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Poetry,

Basketball Ballet

In this descriptive poem about basketball, students will identify examples of imagery.

By Barbara Juster Esbensen
From the March / April 2018 Issue

Learning Objective: In this descriptive poem about basketball, students will identify examples of imagery. 

Featured Skill: Poetic Structures,
Topic: Sports,
Common Core Standards
  • R.1, R.2, R.4, R.5, R.6, R.7, W.2, SL.1, SL.2, L.5
TEKS Standards
  • 3.2, 3.4, 3.6, 3.10, 3.18b, 3.29, 3.30

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Can't Get Enough of Barbara?

The author of this poem, Barbara Juster Esbensen, wrote 19 books, including seven poetry collections. Check out Words With Wrinkled Knees: Animal Poems, considered one of her best, with its creative descriptions of animals and clever examinations of the words used to describe them. 

 

Celebrate National Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month—check out their site for a fantastic list of 30 ways to celebrate!

 

Book Brackets

On the subject of basketball, if you or your class is into the March Madness tournament, you’ll be wowed by one teacher’s literary take on bracketology: She created a book bracket, where students nominated a favorite book and then had to persuade their classmates why they should read it, too. She details it wonderfully here.

 

Poetry In The Classroom

Check out this post on the Storyworks Ideabook for some fabulous ideas for incorporating poetry into your classroom!

 

More About the Article

Key Skills

imagery, main idea, poetic structure, figurative language, text features 

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
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1. PREPARING TO READ

Set a Purpose for Reading (25 minutes)

  • Begin by reading the Imagery bubble for the class. Prepare students to listen or look for examples of imagery in the poem that will help them picture movement. Discuss how words that describe how something looks, feels, or sounds can make a poem more interesting or exciting.     
  • Remind students that similes compare things using the words like or as. You may want to explain that a thistle is a prickly plant with a fluffy flower on top that comes off easily. 

2. READING AND DISCUSSING

Close-Reading and Critical-Thinking Questions (15 minutes)

  • Why do you think the poet titled this poem “Basketball Ballet”? (main idea) The author wants to show that basketball and ballet are similar because both involve leaping, jumping, and spinning. Both are also athletic and graceful.
  • In the second stanza, why did the poet place the word up at the top of the second column by itself? (poetic structure) The poet placed the word up at the top of the column so your eyes can move up as you read. It’s almost as though your eyes are jumping like a basketball player.
  • In the third stanza, the author uses the phrase “light as a thistle.” What imagery does this simile create? (figurative language) A thistle is a plant with a light, fluffy flower on top that comes off easily. It’s so light that it can float in the air. The basketball player in the photo might feel “light as a thistle” as he lands.
  • The fourth stanza repeats a phrase from the first stanza: “float off the floor.” Why is this phrase important enough to use twice? (poetic structure) It’s important because floating off the floor relates to both ballet and basketball. 
  • Which words in the poem could be used to describe the photograph? Explain. (text features) Float, pulls you up, and light describe the photograph because the boy is floating up in the air as if he were very light.

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