Dsf consulting Contents Page Introduction 0

3. Read-Aloud of Rilke’s Letter One

Public Consulting Group Teacher and Student Actions Teacher distributes copies of Letter One from Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet and the page that documents the title and publication date and asks volunteers to answer the following question: What can the title reveal about the form of this text?

AIR Additional Supports Rephrase the question to make its intent clearer: What does the title reveal (tell us) about the form (kind) of text?

Public Consulting Group Teacher and Student Actions Teacher reads Letter One aloud, has students follow along with their own texts. Because the letter is relatively short and the language (not the ideas) is less complex than St. Lucy’s, an uninterrupted Read-Aloud is recommended. Teacher allows students to pause and reflect if necessary.

AIR Additional Supports For ELLs, divide the text in small sections because it is conceptually complex. Ask students to answer several questions about the text to see how much they understood without support.

AIR Instructions for Teachers (Pre-assessment) Ask students to answer the following questions. [ALL] Who is writing this letter? Who is the letter being sent to? What does the author of the letter (Rilke) think about criticizing works of art? What does Rilke mean by “most experiences are unsayable”?