Leading a Power Line lesson in Imagine Reading

In an Imagine Reading poetry study, students read a poem and supporting prose that helps them better understand it. After reading each poem, Teachers can lead a whole-class discussion called a Power Line lesson to help students enjoy the poem at the surface level and beyond. Each Power Line lesson creates opportunities to explore and discuss key lines from a poem to unlock deeper meaning, deeper connections, and deeper insights into the poet’s craft.

Example Power Lines

Throughout the lesson, students also apply their new understanding to the Focus Question, which helps them create connections between poetry and broader academic topics. At the end of each lesson, students can use what they learned to develop their own writing and strengthen their own poetic sensibilities.

Each Power Line lesson includes an overall objective and the Common Core standards taught in the lesson.

Student Benefits

The targeted language instruction in each Power Line Lesson benefits your students in multiple ways:

• Helps students discover the beauty and usefulness of figurative language when expressing ideas and emotions.
• Provides students with insights and ideas that enrich their own writing—both poetry and prose.
• Builds students’ understanding of poetic language, helping them engage with literature that builds empathy and emotional intelligence.
• Provides a model for students to engage in academic discourse.

Teacher Preparation

To prepare for the Power Line lesson, read or review the following items:

• The Power Line Lesson Protocol (standard for all Power Line lessons)
• The Power Line Lesson Plan (specific to each poem)
• The students' poem that contains the Power Lines

You should also print the Poetry Study handout for your students as described below.

To lead a Power Line lesson: 

1. Log in to Imagine Reading. 
2. Click Unit Library in the upper navigation bar and choose the applicable unit.
   
3. Click the title of the applicable poem in the left navigation bar.
   
4. Select Power Line Lesson in Step 2: Deep Reading Cycle.
   
5. The Power Line Lesson page opens. Scroll to view the entire lesson plan and click Print if desired. The lesson plan is unique to the poetry passage you've selected.
   
6. Scroll to the Teacher Preparation section. Open the Power Line Lesson Protocol for your reference.
   
   The protocol is the same for all Power Line lessons.
   
7. In the Student Materials section, ensure students have copies of the Poetry Study. These are unique for each poem. 
   
8. Follow the lesson plan. It includes step-by-step instructions on establishing context, deconstructing the Power Lines and unpacking their meaning, connecting ideas between the Power Lines and the Focus Question, reconstructing the Power Lines, and transitioning to close reading.

    Note

   Unlike Power Sentence lessons, Power Line lessons do not have Presentation Mode at this time.