Overview

Lesson Procedure

55-65 minutes of class time across 5 phases.

1. Warm-Up5 minutes
2. Direct Instruction15 minutes
3. Guided Practice15-20 minutes
4. Independent Practice15 minutes
5. Closure5-10 minutes

1. Warm-Up5 minutes

   Warm-Up Prompt

   "Think of a movie or book you know well. Pick one scene. If that scene were cut, what would the audience miss or not understand later? Write two sentences."

   Take three or four answers. Point out that students are already doing today's skill: they are asking where a part comes and what the rest of the story needs from it. Write the two questions on the board: Where does this part fit? and What does it add?

2. Direct Instruction15 minutes

   Teach these words and leave them on the board:

   • Structure: the way the parts of a text are put in order and connected, like the frame of a house.
   • The parts have names. A stanza is a group of lines in a poem, set apart by a blank line. A scene is a part of a story that happens in one place and time. A chapter is a numbered section of a book. A single sentence can also do an important job.
   • Plot: the events of a story in order. Most plots have a beginning that sets up a problem, a middle where tension grows, a turning point (the moment things change for the main character) and an ending.
   • Setting: where and when a story happens. Theme: a message about life that the text develops, such as "honesty matters more than winning."
   • Suspense: the tense feeling of waiting to find out what happens. Foreshadowing: a hint about something that will happen later.

   To analyze a part, ask two questions. Where does it fit? (What comes before and after it? What does it set up or pay off?) What does it add? (Does it build the setting, move the plot or develop the theme?)

   Introduce the text: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was one of the best-known American poets of his time. "Paul Revere's Ride" tells how, on the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere rode through the Massachusetts countryside to warn that British soldiers were coming. The poem has 13 stanzas. Words to know: belfry (the room at the top of a tower where bells hang), aloft (high up), Middlesex (the county northwest of Boston), muffled oar (an oar wrapped in cloth so it makes little noise), moorings (the ropes and anchors that hold a ship in place), man-of-war (a warship), spar (a pole that holds a ship's sails) and hulk (a big, heavy body of a ship). Read stanzas 1-3 aloud.

   1Listen, my children, and you shall hear
   Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
   On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
   Hardly a man is now alive
   5Who remembers that famous day and year.

   He said to his friend, “If the British march
   By land or sea from the town to-night,
   Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
   Of the North Church tower as a signal light,—
   10One, if by land, and two, if by sea;
   And I on the opposite shore will be,
   Ready to ride and spread the alarm
   Through every Middlesex village and farm
   For the country folk to be up and to arm,”

   15Then he said, “Good night!” and with muffled oar
   Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore,
   Just as the moon rose over the bay,
   Where swinging wide at her moorings lay
   The Somerset, British man-of-war;
   20A phantom ship, with each mast and spar
   Across the moon like a prison bar,
   And a huge black hulk, that was magnified
   By its own reflection in the tide.

   • An opening stanza

     Stanza 1 (lines 1-5) comes before Revere does anything. How does it fit into the structure of the poem, and what does it add?

     Result: It is the opening: a speaker talks to listeners ("Listen, my children, and you shall hear") and promises them a story. It gives the date, "the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five," so it builds the setting in time. Because it comes first, every stanza after it becomes the story the speaker promised to tell.

   • A stanza that sets up the plot

     In stanza 2 (lines 6-14), Revere tells his friend to hang lanterns in the North Church tower. How does this stanza contribute to the plot?

     Result: It sets up the problem and a plan. The British may march, and a signal will tell Revere which way: "One, if by land, and two, if by sea" (line 10). This gives the reader a question to carry into the next stanzas: which signal will appear? Without stanza 2, the lanterns later in the poem would mean nothing.

   • A stanza that moves the plot forward

     In stanza 3, Revere says "Good night!" and "with muffled oar / Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore" (lines 15-16). What does this part of stanza 3 add?

     Result: It carries out the first step of the plan: Revere goes to "the opposite shore" he spoke of in line 11. The quiet rowing shows that the plan is secret and risky, which adds tension to the plot. It also moves the setting from the town to the water at moonrise: "Just as the moon rose over the bay" (line 17).

   • One sentence in the opening

     "Hardly a man is now alive / Who remembers that famous day and year" (lines 4-5). What does this sentence do at the start of the poem?

     Result: It tells the reader that the speaker is looking back from many years later, when almost no one who saw the events is still living. So the events belong to the distant past, and the poem is a retelling. Placed right after the date, the sentence makes the ride sound famous and long ago, almost like a legend.

   Show Diagram 1, the map of all 13 stanzas. Point out that the stanzas students just read are the beginning. Ask: "If the poem began with stanza 7, what would a listener not understand?" Then show Diagram 2 and tell students they will meet a second text later in the lesson.

3. Guided Practice15-20 minutes

   Tell students what happens in stanzas 4-6, which this page does not print: Revere's friend hears British soldiers marching to their boats, climbs the tower of the Old North Church, and looks out over the graveyard and the river. Then read stanzas 7-8 and stanzas 9-13 aloud. Words to know: impetuous (acting quickly, without waiting), saddle-girth (the strap that holds a saddle on a horse), spectral (ghostly), sombre (an older spelling of somber: dark and gloomy), steed (a horse), fleet (fast), the steep (a steep hill), the Mystic (a river north of Boston), alders (trees that grow by water), gilded weathercock (a gold-colored weather vane shaped like a rooster), aghast (shocked and horrified), Regulars (full-time soldiers), defiance (bold refusal to obey) and peril (danger).

   1Meanwhile, impatient to mount and ride,
   Booted and spurred, with a heavy stride
   On the opposite shore walked Paul Revere.
   Now he patted his horse’s side,
   5Now gazed at the landscape far and near,
   Then, impetuous, stamped the earth,
   And turned and tightened his saddle-girth;
   But mostly he watched with eager search
   The belfry-tower of the Old North Church,
   10As it rose above the graves on the hill,
   Lonely and spectral and sombre and still.
   And lo! as he looks, on the belfry’s height
   A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!
   He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
   15But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
   A second lamp in the belfry burns!

   A hurry of hoofs in a village street,
   A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark,
   And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark
   20Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet:
   That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light,
   The fate of a nation was riding that night;
   And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight,
   Kindled the land into flame with its heat.
   25He has left the village and mounted the steep,
   And beneath him, tranquil and broad and deep,
   Is the Mystic, meeting the ocean tides;
   And under the alders, that skirt its edge,
   Now soft on the sand, now loud on the ledge,
   30Is heard the tramp of his steed as he rides.

   1It was twelve by the village clock
   When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.
   He heard the crowing of the cock,
   And the barking of the farmer’s dog,
   5And felt the damp of the river fog,
   That rises after the sun goes down.

   It was one by the village clock,
   When he galloped into Lexington.
   He saw the gilded weathercock
   10Swim in the moonlight as he passed,
   And the meeting-house windows, blank and bare,
   Gaze at him with a spectral glare,
   As if they already stood aghast
   At the bloody work they would look upon.

   15It was two by the village clock,
   When he came to the bridge in Concord town.
   He heard the bleating of the flock,
   And the twitter of birds among the trees,
   And felt the breath of the morning breeze
   20Blowing over the meadows brown.
   And one was safe and asleep in his bed
   Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
   Who that day would be lying dead,
   Pierced by a British musket-ball.

   25You know the rest. In the books you have read,
   How the British Regulars fired and fled,—
   How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
   From behind each fence and farm-yard wall,
   Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
   30Then crossing the fields to emerge again
   Under the trees at the turn of the road,
   And only pausing to fire and load.

   So through the night rode Paul Revere;
   And so through the night went his cry of alarm
   35To every Middlesex village and farm,—
   A cry of defiance and not of fear,
   A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
   And a word that shall echo forevermore!
   For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
   40Through all our history, to the last,
   In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
   The people will waken and listen to hear
   The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
   And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

   1. Notice the change in speed. Pairs reread the first four lines of stanza 8 (lines 17-20 of the stanzas 7-8 passage). Teacher key: "A hurry of hoofs in a village street, / A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark" are pieces of sentences, not full sentences. The reader catches only quick glimpses, the way a villager might. The pace (the speed at which a story moves) jumps to a rush, so the stanza marks the moment the ride begins.
   2. Read a setting detail. Pairs reread lines 7-10 of the last passage (stanza 10) and explain what "He saw the gilded weathercock / Swim in the moonlight as he passed" adds. Teacher key: the weathercock seems to "swim" because Revere rushes past it in the moonlight. The detail builds a night setting in Lexington and shows how fast he is riding.
   3. Test the structure with Diagram 1. Pairs choose one printed stanza that they think could be cut with the least loss, and one that could not be cut at all. They explain both choices with a quotation. Teacher key: answers vary. Strong answers name the stanza's job (setting, plot or theme) and say what a later stanza would lose without it.

   Collect answers to step 3 on the board. Students usually disagree about which stanza is least needed; that disagreement is the point, because each argument has to explain how the part fits the whole.

4. Independent Practice15 minutes

   Students now read a scene from a story. Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875) was a Danish writer of fairy tales. In "The Ugly Duckling," a large gray bird hatches last in a duck's nest and is treated cruelly for being different. The story moves through one year, season by season (Diagram 2). The passage below is from the middle of the story. Words to know: reeds (tall grasses that grow in water), radiant (shining brightly), plumage (a bird's feathers), singular (strange, unusual) and envious (wanting what someone else has).

   1Autumn came, and the leaves in the forest turned to orange and gold; then, as winter approached, the wind caught them as they fell and whirled them into the cold air. The clouds, heavy with hail and snowflakes, hung low in the sky, and the raven stood among the reeds, crying, "Croak, croak." It made one shiver with cold to look at him. All this was very sad for the poor little duckling.

   2One evening, just as the sun was setting amid radiant clouds, there came a large flock of beautiful birds out of the bushes. The duckling had never seen any like them before. They were swans; and they curved their graceful necks, while their soft plumage shone with dazzling whiteness. They uttered a singular cry as they spread their glorious wings and flew away from those cold regions to warmer countries across the sea. They mounted higher and higher in the air, and the ugly little duckling had a strange sensation as he watched them. He whirled himself in the water like a wheel, stretched out his neck towards them, and uttered a cry so strange that it frightened even himself. Could he ever forget those beautiful, happy birds! And when at last they were out of his sight, he dived under the water and rose again almost beside himself with excitement. He knew not the names of these birds nor where they had flown, but he felt towards them as he had never felt towards any other bird in the world.

   3He was not envious of these beautiful creatures; it never occurred to him to wish to be as lovely as they. Poor ugly creature, how gladly he would have lived even with the ducks, had they only treated him kindly and given him encouragement.

   On the handout, students (1) use Diagram 2 to say where this scene comes in the story and what happened just before it; (2) list two setting details in paragraph 1 and explain what they add; (3) explain how paragraph 2 fits into the whole story; (4) write one sentence stating a theme this scene helps develop. The quiz uses this passage and the three "Paul Revere's Ride" passages.

5. Closure5-10 minutes

   Exit ticket: choose one stanza or paragraph from today and complete the frame: "This part comes ___ in the text. It connects to ___, which comes before or after it. It adds to the (setting, plot or theme) because ___."

   Teacher note on language and content: the texts keep the wording and spelling of their older printings, such as "to-night," "sombre" and "towards." "Paul Revere's Ride" mentions a death by "a British musket-ball" and "the bloody work" of the fighting. The poem is a story, not a history source: Longfellow changed events, and in fact Revere was captured by a British patrol before he reached Concord, and other riders, including William Dawes and Samuel Prescott, spread the alarm too; it was Prescott who got through to Concord. In parts of "The Ugly Duckling" not printed here, hunters shoot two wild geese and the duckling is bitten and chased; teachers who read the whole story aloud may want to preview those scenes.

   For homework: students read the passage below, which begins at the end of the hard winter and runs to the end of the story. Words to know: privations (hardships from not having enough food, warmth or shelter), espied (caught sight of), of no consequence (does not matter), persecuted (treated cruelly again and again) and despised (strongly disliked).

   1It would be very sad were I to relate all the misery and privations which the poor little duckling endured during the hard winter; but when it had passed he found himself lying one morning in a moor, amongst the rushes. He felt the warm sun shining and heard the lark singing and saw that all around was beautiful spring.

   [...]

   2Then he flew to the water and swam towards the beautiful swans. The moment they espied the stranger they rushed to meet him with outstretched wings.

   3"Kill me," said the poor bird and he bent his head down to the surface of the water and awaited death.

   4But what did he see in the clear stream below? His own image--no longer a dark-gray bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan.

   5To be born in a duck's nest in a farmyard is of no consequence to a bird if it is hatched from a swan's egg. He now felt glad at having suffered sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness around him; for the great swans swam round the newcomer and stroked his neck with their beaks, as a welcome.

   6Into the garden presently came some little children and threw bread and cake into the water.

   [...]

   7"See," cried the youngest, "there is a new one;" and the rest were delighted, and ran to their father and mother, dancing and clapping their hands and shouting joyously, "There is another swan come; a new one has arrived."

   8Then they threw more bread and cake into the water and said, "The new one is the most beautiful of all, he is so young and pretty." And the old swans bowed their heads before him.

   9Then he felt quite ashamed and hid his head under his wing, for he did not know what to do, he was so happy--yet he was not at all proud. He had been persecuted and despised for his ugliness, and now he heard them say he was the most beautiful of all the birds. Even the elder tree bent down its boughs into the water before him, and the sun shone warm and bright. Then he rustled his feathers, curved his slender neck, and cried joyfully, from the depths of his heart, "I never dreamed of such happiness as this while I was the despised ugly duckling."

Differentiation Strategies

Assessment Guidance

1. Question 1 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   A story has three chapters. In Chapter 1, a girl finds an old key in a garden. In Chapter 2, she searches her house for the lock it fits. In Chapter 3, she opens a locked trunk in the attic. How does Chapter 1 fit into the structure of the story?

   AIt sets up the problem the later chapters solve. BIt solves the mystery that the story begins with. CIt is the most exciting moment, near the end. DIt could be cut, since the key is not used again.

2. Question 2 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Stanza 7 begins with "Meanwhile" (line 1), after three stanzas that follow Revere's friend through the town and up the church tower. What does this word show about the poem's structure?

   AThe poem skips ahead to the next morning in Concord. BThe friend and Revere are now standing in one place. CThe poem goes back to the start to retell the story. DTwo scenes are happening at once, in two places.

3. Question 3 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In stanza 3, the British warship Somerset is "A phantom ship, with each mast and spar / Across the moon like a prison bar" (lines 20-21). What does this detail add to the setting?

   AA calm, lovely night with no danger at all BA sense of danger, as if the British could trap them CA friendly welcome from the ship's crew to Revere DA clue that the British have already left the bay

4. Question 4 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "Now he patted his horse's side, / Now gazed at the landscape far and near, / Then, impetuous, stamped the earth, / And turned and tightened his saddle-girth" (lines 4-7). How do these lines fit into stanza 7?

   AThey show that Revere has given up and gone home. BThey describe the fight between farmers and soldiers. CThey build suspense by delaying the signal. DThey explain how the British will cross the river.

5. Question 5 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   At the end of stanza 7, "A second lamp in the belfry burns!" (line 16). Using the plan in stanza 2 (Direct Instruction, line 10), what does the second lamp tell Revere?

   AThe British are marching out of town by land. BThe friend has been caught in the church tower. CThe British are leaving by water, as two lamps meant. DRevere should wait for a third light before riding.

6. Question 6 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   "But mostly he watched with eager search / The belfry-tower of the Old North Church, / As it rose above the graves on the hill, / Lonely and spectral and sombre and still" (lines 8-11). What do these lines add to the setting?

   AA gloomy, ghostly mood around the church as he waits BA bright, busy scene of a town getting ready to fight CA peaceful picture of Revere resting after the ride DA funny moment that breaks the tension of the night

7. Question 7 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In lines 25-30, "He has left the village and mounted the steep," and the river Mystic lies "beneath him." How does this part of stanza 8 change the setting?

   AIt moves the ride back into the church tower. BIt moves the ride out of the village into open country. CIt moves the story forward to the next afternoon. DIt moves the ride onto a British ship out at sea.

8. Question 8 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   Stanzas 9, 10 and 11 each begin almost the same way: "It was twelve by the village clock," "It was one by the village clock," "It was two by the village clock." How does this repeated pattern fit into the poem's structure?

   AIt works like a timeline, marking each hour and town. BIt shows that all three stanzas happen at one time. CIt shows Revere riding in circles around one town. DIt tells the reader the ride ended before it began.

9. Question 9 of 20 · Multiple Choice

   In Lexington, "the meeting-house windows, blank and bare, / Gaze at him with a spectral glare, / As if they already stood aghast / At the bloody work they would look upon" (lines 11-14). A meeting-house is a building used for church services and town meetings. What do these lines do in the poem's structure?

   AThey describe fighting that has already ended. BThey show that the windows are the story's villains. CThey hint at fighting that will come later that day. DThey explain why the people of Lexington are asleep.

10. Question 10 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    "And one was safe and asleep in his bed / Who at the bridge would be first to fall" (lines 21-22). What does this detail contribute?

    AIt tells the reader that no one was hurt that day. BIt shows that Revere woke every house in Concord. CIt explains that the fighting took place in bed. DIt foreshadows a death and shows the ride's cost.

11. Question 11 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Stanza 12 begins, "You know the rest. In the books you have read" (line 25), and the battle takes only eight lines. Why does the poem treat the battle so briefly?

    AThe poem is about the ride, and the listeners know the history. BThe speaker does not know which side won the fighting that day. CThe battle came before the ride, so it is out of order. DThe British asked the speaker not to talk about it.

12. Question 12 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    The poem ends: "For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, / Through all our history, to the last, / In the hour of darkness and peril and need, / The people will waken and listen to hear / The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed" (lines 39-43). What does this ending add to the poem?

    AIt tells what happened to Revere's horse later on. BIt makes the ride a lasting call to act in danger. CIt reveals that the whole story was only a dream. DIt returns to the plan with the lanterns in the tower.

13. Question 13 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    Paragraph 1 of the passage from "The Ugly Duckling" begins, "Autumn came, and the leaves in the forest turned to orange and gold," and ends, "All this was very sad for the poor little duckling." How does this paragraph contribute to the story?

    AIt shows that the duckling has at last found a warm, safe home. BIt describes the farmyard where the duckling was born. CIt proves the duckling is a raven among the reeds. DIt moves the story into a cold season that fits his hard life.

14. Question 14 of 20 · Multiple Choice

    In paragraph 2, the duckling sees swans for the first time: "They were swans; and they curved their graceful necks, while their soft plumage shone with dazzling whiteness." Using Diagram 2, how does this scene fit into the overall structure of the story?

    AIt is the final scene, and it ends with the swans leaving. BIt repeats the farmyard scene, where the ducks bite him. CIt foreshadows the end, when he learns he is a swan. DIt introduces the hen and the cat, who become his friends.

15. Question 15 of 20 · Short Answer

    "He knew not the names of these birds nor where they had flown, but he felt towards them as he had never felt towards any other bird in the world" (paragraph 2). Explain how this sentence helps develop a theme of the story.

    Show model answer

16. Question 16 of 20 · Short Answer

    Explain the difference between a story's plot and its structure. Use "Paul Revere's Ride" as your example.

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17. Question 17 of 20 · Short Answer

    Line 13 of stanza 2 (Direct Instruction) and line 35 of the last stanza (Guided Practice) both end with the same words: "every Middlesex village and farm." Explain what this repetition shows about how the poem is built.

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18. Question 18 of 20 · Short Answer

    Paragraph 3 of the Andersen passage says the duckling "was not envious" of the swans and that "how gladly he would have lived even with the ducks, had they only treated him kindly and given him encouragement." What does this paragraph add to the reader's understanding of the duckling, and how does it help develop a theme?

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19. Question 19 of 20 · Short Answer

    Compare the setting details in stanza 9 (lines 3-6) and stanza 11 (lines 17-20) of "Paul Revere's Ride." What do the changes show about the ride's progress?

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20. Question 20 of 20 · Short Answer

    "That was all! And yet, through the gloom and the light, / The fate of a nation was riding that night; / And the spark struck out by that steed, in his flight, / Kindled the land into flame with its heat" (lines 21-24). Explain how these lines connect a small moment in the plot to a big idea in the poem.

    Show model answer

These standards connect to RL.6.5: prerequisites to review first, parallel standards at the same level, and next steps that build on it.

Standard text: Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy. © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.