The Wind by James Reeves

Students love this engaging Aesthetic Education Lesson which includes ELA Common Core Standards and Lincoln Center Education Core Concepts and Capacities. 

The Wind Lesson Plan Summary

by Ms. Loreen E. Pearson

Work of Art: The Wind by James Reeves. The poem is introduced as a riddle with no title given. Students identify the title through studying specific details of the text and learn to make inferences.

Lesson 1: Close Reading of the Text. The goal is to teach students to read closely and critically in order to comprehend complex literary text. I actively engage students to search for meaning in the rich vocabulary and figurative language of this poem such as personification. The incidental bonus of this lesson is the students naturally memorize the poem and add it to their repertoire.

Lesson 2: Analysis and 3-D Visual Objects. “The Wind” by James Reeves is a poem that tells us what the wind can do. It can be both strong and gentle. Students identify and group 3-D visual objects into those two categories as represented in the lines and phrases from the poem. Students place objects on a red (strong) table or a blue (gentle) table. Time permitting, I help students connect to the poem through additional activities differentiated by grade level such as a movement activity for Primary grades and an essay for Intermediate grades.

Lesson 3: Art-making Activity, Reflection Collage, and Art Walk.  To help students synthesize what they have learned, they individually create a poster to illustrate connections they have made with the poem. They draw the contrasting qualities of the wind with at least two evidences from the poem. I emphasize craftsmanship and detail. Every students shares out by creating a class reflection collage around which I conduct an art walk. Students reflect on their experiences by choosing which pieces they’d like to discuss and why.

LCE Core Concepts Used: Questioning, Art-making, Reflection and Contextual Information

LCE Capacities Used: Notice Deeply, Pose Questions, Identify Patterns, Make Connections, Empathize, Live with Ambiguity, Reflect/Assess

The Wind Lesson Plan (Detail)

by Ms. Loreen E. Pearson

Learning Objective: The goal is to teach students to read closely and critically in order to comprehend complex literary text. In this lesson sequence, I use a variety of strategies to actively engage students in searching for meaning in the rich vocabulary and figurative language of a poem. Students learn to test inferences against specific details of the text, to analyze 3-D objects and to use those objects to more deeply understand the meaning of the poem. Discussion and an art making exercise help students to synthesize what they have learned. The incidental bonus of this lesson is the students will memorize the poem and add it to their repertoire. Explain the meaning and spelling of the word incidental.

Lesson 1: Close Reading of the Text 

Introduce the Work of Art: Read the poem aloud as a riddle, omitting the title. Invite students to guess what the subject of the poem might be. Explore the meaning and spelling of the word inference. Write answers on the board. I call it the “Guess Bank.” 

Most guesses fall into four different categories: 1) natural forces such as tornado, hurricane, tsunami 2) fantasy characters such as magical wizard, shape shifter, ghost, giant monster, Mother Nature, Hulk/Bruce Banner (which is actually an excellent guess because the Hulk can personify both qualities - strong and gentle) 3) animals and insects such as ants, rhino, whale 4) outside the box ideas such as a person dreaming, your imagination, God and seasons in and of themselves.

What do you think the title might be? What do you think this poem is about?

Guide the students through a second slow reading, evaluating the list of student guesses against specific lines in the text. Eliminate and add student answers as the discussion progresses.

Line 1: How could you get through a doorway without a key? (Break it down, go under it, go through it, pick lock, bang on it until someone opens it, doggie door, robber, crowbar, open it yourself — maybe it’s not locked.)

Line 2: Show me with your hands how you might strip leaves from a branch. What could strip the leaves from a big tree? (carpenter ants— Tucson story, other animals, poison) It must be something or someone big and powerful.

Explore in depth the meaning of inference. Good readers do exactly what the class is doing right now. When faced with a hard or tricky text, good readers us the text to make a best guess or inference about meaning. They reread the text carefully, looking for words that show what they are thinking could be true. Good readers also notice when their inferences don’t make sense. They are not afraid to change their ideas. Compliment students who change their responses to align more closely with what they have read. Add new ideas to the list if a student is able to explain how the text supports the new inference. Ask, “What in the poem makes you think so? Tell me more.”

I teach this concept after line 2, when I relate my Tucson ant story and add ants to the guess bank.

Line 3: Show me what it means to drive storm clouds? (push, blow, cattle drive, computer drive, driving rain or force) When you drive a car, you make it move. What makes clouds move? (thermal atmosphere, jet stream, updraft from mountains). Show me what it means to shake tall towers? Ask students to describe or name tall towers that they visualize in their minds when they consider this text. (Twin Towers, Freedom Tower, Empire State Building, Eiffel Tower, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Big Ben, Power Line Towers, Avengers Tower, Rapunzel’s Tower, Lego Tower, skyscrapers they’ve seen, tall buildings in their local area). The reason the discussion is more in depth is to help prepare students for their art making in Lesson 2 & 3.

Line 4: What does the word steal mean? Show me? When do you sneak things at home? (sneaky, steal home base, slippery, in shadows, silent, stealth, take something that doesn’t below to you) Sometimes a word can mean several different things. (Explain homophones and homographs.) You have to figure out through context what it means. In this case it means to sneak quietly through a garden like a thief. The second part of this line is tricky — “and not wake the flowers.” Do flowers really sleep? (some do — morning glory, hibiscus, some cactus blossoms, night flower in Idaho; some move with the sun — sunflowers) What do you think the author means by steal through a garden and not wake the flowers? (Do not disturb or trample.) Explain and explore personification.

Line 5: Sometimes the authors of poems put sentences together differently than we usually do. What would be the usual way of saying “seas I can move?” How about “ships I can sink?” (I can move seas. I can sink ships.) Why do you think Reeves chose to change the order of the words? (sound better, sound pretty, rhyme, syntax, pentameter, variety, interest, Yoda factor, what classroom teacher require)

Line 6: What is another name for house-top? Show me a rooftop. (roof; Wizard of Oz) What is strong enough to carry the roof of a house? (tornado, hurricane, microburst, tractor, forklift, crane) A scent is a smell and a pink is a kind of flower. It is a herbaceous Eurasian plant with sweet smelling pink or white flowers. It’s slender with typically gray-green leaves.

Line 7: What does it mean to rave and riot? (angry, rage, thrash about, yell, rant and rave) Imagine that you are angry. Without touching anyone, show with your body and face how you are feeling.

Line 8: Spent is another word with several meanings. (tired, wiped out, exhausted) How have you used the word spent in a sentence before? When you money is spent, you have used it up. In this sentence, it means you have used up all your energy. Show me what is might look like when you are spent.

Evaluate answers and compare against “guess” bank. Are there any guesses on the list that should be eliminated? Erase these. Are there some that now seem more likely than others? Put a star next to these. Are there any new possibilities we should add? Draw meaning from the context wherever possible.

Uncover the title

While there is more than one possible title that could make sense for this poem, it is now time to find out what the author intended to write about. If “The Wind” has not already been proposed  as a possible title, take a few minutes to evaluate each line against this new information. Wrap up the lesson by exploring the question, According to the author of this poem, what are some things the wind can do? It can be both strong and gentle. Encourage students to summarize their basic understanding by paraphrasing the key details in this poem.

As the poem is closely discussed, I also introduce the rich vocabulary and develop hand actions with students to help recite and naturally memorize the poem.

Vocabulary Word Definition

strip to take off 

drive move

steal sneak

scent smell

pink flower

rave to be noisily angry

riot to be wild and out of control

spent finished

Lesson 2: Analysis and 3-D Visual Objects

“The Wind” by James Reeves is a poem that tells us what the wind can do. It can be both strong and gentle.

Gather objects to represent each of the lines. Show students the objects in no particular order. Ask them to help you locate the line or phrase in the poem that each item represents. For example, I love to bring my husband’s power line sketch and talk about his work as a lineman foreman and how it relates to the poem. Once again, this is to reinforce finding personal connections with the text.

Once students correctly identify a line, help them group objects into 2 categories: rave and riot represented in red and quiet as quiet represented in blue. Prepare in advance red and blue butcher paper and red and blue signs with multiple, appropriate adjectives. Red table. Blue table. 

Introduce students to Figurative Language. Literal language uses words directly according to their proper meaning. Figurative (or non-literal language) uses words in figures of speech such as a simile or a metaphor. In this poem, Reeves employs personification to help describe what the wind can do and how it behaves. Personification is the attribution of a human characteristic to inanimate objects or abstract concepts such as seasons and the weather.

Ask: Can the wind really be angry, can it rave & riot?

Strip the leaves

Drive storm-clouds

Shake tall towers

Seas move

Ships sink

Carry house-top

Can the wind really be tired, quiet as quiet?

Doorway without key

Garden not wake flowers

Scent of a pink

If time allows, students will put objects in correct poem order and memorize. Kinesthetically, students may move forward and back in line, holding an object, at the correct time, keeping beat to the rhythm of the poem. Also, students may develop appropriate hand actions to help them memorize the poem (one action per line).

Additional Writing Activity for Advanced Classes:  Students will write an essay based on the following — “The Wind” by James Reeves is a poem that tells us what the wind can do. Please complete the following.

Sometimes the wind is strong.

Sometimes the wind is gentle.

I like the wind when it is. . .

Lesson 3: Art-making Activity, Reflection Collage and Art Walk

Art-making Activity: Provide each student with a large sketch piece of paper to fold in half. Have them write their names on the back. Write the poem’s title and author at the top. At the bottom, have students write rave and riot on the left-hand side, and quiet as quiet on the right hand side. Guide step by step.

Students will individually create a poster to illustrate imagery from the poem. They will draw the contrasting qualities of the wind (at least two evidences from the poem, one on each side). Encourage students to think deeply and add detail to their pictures that will help them evidence what they have created. 

Students will first sketch all thoughts and connections to the WOA. Craftsmanship and detail are highly encouraged not on being “pretty” artists. This may be abstract. I layer the assignment. I might suggest (if not naturally done) students use words, even lines from the poem. Next, I might place a copy of the poem near their workspace as a point of reference or inspiration. When students are wrapping up their sketches, I then offer colored pencils, magic markers, and crayons. 

Reflection Collage and Art Walk: Every student will share out with the class what they chose to illustrate. This will be done effectively and efficiently by creating a class reflection collage (pictures only placed) on butcher paper placed on the floor where I help conduct an art walk and discussion on those pieces that students choose to discuss.

Move Up Day!

Here’s an engaging Arts Integration Lesson you may want to use in conjunction with Move Up Day. 

Dr. Maya Angelou wrote a poem called, Life Doesn’t Frighten Me, in the voice of a girl (possibly 8 to 10 years old), which addresses the fears a child faces when being placed in a new classroom and/or starting at a new school. The narrator presents a fearless attitude when she speaks of common childhood fears such as undefined noises, ghosts, and strangers, but her bravado is only a mask she uses to try and hide her true fears of being different and feeling alone. The key idea is that people often use bravado to mask their true fears. This lesson may help students find courage in overcoming their move up day fears by discussing them (hyperbole or not).

Dr. Angelou said, “I wrote this poem for all children who whistle in the dark and who refuse to admit they are frightened out of their wits.” A copy of the entire poem follows at the end of this lesson.

Angelou’s poem has been published into a book with illustrations by Jean-Michel Basquiat. There is a wonderful, short video (2:45) of Angelou reading her poem to Basquiat’s illustrations. You can preview the clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UN4_wfm7rjE. While some may consider the illustrations too strong for little ones, you know best if this would work for your grade level. The book was published for children, and Angleou’s voice is so soothing over the drawings that it dramatically reduces any potential shock value.

If you decide you to use this poem and/or Angelou’s reading of it as your primary work of art to better prepare students for move up day, here are some pre and post lesson ideas. 

Pre-Lesson Activity

All Grade Levels: Before reading and or listening to the poem, students list a minimum of 3 move up day fears and/or fears in general. Students can be paired and and compare their fears with a partner. Alternately, students can list things they are NOT afraid of (just as the poem uses hyperbole to mask true fears). Be bold and creative, maybe even a bit silly. Encourage students to go for it!

Post Lesson Activity

All Grade Levels: After reading the poem, lead students in a discussion, helping them identify and discuss phrases or words in the poem that were important or meaningful to them and how it relates to move up day. 

Primary: Then, give students blank paper and let them use their imagination to illustrate their fears and/or the poem.

Intermediate: Then, help students write a poem that follow's Angelou’s framework and uses their own fears or non-fears (from the pre-lesson). Time permitting, students illustrate their poems.

How does content tie into curriculum? 

This lesson focuses on ELA Standards such as reading and/or writing, speaking and listening, vocabulary, fluency and literature. Specifically, here are the Common Core ELA Standards: RL.6.1, RL.6.2, RL.6.4, RL.6.5, RL.6.7; W.6.2, W.6.4; SL.6.1; L.6.1, L.6.2, depending on your individual pre and post lessons.

The Art form we are integrating is Drama, specifically poetry, choral reading and/or oral recitation. The elements of poetry students are exposed to in this poem are primarily rhyming couplets and refrain. A rhyming couplet is two successive lines of poetry that rhyme, have the same meter (rhythm or beats), and complete the same thought. A refrain is a line or lines repeated throughout a poem (or song). Angelou repeats “frighten me at all” ten times. When children are afraid, many times they repeat a line over to themselves and to others to convince themselves and others that they are not afraid. It may be one way children find courage to face their fears.

Is this a good poem to teach students to recite?

Yes! Poetry expresses emotion and should be read out loud to best understand that emotion. As much as possible, encourage the students to read the poem out loud to themselves, partners, small group, or the whole class (choral reading). Help students experiment with their reading. What type of tone should be used? What is the emotion (or emotions) that should be expressed?

Film and stage directors provide guidance to their actors regarding how to make the written word come alive for an audience. As your classroom’s director, you will instruct your students, “actors,” on the rhythm (pacing) and tone of the poem. Read the poem aloud at least three times: the first time without any direction; the second and third times with direction from you. After the exercise, students can discuss and/or write a brief reflection on how each one of their readings changed or did not change. Discuss in small groups and then as a whole group.

If you really want to “pump up the volume” performance-wise, here is a video of one school’s oral recitation of this poem you may want to check out to possibly add to your classroom’s choral reading. The individual poses and group choreography are a fun addition. Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w4GLmsRvCE

Do you have any more additional post lesson ideas?

Yes, and it can be differentiated according to grade level. The first one is called Creating a Storyboard. Help students create a storyboard of the poem with each frame of the storyboard representing a stanza of the poem. After reading the poem once, using pencil, students work together in pairs to create visual images of each stanza, creating a storyboard that tells the story of the poem. After the students read the poem again, address text-dependent questions and help students analyze the text. Students return to their storyboard and if they feel their interpretation has changed due to their analysis, revise their storyboard. You may want to have students explain their storyboard and any revisions they made before sharing out.

Another idea is called Red and Blue Discussion. First, students carefully read the poem aloud as a group. Next, students reread the poem taking note of the phrases that interest, scare, impress or surprise them and discuss. Then, students reread the poem again and circle all the people, places or things (nouns) with a blue marker or pencil and discuss. Students reread the poem and circle all of the action words (verbs) with a red marker or pencil and discuss. Finally, discuss with students what the phrase “Life doesn’t frighten me at all” means to them, and then discuss what they think it means to the poet. Students review parts of speech such as nouns and verbs and as well as how to dissect meaning in text.

A final post lesson idea is super fun. I call it Go Big or Go Home! Have students write a long list of things that they are and are NOT afraid of. Encourage them to come up with at least 10 different things. Get creative, even a bit silly. Next, write a list poem or a brief paragraph describing what they are NOT afraid of. Be bold. Go for it! Time permitting, students can illustrate their poem or paragraph before sharing out (whole class, group or partner).