have presented thirteen ways of looking at a blackbird.