Grade 6 Spring — Rhetorical Devices, Sentence Craft, and Formal Multi-Pass Peer Revision Protocols
Lesson 5 60 min eng.g6.s.lesson_05.anaphora_king_nakate_harjo

ANAPHORA — King I Have a Dream, Nakate climate speech, Harjo poetry

Skills targeted
Objectives
  • Students identify anaphora in 3 mentor texts (King, Nakate, Harjo).
  • Students construct anaphoric sequences of 3+ repetitions using the 3-slot template.
  • Students recognize the climactic effect when the anaphora pattern breaks.
Vocabulary
anaphorarepetitionsuccessive clausesclimaxbreak the pattern

Lesson plan

Warm-up

5 min

Choral reading of King 'I have a dream that one day...' paragraph 14 (all standing). Notice the repetition.

Teacher moves
  • Read first 'I have a dream that' yourself; cue students to join from second repetition
  • Listen for the accumulation across 4 repetitions
  • Note the moment the pattern breaks for climax
Media
M-6-S-RH-05-B Audio Physical / non-image

90-second audio of King's paragraph 14 read at original cadence (King's actual delivery — public-domain archival recording where available, otherwise high-quality re-creation). Script printed with each 'I have a dream that' on a new line.

Direct instruction

18 min

ANAPHORA is repetition at the START of successive clauses or sentences. Look at MG-4. The rule: same words, same position, three or more times. The effect: ACCUMULATION. Each repetition raises the emotional and logical stakes. The break in the pattern signals climax. King's 'I have a dream that one day...' repeats 4 times in paragraph 14. The fifth iteration breaks — 'I have a dream today!' shorter, declarative — climax. Lincoln says 'we cannot dedicate — we cannot consecrate — we cannot hallow this ground.' Three repetitions, then the climax sentence: 'The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.' The repetition CREATES the climax by establishing the pattern that the climax breaks. Vanessa Nakate, the Ugandan climate activist, says: 'I speak for the children in Uganda who are dying of malaria... I speak for the farmers in the Sahel... I speak for those who have lost everything to floods.' Three anaphoras building moral urgency. Joy Harjo, the Native American Poet Laureate, uses anaphora in An American Sunrise: 'We were running out of breath, as we ran out to meet ourselves. We were surfacing the edge of our ancestors' fights...' — repetition driving forward momentum.

Key examples
  • Anaphora works by establishing a pattern. The climax breaks the pattern. Don't break too early — three minimum.
    model Four 'I have a dream that' + a fifth that breaks: 'I have a dream today!' shorter and declarative. The break IS the climax.
    prompt Watch MG-20 (5-minute model). Identify each anaphora in King's paragraph 14.
  • Three minimum for the pattern to register. Four if you want a climactic break in a fifth.
    model Sample for school-uniforms argument: 'We need uniforms that respect identity. We need uniforms that promote unity. We need uniforms that allow expression.' Three 'We need uniforms that' anaphoras.
    prompt Construct a 3-slot anaphora on your fall topic.
  • Notice how the anaphora orders the speech — each iteration raises stakes from individual to community to humanity.
    model Highlight in red: 'I speak for ___' three times. Note the third one is the most urgent.
    prompt Read paragraph 1 of Nakate's UN climate speech.
Checks for understanding
  • Cold Call: name the anaphora moment in MG-20 video model
  • Pair-share: construct one 3-slot anaphora on your fall topic and read aloud
  • Thumbs: I can construct anaphora with 3+ repetitions (up) / I need more practice (down)
Media
M-6-S-RH-05-A Video Physical / non-image

MG-20 video as specified — Grade-6 rhetorician analyzes paragraph 14 of King's I Have a Dream. Multicultural child voice narrates. Caption track on. Pause-and-discuss prompts at each anaphora identification.

MG-20 Video Physical / non-image

5:00 model of a Grade-6 rhetorician analyzing King's 'I Have a Dream' for rhetorical devices: child reads paragraph 14 ('I have a dream that one day...'), identifies ANAPHORA (highlight in red), names the effect (accumulating force as each clause builds the vision), identifies PARALLELISM (same grammatical structure across the four 'I have a dream that' clauses — highlight in blue), identifies ANTITHESIS later in the speech ('not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character' — highlight in green). Voiceover narration explains: 'King repeats I have a dream that to build emotional momentum. Each repetition raises the stakes. By the fourth repetition the audience is leaning in. Then he varies the pattern with a longer image — that's the climax.' Multicultural child voice. Caption track on.

Guided practice

17 min
Tasks
  • Annotate King's paragraph 14. Highlight all 5 'I have a dream' instances in red. Mark the climax break with a star.
    scaffold Partial-fill annotation with first 'I have a dream' highlighted
  • Construct 3-slot anaphora on fall topic using the template. Read aloud to elbow partner. Partner gives one feedback move using SBAR.
    scaffold MG-4 anchor at desk; sentence-frame card
  • Choral reading of Nakate's UN climate speech excerpt (paragraph 1). Each student reads one 'I speak for' line; pattern builds across the room.
    scaffold Speech printout with each line numbered for student assignment
Media
M-6-S-RH-05-C Interactive Physical / non-image

Worksheet with 3 templates: TEMPLATE 1 'I have a dream that ___. I have a dream that ___. I have a dream that ___.' TEMPLATE 2 'We need ___ that ___. We need ___ that ___. We need ___ that ___.' TEMPLATE 3 'I speak for ___. I speak for ___. I speak for ___.' Bottom: 'Optional climax break: write a 4th sentence that varies the pattern.' Print-ready 8.5x11.

Formative assessment

5 min
Exit ticket
  • Construct one anaphora of 3+ repetitions on any topic. Optionally write a 4th sentence that BREAKS the pattern for climax.
scoring 3 repetitions = mastery; 2 repetitions = practicing; 1 = reteach; bonus for climax break

Closure

3 min
Moves
  • Restate: anaphora = repetition at start; 3+ for pattern; break for climax
  • Preview tomorrow's asyndeton with Caesar and Murakami

Homework

15 min
Tasks
  • Add an anaphora to one paragraph of your fall argument. Mark in red. Bring tomorrow.

Exercises in this lesson

eng.g6.s.ex_10
Construct an anaphora of 3+ repetitions on your spring argument topic using one of the 3-slot templates from MG-4.
 construct anaphora · diff 2
eng.g6.s.ex_11
In King's I Have a Dream paragraph 14, find the moment where the anaphora pattern BREAKS. What is the climactic effect of the break?
 identify climax break · diff 3

Differentiation

Scaffolds
  • MG-4 anchor at every desk
  • Pre-filled 3-slot anaphora template
  • Partial-fill annotation on King paragraph
Extensions
  • Construct a 5-repetition anaphora with climax break in the 5th
  • Find anaphora in your own fall argument (or in independent reading); how could you strengthen it?
English Learners
  • Bilingual MG-4 anchor
  • Audio version of King and Nakate excerpts
  • Reduced-target: 2 anaphoras instead of 3
Ieps 504s
  • MG-4 anchor at desk
  • Reduce to 2-slot template
  • Extended time on exit ticket

Teacher notes

Anaphora is the most accessible device for G6 — students often find it intuitive once they hear King aloud. The choral reading is essential — anaphora is felt in the body before it's analyzed on the page. Watch for students who use 2 repetitions (insufficient) — the rule is 3+ minimum for the pattern to register. The climax break is an extension — not required for mastery but worth introducing. Nakate's speech is included to show anaphora in a contemporary youth voice from the Global South — anti-colonial rhetoric that mirrors King's structure with a different cause.