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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Spring is like a perhaps hand" by E. E. Cummings

For Teachers 6th - 12th
E. E. Cummings' "Spring is like a perhaps hand" offers young scholars an opportunity to try their hands at analyzing a simile. After a warm-up activity and a close reading of the poem, class members discuss what they think the poem is...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Discuss 22-year-old Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb”

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Two poems by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman are spotlighted in a PBS lesson. Young scholars conduct a close reading and watch videos of Gorman reading her inaugural poem "The Hill We Climb" and "The Miracle of Morning." They...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Tamales on Christmas" by Christian Robinson

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
A lesson spotlights the poem "Tamales on Christmas" by Christian Robinson. Scholars discuss their favorite foods and then examine a lively picture of a family preparing tamales. After listening to the poem twice, learners participate in...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "When There Were Ghosts" by Alberto Ríos

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Before cell phones, tablets, and computers with access to YouTube, before gleaming multiplexes and even before television, there were small theaters with Saturday night black and white movies. Alberto Ríos's poem "When There Were Ghosts"...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Election Day, November, 1884" by Walt Whitman

For Teachers 6th - 12th
To begin a study of Walt Whitman's poem, "Election Day, November 1884," learners first call out a word or two that describes their reaction to the recent presidential election. They then read an encyclopedia entry about the Presidential...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "In the Next Galaxy" by Ruth Stone

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Imagine what life might be like in a different galaxy. That's the challenge young scientists take on in a warm-up activity designed to prepare them for a close reading of Ruth Stone's poem "In the Next Galaxy." After class members share...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "The Teller of Tales" by Gabriela Mistral

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
The poem "The Teller of Tales" by Gabriela Mistral is the subject of a thoughtful lesson that allows scholars to listen to or read the poem, then discuss its meaning. 
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "In cold spring air" by Reginald Gibbons

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Reginald Gibbons' poem "In cold spring air" provides learners with a chance to develop their noticing skills. As a warm-up, class members watch Paul McCartney's video singing "Blackbird" and note words and phrases that stand out. They...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

On Marilyn Nelson's Poem “1905”

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Marilyn Nelson's poem, "1905," asks young scholars to compare and contrast George Washington Carver and Albert Einstein. After studying images of the two scientists and listing their observations, class members listen to several readings...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "We All Return to the Place Where We Were Born" by Oscar Gonzales

For Teachers 6th - 12th
What do you remember about your childhood home? Scholars listen to Oscar Gonzales reading his poem "We All Return to the Place Where We Were Born" in Spanish and English, then discuss what they learned about Gonzales.
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Thanksgiving” by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Victor Laredo's painting "On the Beach" and Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem "Thanksgiving" allow young scholars to use their noticing skills. Class members identify elements of the painting the artist uses to create the feeling of his work....
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Imagine" by Kamilah Aisha Moon

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A lesson about Kamilah Aisha Moon's poem "Imagine" asks young scholars to imagine, "What would happen if...?" If Dr. Martin Luther King's dream became a reality. If Renisha McBride was a white girl and crashed her car in a black...
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Poem Analysis

For Students 8th - 12th
In this poetry learning exercise, students select poems, read them, and then respond to 17 questions about the content, response, and history of the poem.
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Worksheet
Soft Schools

Practice with Poetry

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
William Shakespeare's Sonnet 138 is the focus of a reading comprehension exercise that asks readers to answer to five questions using evidence drawn from the poem to support their response.
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Worksheet
Moore Public Schools

Lyric Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Discover lyric poetry through a reading of Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar and analyze its meaning with three short-answer questions covering symbolism, personification, alliteration, metaphors, and similes. 
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Lesson Plan
Prestwick House

Discovering Genre: Poetry

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
Work on literal and figurative meanings with a lesson plan focused on Robert Frost's "After Apple-Picking" and "The Road Not Taken." Readers identify the literary devices used by the poet to set the poems' themes, settings, and narrative...
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Unit Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian In Your Classroom: The Music in Poetry

For Teachers K - 12th
Take poetry off the page and put it into terms of movement, physical space and, finally, music with this series of three lessons from the Smithsonian Institution. This resource introduces students to two poetic forms that originated as...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exploring Contrasts in "The Lanyard," by Billy Collins

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
A good gift is hard to find. A “worn truth,” perhaps, as Billy Collins says in his poem, “The Lanyard,” but true nonetheless. After a study of Collins’ tribute to a mother’s love, young poets select an object that sends them “into the...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Blackout Poetry: Re-Envisioning Writing

For Teachers 10th - 11th Standards
Introduce young poets to Blackout Poetry. Much like Found Poems, Blackout Poetry challenges scholars to rethink the process writers may use to craft their poems. After watching a short video in which poet Austin Kleon describes his...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

The History of Spoken Word Poetry: Historical and Cultural Perspectives In Literature

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Spoken word poetry, more than almost any other form, reveals the historical and cultural perspective of the poet. High schoolers listen to various spoken word poems, select one to research in-depth, and then apply what they have learned...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Speak Your Truth: Techniques in Spoken Word Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
As part of a study of Spoken Word Poetry, class members watch a series of performance videos and note where poets get their ideas and the performance techniques used by the poets. Pupils then draft and share their poems.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Poetry Group Activity

For Students 10th - 11th
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.
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Interactive
Curated OER

Shelley's Poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley

For Students 9th - Higher Ed
In this online interactive reading comprehension worksheet, students respond to 15 multiple choice questions based on poetry by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Students may submit their answers to be scored.
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Emulating Emily Dickinson: Poetry Writing

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
High schoolers analyze mood and voice in Emily Dickinson's poem, "There's a Certain Slant of Light." After the analysis, students write a poem of their own emulating the Dickinson poem, and then write a one-page essay describing what...

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