Activity
Teaching Tolerance

Poetry and Storytelling Café

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Academics take turns as actors in an engaging poetry cafe. Elementary learners work in small groups to create original poems or stories addressing community issues and read their work in front of a live audience. Scholars also reflect...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Poetry Analysis: Small Group Practice

For Teachers 7th Standards
Howdy partner! After discussion and teacher model reading of Slaveships, scholars pair up for a partner reading of the poem. They then use equity sticks to discuss their thoughts of the poem with the class. Readers talk about allusion,...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit Assessment: Poetry Analysis

For Teachers 7th Standards
Learners finish the end-of-unit assessment by completing a poetry analysis of We Wear the Mask. Scholars may use their Poet’s Toolbox reference sheets and How to Read a Poem anchor charts to guide them through the assessment. 
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Poetic Tools in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

For Teachers 7th Standards
Scholars listen to a reading and answer probing questions about If We Must Die by Claude McKay. Readers annotate their personal copies of the poem as they discuss its figurative language, vocabulary, and meaning. They then transfer...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Gathering Textual Evidence for the Two-Voice Poem (Author’s Note)

For Teachers 7th Standards
Writers take a look at how to gather evidence from the information text in the unit that connects to Salva and Nya’s story. They complete a Gathering Evidence from Informational Texts sheet to guide their work. Pupils then use the...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

End of Unit 3 Assessment: Using Strong Evidence

For Teachers 7th Standards
Young poets view a model two-voice poem while discussing capitalization and punctuation. Pupils also complete an end-of-unit assessment about using strong evidence to support a literary analysis. 
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Examining a Model Two-Voice Poem and Planning a Two-Voice Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
Successful poetry writing requires three P's: planning, preparation, and practice. Pupils read a model two-voice poem and discuss how the author uses evidence to develop the theme. With a partner, scholars use a rubric to analyze the...
Lesson Plan
Weber County Library

Abstract Ideas Explored: Writing with Extended Metaphor

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A 25-page packet includes eight detailed lesson plans centered around poems by Emily Dickinson. Each lesson begins with a burning question that students attempt to answer by using evidence from Dickinson's poems.
Activity
Poetry Society

Writing a Personification List Poem

For Teachers 6th - 12th
After a close reading of Sylvia Plath's "Mirror" and Flora de Falbe's "Five Things About the Lake," young poets craft their own personification list poem about a very special place.
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Author’s Craft: Poetry and Prose

For Teachers 8th Standards
During a drama circle, scholars closely examine the play created in the play A Midsummer Night's Dream. The pupils read Act 3 Scene 1 and turn and talk to their partners about the scene. They then complete a handout and discuss the...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Revision: Best Draft of “Inside Out” and “Back Again” Poems (Final Performance Task)

For Teachers 8th Standards
Scholars read their poems to their research teams as their final performance task. The teams listen and give feedback on the flow between the two poems. Writers then take the feedback from their teams and revise their poems before...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Analyzing Poems from Inside Out and Back Again to Develop Criteria for an Effective Poem

For Teachers 8th Standards
Scholars analyze a model poem to help guide their poetry writing. They use Think-Pair-Share to discuss word choice and meaning in "Papaya Tree" and "Wet and Crying." To finish, they use their discussions to collect evidence on what makes...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 14

For Teachers 11th Standards
It's time to put it all together! Using the resource, scholars complete an end-of-unit assessment. They write a multi-paragraph essay comparing Audre Lorde's "From the House of Yemanjá" or "An Address by Elizabeth Cady Stanton" to...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 13

For Teachers 11th Standards
Two minds are better than one. Learners engage in an evidence-based discussion to identify central ideas in Audre Lorde's poem "From the House of Yamanjá" and one additional nonfiction text. They complete a Cross-Evidence Collection Tool...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 12

For Teachers 11th Standards
Why is it important to make connections across texts? Scholars discover the answer with instructional activity 12 of 14 from the Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2 series. Pupils analyze the development of ideas in three nonfiction texts,...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 11

For Teachers 11th Standards
In Audre Lorde's poem "From the House of Yemanjá," the speaker describes her mother's two faces, adding a whole new meaning to the phrase "two-faced." Pupils first read the final stanza of the contemporary poem. With a Quick Write, they...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 10

For Teachers 11th Standards
Audre Lorde's poem "From the House of Yemanjá" describes the speaker carrying two women on her back—she must be strong! Pupils read the second stanza using instructional activity 10 of 14 from the Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2 series....
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 9

For Teachers 11th Standards
How do authors employ specific word choices to describe complex relationships? Scholars read and analyze the first stanza from Audre Lorde's contemporary poem "From the House of Yemanjá." Pupils determine the meanings of figurative and...
Lesson Plan
Syracuse University

Harlem Renaissance

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
The music and literature of the Harlem Renaissance defined American culture, including its poetry. Using a poem from the period, individuals explore its musical qualities and how it is reflective of the period. Then, they use what they...
Unit Plan
Oklahoma City of Museum Art

Harlem Renaissance

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Individuals expressed the Harlem Renaissance in diverse forms of art, ranging from poetry to photography to painting. Learners explore pieces using a carefully curated collection from the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Included lessons ask...
Lesson Plan
Pixton Comics Inc.

Elements of an Epic

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
Mythic heroes, gods and goddesses, and epic tales come alive as young artists craft their own graphic novel or mind map for classic epics, including The Odyssey, Beowulf, Harry Potter, and Star Wars, identifying the...
Lesson Plan
Literacy Design Collaborative

Analyzing Impact of Word Choice and Figurative Language in "Barbie Doll"

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
After a close reading Marge Piercy's poem "Barbie Doll," class members craft an AP®-style explanatory essay in which they analyze the diction and other figurative literary devices the poet employs to deliver her commentary on modern...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Poetry Analysis Sheet

For Students 9th - 12th
Tasking class members to analyze a poem can strike fear into the hearts of many learners. Here's a worksheet that takes the mystery out of the process by providing questions about what to look for in the text and to the devices poets use...
Lesson Plan
Poetry4kids

Rhyme Schemes Lesson Plan

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Scholars read four brief poems and analyze their word usage in order to identify the rhyme scheme.