Curated OER
CTBS Reading Practice #1
Expose your class to a variety of excerpts of poetry with a reading practice activity. There are four excerpts from different poems included in this resource; there are three to five related questions for each poem. Learners read each...
Curated OER
Can You Haiku?
Everyone loves haikus! They're short, quick, and fun to write! Analyze the rules and conventions of haiku. Readers interpret examples of haiku and develop a vocabulary for writing haiku. Then they compose a haiku based on a personal...
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Goblin Market Theme of Sex
Learners will read then analyze the story "Goblin Market" then discuss themes of sex and lost virginity. There are 5 questions and a series related links to help them take a critical look at an interesting children's story. This story...
Curated OER
Extreme Poetry Vocabulary
Challenge your class with this comprehensive list of literary vocabulary words. Learners take a pre-test, look up definitions, come up with an example, and then take a post-test. You might use this prior to a unit about poetic devices in...
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Not So Much a Lesson, More a Song and Dance
Inspired by Britain's National Poetry Day, this resource will help your class analyze poetry. You will find a variety of poetry analysis methods to work through with your class. Finish by having each person compose an original poem.
Curated OER
Analyzing Poetic Devices: Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" and Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz"
Analyze the poetic devices used in Robert Hayden's "Those Winter Sundays" to those found in Theodore Roethke's "My Papa's Waltz." Critical analysts discuss poetic meter and rhythm and its relationship to theme. They compare and contrast...
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Discussing Poetry In Class
Learners investigate syllabic metre and rhyming techniques by analyzing poetry. In this language arts lesson, students read the poem Considering the Snail and discuss the nature and mood of the poem with their classmates....
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Poetry and Hip Hop
High schoolers compare and contrast the genres of poetry and hip-hop. They view a poetry slam and write about it in their journals. Learners view a Lauryn Hill music video and respond to it in their journals. They compare and contrast...
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Metaphor
High schoolers identify the distinction between literal and figurative language with a focus on metaphors. They complete a metaphor analysis chart, then practice expanding metaphors by composing their own comparisons of elements of the...
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Who Can Achieve the "American Dream"
Exploring the idea of working to achieve the American Dream, the class reads an excerpt from How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez. Following, the class analyzes the excerpt and discusses the theme of the reading using...
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Poetry: "The Poplar Field" by William Cowper
Explore poetry analysis. Learners read the poem "The Poplar Field" by William Cowper, answer a series of questions, and discuss literary devices. It is a terrific way to help your class understand how to read and understand poetry.
Curated OER
Spring: Paul Laurence Dunbar
Explore the abundance of spring, no matter what season you are covering in your class! Using the poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar, GALE Biography Resource Center, and Litfinder, pupils work on researching the poet and analyzing the use of...
Curated OER
Poetry Analysis Lesson and Rubric
Analyzing poetry can be done using a variety of techniques that tap into student's prior knowledge.
Curated OER
Circle Justice—Lesson 1: The Anger Within
Students examine the emotion of anger through the poem 'A Poison Tree'. In this poetry analysis lesson plan, students identify and decode unfamiliar vocabulary they encounter, engage in groups discussions and complete several...
Curated OER
Shelley's Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley
In this online interactive reading comprehension instructional activity, students respond to 15 multiple choice questions based on poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
Curated OER
Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare
In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 8 short answer and essay choice questions based on various Shakespearean sonnets. Students may also access an online quiz on the sonnets using the link...
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Electronic Poetry Project
Students explore poetry. For this cross curriculum poetry and technology lesson, students choose a favorite poem and analyze its meaning. Students select several images and music to represent the poem, then create a corresponding...
Curated OER
Poetry Group Activity
In this Romeo and Juliet worksheet, students complete a group project by creating a poem on an assigned topic relating to themes found in Romeo and Juliet.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Animating Poetry: Reading Poems about the Natural World
Middle schoolers complete poetry analysis activities. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students consider the use of imagery and sound devices in poetry. Middle schoolers translate poetry into another art, read a diverse...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Impact of a Poem's Line Breaks: Enjambment and Gwendolyn Brooks' "We Real Cool"
Learners analyze the Gwendolyn Brooks use of enjambment in her poem "We Real Cool." In this poetry analysis activity, students define common poetic devices and the examples of enjambment in the poem. Learners discuss the poem and write...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Story of Epic Proportions: What Makes a Poem an Epic?
Learners analyze the epic poem form and its roots in oral tradition. In this epic poetry lesson, middle schoolers research the epic hero cycle and recognize the pattern of events and elements. Learners analyze the patterns embedded in...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Responding to Emily Dickinson: Poetic Analysis
Learners explore Emily Dickinson's poem "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers." In this Dickinson poem instructional activity, students analyze the poem as proof of Dickinson' awareness of her reader. Learners analyze her style and identify...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Seeing Sense in Photographs & Poems
Learners analyze photographs and poetry as forms of each other. In this poetry and photography analysis lesson, learners use the photographs of Alfred Stieglitz and poetry from William Carlos William to explore how poetry and painting...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Thirteen Ways of Reading a Modernist Poem
High schoolers analyze modernist poetry and the role of speaker in example poems. Learners study modernist poems from the Romanticism and Victorian periods as well as Wallace Stevens' "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird." Using a...