1. Activity 1.3: Choices and Consequences– Paired Poetry
7th Grade Springboard
Activity 1.3: Choices and Consequences– Paired Poetry

2. Learning Targets
I can analyze choices and consequences presented in the text.
I can analyze and compare diction choices in two different texts on the same topic.

3. Entry/Notes Journal
In your Entry/Notes Journal, please complete the following in your table of contents:
10/11 Activity 1.3 Vocab pg. ______

4. Denotation
The word’s exact, literal meaning.

5. Connotation
The suggested or implied meaning or emotion associated with the word. The meaning goes beyond the literal definition.

6. Diction
The author’s word choice.

7. Stanza Describes the division of lines into equal groups.
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” is divided into 4 stanzas of 5 lines each.

8. Narra (root word) To tell or to make known
Examples: narrative or narrator

9. Rhyme Scheme The pattern of rhyme that comes at the end of each verse.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H …

10. Before Reading
In the poem you will be reading, the narrator comes to a “fork in the road.” This is an example of figurative, not literal, language, as the phrase does not refer to an eating utensil in a driving lane. How would you describe a “fork in the road”?
A “fork in the road” physically means a Y-shaped intersection. Figuratively, it can mean a point in life where there is a choice to make; something that causes a person to make a decision.

11. Writing Journal
In your Writing Journal, please complete the following in your table of contents:
10-12 Activity 1.3 Choices Brainstorm pg.

12. Before Reading
2. Create a web titled “My Choices” to brainstorm the choices you have faced and decisions you have made in your life. Think about large and small choices from the past and in the present. You will return to this web throughout the unit.

13. Before Reading
3. Poetry is a literary form you probably have had experience with as a reader, writer, or both. What do you know about poetry as a literary form? How is it different from prose (ordinary writing) writing?
Poetry is a form of literary art (rhythm, rhyme, stanza, figurative language, etc.).
Prose is the most typical form of English. The Latin term for prose means “straight-forward”.

14. Note: Like narratives, poetry is written form a point of view.
First person point of view is written from the character’s point of view and uses words like I, me, my, and mine.
Third person point of view is written from a narrator’s point of view and uses words like he, she, they.

15. Grammar & Usage pg. 10 Punctuation Period Exclamation Point Semicolon
Comma
Dash

16. During Reading
4. During the first reading, mark the text by underlining unfamiliar words. Marking the text helps you engage in close reading and organizing your textual evidence after reading. During your second reading, paraphrase each stanza. It is also important to examine both denotation and connotation of unfamiliar words as part of the close reading strategy.

17. About the Author
Robert Frost ( ) was one of America’s most popular twentieth-century poets. For much of his life, he lived on a farm in New Hampshire and wrote poems about farm life and the New England landscape. His apparently simple poems, however, have many layers of meaning.

18. During Reading
4. During the first reading, mark the text by underlining unfamiliar words. Marking the text helps you engage in close reading and organizing your textual evidence after reading. During your second reading, paraphrase each stanza. It is also important to examine both denotation and connotation of unfamiliar words as part of the close reading strategy.

19. Stanza 1 Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
The speaker is describing a fork in the road in the fall.
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
He wants to go down both roads at once, but he must choose.
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth
He is trying to see as far down the road as he can, to see if that will help him make his choice.
If this is a metaphor for life, he could be trying to look into his future as far as he can see

20. Stanza 2 Then took the other, as just as fair,
The speaker makes his choice. Each path is different but potentially equally good.
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
He is happy with his choice, but still second guesses himself. However, ultimately it was the “less traveled” road.
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
Then as the journey progresses, he realizes they’re actually worn about the same.

21. Stanza 3 And both that morning equally lay
We hear again that on that morning, each were equal.
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
The speaker is thinking about the other path again and wants to come back to it on another day.
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
However, he realizes he won’t because each road leads to another and eventually you’re far from where you started.

22. Stanza 4 I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
In years from now, he will be telling it with a “sigh” (happy, sad, or reflective). This decision will impact his future.
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
This line is repeated from the beginning– and it reminds us that the choice is important.
I took the one less traveled by,
He is summing up the story that he took the “less” traveled road
And that has made all the difference.
The difference could be positive or negative but will have lasting effects as he imagines telling this story in the future.

23. Explain how the poem’s meaning is developed through the progression of the four stanzas.
The speaker is given two choices, he makes the choice, reflects on his choice and its impact on his future.
The poem is developed throughout the progression of the stanzas by posing a choice. We are all free to choose, but we don’t know before hand what will occur and how it will impact our future.

24. About the Author
Nikki Giovanni is a popular poet and professor of English. Over the years, she has won numerous writing awards. Her writing often focuses on individuals and their choices to make a difference.

25. During Reading: “Choices”
4. During the first reading, mark the text by highlighting or underlining unfamiliar words. Marking the text helps you engage in close reading and organizing your textual evidence after reading. During your second reading, paraphrase each stanza. It is also important to examine both denotation and connotation of unfamiliar words as part of the close reading strategy.

26. Stanza 1
Since I can’t do what I want, I shouldn’t do what I don’t want.
Don’t settle for a job or something you are unhappy with because it’s the “best” you can do. Always strive for more and when you get there, be satisfied with what you have.

27. Stanza 2
If I can’t have what I want, I should be happy with what I’ve got.
Not everyone can have everything they want. We need to learn to be happy with what we have. Especially in today’s society. However, at the same time, we need to keep working towards goals not materials.

28. Stanza 3 If I can’t go where I want, I should go where life points me.
Staying where you’re at in life or happy with where you’re at, isn’t always taking a step backwards.
She is reminding herself of this because she is upset she isn’t reaching her goals because she cannot freely choose (lateral)

29. Stanza 4
When I can’t express what I’m feeling, I should feel what I can express.
If she can’t express what she truly wants in life, she will learn to be happy with what she has.
She does her best with what she has, but it’s still devastating to be unable to freely choose to express her significance in the world.

30. Key Idea and Details: Examine Giovanni’s diction
Key Idea and Details: Examine Giovanni’s diction. Notice the choice of the word job. What is the denotation of this word? Think about the connotation of word job. How does it add to a sense of Giovanni’s tone or attitude?
Denotation:
The word “job” means duty, task, or function that someone has and it requires great effort.
Connotation:
“Job” rather than employment, occupation, and work carries with a sense of duty and responsibility.

31. After Reading
5. Use the graphic organizer to compare and contrast the two poems.

32. The Road Not Taken
Examples of connotative diction and implied meaning/emotion:
Traveler– carries the sense of a journey
Fair– multiple meanings and connotation of being equal of appealing
Roads, way– sense of journey. Way carries connotative sense of life path
Sigh– attitude word, or regret or resignation

33. Choices Examples of connotative diction and implied meaning/emotion:
Want– carries a sense of desire and need or childish demand
Job– carries a sense of chore or duty
Cry– attitude of regret or resignation

34. The Road Not Taken
What do you notice about how the speaker responds to “choice” in this poem?
The speaker responds to choice in a way that suggests a sense of the significance of choices in life. That it will have unknown benefits or perhaps have regrettable consequences.

35. Choices
What do you notice about how the speaker responds to “choice” in this poem?
The speaker responds to a choice in a way that suggests a sense of inability to make choices one needs to make in order to fully express oneself, leading or frustration and regret.

36. The Road Not Taken
Theme: What is the message about life implied in this poem?
A person’s choice or decision may have a significant but unknowable impact on his/her life.

37. Choices Theme: What is the message about life implied in this poem?
Truly free choice is an important way to express one’s significance in the world, a significance which may be thwarted again and again.

38. Check Your Understanding
Writing Prompt: Use evidence from the text and you analysis to complete the sentence starter below. Be sure to:
Use precise language when referring to the poems.
Start your paragraph with a topic sentence that finishes the sentence starter.
My attitude about “choices” is most like the speaker from (Frost’s poem “A Road Not Taken” or Giovanni’s poem “Choices”) because…

39. Choices and Consequences
Many choices have consequences. Create a web to explore the meaning of consequences. What synonyms do you know? Consult a dictionary and thesaurus to help you find synonyms.
Consequences

40. Writing Journal
Go back to you “My Choices” web and add the consequences for the choices you labeled. Some choices may have several consequences. Add just the most important ones that resulted from you choice.

41. Learning Targets
I can analyze choices and consequences presented in the text.
I can analyze and compare diction choices in two different texts on the same topic.