Lesson on the “Unknown”: Visual to Text Literacy
Susan Turley wanted to do an extended looking lesson for her AP classes focusing on the theme of the “unknown.” To this end, we used the Extended Looking Learning Targets and Reflection and paired them with this image:
After we went through the extended looking process, we immediately transferred the skills to text the next day using the following poem:
From Space to Time
on a day when
we were dark
and not so full of
light
we met
what did we find?
nothing.
everything, when we closed
our eyes
which anyway
had never been open.
once, we thought we
loved each other
who can reverse
time?
we tried.
we stepped out
of space
into some new
step of distance
and fell—
and not in love.
Taken from Poetry Foundation:
Carolyn M. Rodgers, “From Space to Time” from The Heart As Ever Green (Garden City: Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1978).
Copyright © 1978 by Carolyn M. Rodgers.
Here is the worksheet we used to guide through the extended looking process after students had read the poem.
The students began with seven minutes to fill out the “observation” part of the chart. In the seven minutes, they wrote down observations from the poem about the following independently:
- Context (are there stated characters, setting, dialogue, action, audience?)
- Surface features (sentence structure, punctuation, word usage)
- Literary devices (simile, metaphor and imagery)
Afterward, they worked in small groups to come up with their “meaningful connections,” “questions,” “theme statements” and “supporting evidence of theme.”
Susan and I will be reflecting on the learning targets and extended looking process for text later this week.
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