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Unit Plan
Scholastic

Using Poetry to Explore Change and Belonging

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Change, growth, and a sense of belonging are the focus of a unit that uses poetry to explore these themes and the distinguishing features of poetry as well. 
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "My Skeleton" by Jane Hirshfield

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Jane Hirshfield's poem "My Skeleton" asks readers to pause and think about the amazing, often taken-for-granted structure that protects and gives form to human bodies. After observing the human skeleton's image, class members read the...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Crisscross” by Arthur Sze

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Arthur Sze's poem "Crisscross" launches a lesson that asks scholars to use their observation skills. They first draw an image that reflects what crisscross means to them. They then examine a photograph of a lightning strike and list what...
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Unit Plan
Core Knowledge Foundation

Sixth Grade Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Study some of the most prominent poets and works of poetry in history with a language arts poetry unit. From Virgil to Shakespeare to Dickinson to Angelou, the resources present biographies and examples of poetic elements to the sixth...
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Lesson Plan
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

War and Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
A band of brothers or the Devil's agents? Nobel warriors freeing the oppressed or mercenaries working for the military/industrial complex? Groups examine poems from the Civil War, World War I, and World War II to determine the poets'...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Shopping Spree

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars demonstrate the ability to evaluate authors' use of literary elements such as metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, and onomatopoeia. They are provided with a checklist and must shop for poems that contain the poetry terms...
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Activity
Residential College in the Arts and Humanities

Poetry Lesson Plans

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
Need some ideas for poetry lessons? Check out this packet loaded with suggestions for elementary, middle, and high school writers.
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Lesson Plan
BW Walch

“Outsider” Poet Kay Ryan Goes from Poetry Club Reject to Poet Laureate

For Teachers 6th - 11th Standards
The cat might have got your tongue, but you can’t avoid the elephant in the room while you wait for the other shoe to drop. After all, the early bird gets the worm and the chickens are circling. After researching Poet Laureate Kay Ryan...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “In This Place (An American Lyric)” by Amanda Gorman

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Amanda Gorman, the United States's first National Youth Poet Laureate, is featured in a resource from the Academy of American Poets. Class members first read Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech and note what King wanted...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles" by Francisco X. Alarcón

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
After sketching an essential person and reading an article, scholars read the poem "In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles" by Francisco X. Alarcón. They listen to the poem in English and Spanish and record lines that stand out to them. Small...
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Activity
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Black Laws" by Roger Reeves

For Teachers 6th - 12th
After investigating the Black Lives Matter movement, class members do a close read of Roger Reeves' "Black Laws." They write down words and phrases that rhyme, consider the kinds of rhymes used and their function in the poem. Scholars...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "When Giving Is All We Have" by Alberto Ríos

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
What makes giving meaningful? Class members discuss this question, then listen to Alberto Rios reading his poem, "When Giving Is All We Have." Finally, the class considers what the poet says about the question.
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "The Shapes of Leaves" by Arthur Sze

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Arthur Sze's poem, "The Shapes of Leaves," encourages young scholars to notice and speak for others who "do not speak." The lesson begins with pupils writing about a tree that they really like. The class then examines an image of...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days” by Walt Whitman

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Walt Whitman's poem "As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days" offers scholars an opportunity to practice their noticing skills. They first examine a postcard of the Newport News Shipyard listing things they notice about the image and how...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Lines Written in Early Spring" by William Wordsworth

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
William Wordsworth's poem "Lines Written in Early Spring" lets learners sharpen their observation skills. Class members first closely examine the image "Flowers in Front of an Abandoned House in Demerino, Russia," listing what they...
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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.
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Violin" by Nikki Wallschlaeger

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Nikki Wallschlaeger's Violin is the featured poem in a lesson plan that uses music and multiple readings to delve deep into its analysis. After a writing warm-up, learners watch and listen to a video that showcases Regina Carter...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Declaration” by Tracy K. Smith

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Tracy K. Smith's erasure poem "Declaration" challenges scholars to use their noticing skills to make connections between an engraving entitled "The Declaration of Independence" and Smith's poem. Class members record observations and...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "The Snowfall Is So Silent" by Miguel de Unamuno

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Cold, beautiful, unique! Class members closely examine John Singer Sargent's watercolor "Snow," taking note of the artist's techniques, and pair up to discuss how the image makes them feel about snow. They then repeat the process with...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond" by E. E. Cummings

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars engage in a role-play exercise, compare their demonstration to a time-lapse video, and to a poem by E.E. Cummings. The ensuing discussion asks learners to consider the similarities among the three.
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Heart to Heart" by Rita Dove

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Take heart! Here's a lesson that will encourage learners to notice details. After listening to Sarah Vaughan singing "My Funny Valentine" and noting how the word heart relates to Valentine's Day, scholars observe a human heart image....
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Lesson Plan
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Where I'm From: Symbolism in Paint and Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
After a review of symbolism, class members use the provided worksheet to first list the objects they observe in Arnold Mesches' painting "Coney Island" and then suggest possible symbolic meanings for each of the objects. A second...
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Activity
PBS

Write a New Year Poem Inspired by Amanda Gorman’s "New Day’s Lyric"

For Students 6th - 12th
Here's a new take on a new year. After watching and discussing the video of Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman performing her "New Day's Lyric," young poets craft poems that reflect their feelings about the past year and their resolutions...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Instructions on Not Giving Up" by Ada Limón

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
What do the myth of the phoenix bird and Ada Limón's poem "Instructions on Not Giving Up" have in common? Young scholars create a list of what they notice about both the myth and poem, then consider what the similarities might indicate...

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