Analyzing and Responding to “Casey at the Bat”

• To summarize and analyze the main events of a poem

• To understand vocabulary in context• To create a monologue in response to the events

in a poem

About the Author

Ernest Lawrence Thayer (1863-1940) wrote light verse while he was on the editorial staff of the San Francisco Examiner. “Casey at the Bat,” his best-known poem, became a popular choice for oral recitation in schools and theaters.

While the teacher reads the poem aloud

1. Listen carefully to the details to determine who is speaking and what is happening.

2. Circle the words we used in Baseball Vocabulary.

3. Also circle words you do not know.4. I will stop at the end of every fourth stanza,

you will write a summary of each section.

Some Questions

1. Use context to define any unknown words you circled as we read.

2. How might Casey be feeling, or what might he be thinking after such a public loss? Highlight words and phrases that indicate what Casey feels and thinks and then, based on the information from the text, write your response.

Questions continued

3. What are the feelings and thoughts of the fans after the loss? Mark the text by underlining words and phrases that support your response, and then describe the feelings.

RAFT

Use the RAFT strategy to create and present a monologue about the loss at Mudville. You may choose from the suggestions in the table or brainstorm more options for the role and audience categories. Write your monologue.

Reminder: A monologue is a speech or the written expression of thoughts by a character.

RAFTRole: What is your role as an author?

Audience: Who is the target audience for this text?

Format: What is the best format to capture your ideas?

Topic: What is the topic?

• Casey• Fan• Parent• Team member• Spectator from

the crowd

• News reporter• Interviewer

• Monologue • To respond to the events leading up to the loss at Mudville

• To describe the feelings and thoughts experienced before, during, and after the lossYou may generate your own ideas

for the yellow boxes or use what I have provided

Draft Your Monologue

As you write, look for places to use words from the poem.Ask a group member to review your poem for proper use of the vocabulary words.Also check to see you have accomplished the requirements of point of view, tone, and purpose in the RAFT chart.In a group, share your monologues and ask members to check it for vocabulary and presentation.

Reflection

monologue

Just for Fun

Walt Disney 1946 cartoon based on the poemhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erfSed2MUsA

Read by James Earl Joneshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-2lXQQcXb8d