My Papa's Waltz Lesson Plan

Debate on Ambiguity

Kind of Activity:

Classwide Discussion

Objective:

Students will debate the subject of the poem.

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.4; CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.5; CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.3; CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.4

Structure:

Read the poem aloud with the students twice, once emphasizing the words that imply violence or physical aggression (e.g. death, battered, scraped, beat) and once emphasizing the words that imply love or tenderness (e.g. hung on, romped, clinging).

Divide students into two groups for a classwide debate. One group will argue that the poem is about a tender moment between father and son; the other group will argue...