Before Reading
Think About What You Know
Do a quickwrite in response to the Reader's Journal prompt. Do another quickwrite about a time when you felt overwhelmed. Talk about your responses with a partner. As you read, keep your experience of being misunderstood and overwhelmed in mind.
During Reading
Use What You Know as You Read
1. Listen as your teacher reads the first stanza of the poem aloud. Jot down your response to stanza 1. Write your reaction to lines 3–4. How do those lines make you feel? What would you say or do to the speaker?
2. Keep reading the selection on your own. Note your responses to each stanza.
Fix-Up Idea: Refocus
The speaker switches several times in this poem. There is a speaker, who narrates the action; the dying/dead man; and the dead man's friends. There are no quotation marks to show who is speaking. Read the poem slowly, looking for clues to switches in speaker. Write out the poem as if it were dialogue to clarify who is speaking.
After Reading
Summarize What You Learned
With your partner from the Before-Reading activity, discuss the Respond to the Selection question. Compare your experience of being misunderstood or overwhelmed to the dead man's.