jabberwocky - thethirstybees.com · lesson plan duration: 1-3 days grades: 6-8 english lesson...

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Jabberwocky Louis Carroll

From Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871 – public domain)

LESSON PLAN

Duration: 1-3 days Grades: 6-8

English

LESSON SUMMARY

Learning Vocabulary & Pronunciation; Interpreting Context Clues;

Poetry Analysis

NOTE TO TEACHERS

Many students struggle to understand what they read and, as such, the words they see on the page seem like nonsense or like a foreign language to them. This lesson aims to put all students on the same page – they will ALL be struggling with what they read. In this case, even the “good” readers will likely have difficulty. Jabberwocky is a fun little poem to teach context clues, vocabulary, and even poetry to students. You can use it as a stand-alone lesson or as part of a unit. Students will

have fun making sense of nonsense and trying to pronounce unfamiliar words. This lesson will help them develop some strategies to employ when they encounter any text that is difficult to

understand.

BIG IDEA Reading unfamiliar words can be frustrating. But there are strategies you can use to help you

comprehend the general idea and some of the vocabulary in what is written. By using what you do know and recognize in the text, you can gain a better understanding of what is being said.

ASSIGNMENT MATERIALS & RESOURCES

• Jabberwocky Poem (this poem is in the public domain) • “Elements of Poetry Handout” • “Poetry Analysis Worksheet” • “Jabberwocky Vocabulary” – with definitions • “Jabberwocky Vocabulary Worksheet” • VIDEO: Jabberwocky By Lewis Carroll - Read by Benedict Cumberbatch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Um3787fSY


PROCEDURE

• PRE-TEACH USING CONTEXT CLUES TO DEFINE UNFAMILIAR WORDS IN A TEXT. • Break students into partners or small groups. Provide students a copy of the poem and ask

them to read it. DO NOT READ IT TO THEM. • Provide students a copy of the Vocabulary Worksheet and ask them to fill it out after reading

the poem. • After giving students a few minutes to struggle, suggest it might help them if they heard the

poem read out loud. • Play the VIDEO: Jabberwocky By Lewis Carroll - Read by Benedict Cumberbatch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_Um3787fSY • Give students additional time to determine the meaning of words – and the meaning of the

text. • Once they seem like they can go no further, provide them a list of the vocabulary definitions.

Ask them to use the definitions to determine the meaning of the poem. • Explain to students that many people struggle with what they read, but one strategy that helps

is context clues. Show students a few examples from the poem how context clues could help them get a general meaning of what is being described.

• Remind students that this is a poem. • Provide students with a copy of the “Elements of Poetry Handout” and review with them. • Provide students with a copy of the “Poetry Analysis Worksheet” and have them work on it in

their groups. • When students are finished, facilitate a class share out of their responses. • HOMEWORK: Have students write a Nonsense Poem of their own; include a vocabulary sheet

defining the meaning of the Nonsense Words. • NONSENSE POETRY SLAM: Have students read their Nonsense Poems to the class; provide

copies of the poems to the students and ask them to determine their meaning. • FINAL PRODUCTS and ASSESSMENT: For this assignment, students will be expected to work

collaboratively to discuss and share ideas. They will also engage in vocabulary and poetry analysis, and a culminating writing task and presentation. While the Standards-Based Rubrics provided cover all the general standards associated with each of these, teachers may wish to develop more specific rubrics for each assignment or activity.

• The time allotted to complete this lesson is at the discretion of the teacher. Depending on how much needs to be pre-taught, how much is assigned as homework, and the levels/populations of the students, it is reasonable to expect the entire assignment to take 1-3 days to complete.


ASSESSMENT

The rubrics for the lesson are two versions of generic Common Core Standards-Based 3-point Rubrics – one simply provides feedback without assigning points or a grade; the other uses a 1-4 point scale value that also includes feedback. Depending on your school’s grading policy, the population of your students, and the ranges of their needs and accommodations, you may use the rubrics as they are, or

you may choose to break down each standard into tasks more specifically targeted to each assignment or activity.

EXTENDED LEARNING IDEAS

• Read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There

• Watch any movie version – especially one that features the Jabberwock. • Utilize other Nonsense Word Fluency Resources to provide students further practice in

Literacy.

FINAL NOTES

You may want to make the vocabulary activity a game in which the small group that gets the most correct guesses wins a prize.

COMMON CORE STANDARDS-BASED OBJECTIVES

ELA STANDARDS* • ELA RL.6-8.1: Students will cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says

explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. • ELA RL.6-8.2: Students will determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in its

development over the course of the text. • ELA RL.6-8.4: Students will determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the

text, including figurative and connotative meanings. • ELA W.6-8.4: Students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development,

organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience. • ELA SL.6-8.1: Students will engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions . . . building

on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. • ELA L.6-8.3: Students will use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing,

speaking, reading, or listening. • ELA L.6-8.4: Students will determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning

words and phrases. • ELA L.6-8.5: Students will demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships,

and nuances in word meanings.

JABBERWOCKY Lewis Carroll

(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1871)

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son! The jaws that bite, the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand: Long time the manxome foe he sought -- So rested he by the Tumtum tree, And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood, The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, Came whiffling through the tulgey wood, And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through The vorpal blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock? Come to my arms, my beamish boy! O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!' He chortled in his joy.

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogoves, And the mome raths outgrabe.

JABBERWOCKY Poem Analysis


1

VOCABULARY

Using Context Clues, Identify the Following Words from the Poem

BANDERSNATCH

BEAMISH

BOROGOVE

BRILLIG

BURBLED

CHORTLED

FRABJOUS

FRUMIOUS

GALUMPHING

PERSONIFICATION

METAPHOR

GIMBLE

GYRE



2

JABBERWOCK

JUBJUB BIRD

MANXOME

MIMSY

MOME

OUTGRABE

RATH

SLITHY

SNICKER-SNACK

TOVE

TULGEY

UFFISH

VORPAL

WABE


JABBERWOCKY VOCABULARY

(Definitions provided by Louis Carrol, the Miriam Webster Dictionary, or the Oxford English Dictionary)

Bandersnatch: A swift moving creature with snapping jaws, capable of extending its neck. Beamish: Radiantly beaming, happy, cheerful. Borogove: A thin shabby-looking bird with its feathers sticking out all round, something like a live mop; an extinct kind of Parrot. They had no wings, beaks turned up, made their nests under sun-dials and lived on veal. Brillig: Four o'clock in the afternoon, the time when you begin broiling things for dinner. Burbled: A mixture of the three verbs “bleat,” “murmur,” and “warble.” Chortled: Combination of “chuckle” and “snort.” Frabjous: Possibly a blend of fair, fabulous, and joyous. Frumious: Combination of "fuming" and "furious.” Galumphing: A blend of “gallop” and “triumphant.” Gimble: To bore or to make holes. Gyre: To rotate, spiral, or go round and round like a gyroscope. Jabberwock: It is often depicted as a monster similar to a dragon. Jubjub bird: A desperate bird that lives in perpetual passion. It might make reference to the call of the bird resembling the sound "jub, jub.” Manxome: Possibly “fearsome,” or a combination of "manly" and "buxom.”


Mimsy: flimsy and miserable Mome: Possibly short for “from home.” Outgrabe: Something between bellowing and whistling, with a kind of sneeze in the Middle. Rath: A sort of green pig, or a species of land turtle. Head erect, mouth like a shark, the front forelegs curved out so that the animal walked on its knees, smooth green body, lived on swallows and oysters. Slithy: lithe and slimy Snicker-snack: Possibly related to the large knife, the snickersnee. Tove: Something like badgers, something like lizards, and something like corkscrews. They make their nests under sun-dials, also they live on cheese. Tulgey: Carroll himself said he could give no source for Tulgey. Could be taken to mean thick, dense, dark. Uffish: A state of mind when the voice is gruffish, the manner roughish, and the temper huffish. Vorpal: Carroll said he could not explain this word, though it has been noted that it can be formed by taking letters alternately from "verbal" and "gospel.” Wabe: The grass plot around a sundial or the side of a hill.


ELEMENTS OF POETRY POETRY (definition) – language used in special ways, sounds, and rhythms that express emotions and thoughts more powerfully than ordinary speech and writing. IMAGERY: a. Written language that creates a visual PICTURE IN THE MIND by describing

something in great detail. b. Written language that uses words that appeal to the SENSES (seeing, hearing,

feeling, tasting, smelling).

FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE/FIGURES OF SPEECH: Metaphor – describing something as if it were something else.

a. Example 1: She is a flower. b. Example 2: He is a bear when he wakes up in the morning.

Simile – comparing two things using the words “like” or “as.”

a. Example 1: The morning sun is shining like a red, rubber ball b. Example 2: Your child is as cute as a baby goat.

Personification – describing something NON-human as if it WAS human.

a. Example 1: The thirsty trees stretched their arms to welcome the falling rain.

b. Example 2: The abandoned house sat lonely and depressed in the dismal woods.

Symbolism – a word that stands for what it is AND for something else

a. Example 1: FLAG – is a flag, represents Patriotism b. Example 2: COYOTE – is a coyote, represents Mischief


SOUND – created by the use of rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, assonance, onomatopoeia, and repetition. Rhyme – repetition of sounds at the ends of words and lines of poetry

a. Example 1: locks, socks, box, rocks b. Example 2: there once was a bee, who tried to sting me

Rhythm/Iambic Meter – the pattern/number of beats in a poem I HAVE a CAT (2 beats/2 iambs) Who’s VERy FAT (2 beats/2 iambss)

Iamb – a metrical “foot” which contains two syllables: the first is soft, the second is stressed.

a. Example 1: the word BEFORE b. Example 2: the word DECIDE

Alliteration – repetition of consonant sounds

a. Example 1: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. b. Example 2: Billy Bob broke his big brown bat. c. Example 3: The colorful calico cat can’t cook carrots.

Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds

a. Example 1: When I wake I will take some steak to the lake.

b. Example 2: The fat black cat had a rabbit in its hat. c. Example 3: The dog in the bog ate a frog on a log.

Onomatopoeia – words that sound like what they name

c. Example 1: beep, bang, boom, slap, sniff d. Example 2: meow, woof, whinny, moo, oink

Repetition – when a word or phrase is repeated two or more times two or more times; two or more times; two or more times



1

LITERARY ELEMENTS

Identify the Following

CHARACTERS

• Protagonist

• Antagonist

SETTING

PLOT

CONFLICT

POINT OF VIEW

THEME



2

POETIC ELEMENTS

Provide an Example of Any of the Following in the Poem

PERSONIFICATION

METAPHOR

SIMILE

IMAGERY

ALLITERATION

ASSONANCE

IAMBIC METER

RHYME

REPETITION

SYMBOLISM

OTHER?


Jabberwocky TPT L5 Standards-Based Rubric A

Needs Improvement Meets the Standard Excels ELA RL.6-8.1: Students will cite

textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

ELA RL.6-8.2: Students will determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in its development over the course of the text.

ELA RL.6-8.4: Students will determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings.

ELA W.6-8.4: Students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.

ELA SL.6-8.1: Students will engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions . . . building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

ELA L.6-8.3: Students will use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

ELA L.6-8.4: Students will determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases.

ELA L.6-8.5: Students will demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.


Jabberwocky TPT L5 Standards-Based Rubric B

Standard 1 2 3 4 Feedback ELA RL.6-8.1: Students will cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

ELA RL.6-8.2: Students will determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in its development over the course of the text.

ELA RL.6-8.4: Students will determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings.

ELA W.6-8.4: Students will produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to the task, purpose, and audience.

ELA SL.6-8.1: Students will engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions . . . building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

ELA L.6-8.3: Students will use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

ELA L.6-8.4: Students will determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases.

ELA L.6-8.5: Students will demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

jabberwocky - thethirstybees.com · lesson plan duration: 1-3 days grades: 6-8 english lesson...

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