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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

In Emily Dickinson's Own Words: Letters and Poems

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Analyze the depth and beauty of American Literature by reading Emily Dickinson's letters and poems. The class analyzes Dickinson's poetic style and discusses Thomas Wentworth Higginson's editorial relationship with Dickinson. They pay...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Extreme Poetry Vocabulary

For Teachers 12th
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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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Lesson: Unfolding Water Lilies

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Comparing two different artistic mediums can be a welcome challenge. Learners compare Monet's The Water Lily Pond to three nature-inspired poems. They consider how each art form is interrelated, descriptive, and expressive. They then...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Tuesday 9/11/01" by Lucille Clifton

For Teachers 6th - 12th
A photograph and a poem remind young people of the events of November 11, 2001. After examining Andrea Booher's photograph taken on September 13, 2001, and reading Lucille Clifton's poem "Tuesday 9/11/01", scholars compare their...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Home” by Bruce Weigl

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
A poetry lesson takes a close look at home. Scholars discuss with partners what they are most grateful for at their homes. A timelapse video showcases potato tubers growing. While watching, pupils write down what they notice. Learners...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Toward the Winter Solstice" by Timothy Steele

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Timothy Steele's poem, "Toward the Winter Solstice," offers scholars an opportunity to consider what poets and scientists could learn from each other's work. First, learners examine a NASA image of a star-forming region in the Orion...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a instructional activity that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Old South Meeting House" by January Gill O'Neil

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The vaulted ceiling of the Old South Meeting House has heard many voices. Young scholars read an excerpt about its importance in American history and then do a close reading January Gill O'Neil's poem, "Old South Meeting House." After...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "November 2: Día De Los Muertos" By Alberto Ríos

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Scholars examine a colorful and detailed picture, then view an engaging video in preparation for reading the poem "November 2: Día De Los Muertos" by Alberto Ríos. Learners discuss their observations, feelings conveyed, and the...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Introducing Metaphors Through Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Metaphors are word pictures, creating images in our brains that draw readers to consider how two seemingly unrelated items are alike. Poems by Langston Hughes, Margaret Atwood, and Naomi Shihad Nye provide learners with an opportunity to...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “The Everglades” by Campbell McGrath

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Florida's Everglades come alive for young environmental scientists as they watch a video taken in the park and read a poem about the watery paradise. After a careful study of the two resources, class members consider the function of the...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Putting in the Seed" by Robert Frost

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young botanists dig into a lesson that has them planting lima bean seeds and observing their growth. They compare their experience to that of the speaker in Robert Frost's poem, "Putting in the Seed."
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PPT
Curated OER

Literary Analysis: Summary vs. Analysis

For Teachers 7th - Higher Ed
What is the difference between summary writing and literary analysis? A 16-slide presentation offers some basic requirements for both types of writing and helps readers identify each based on keywords used in both types of writing....
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Organizer
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Curated OER

Character Analysis Chart

For Students 3rd - 12th
This versatile graphic organizer could be used alongside any novel, poem, play, or story through which your class in studying character. Class members can get characters straight or describe particular characters in more detail with this...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Thirteen Ways of Reading a Modernist Poem

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Electronic Poetry Project

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore poetry.  In 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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Death in Poetry: A.E. Housman's "To an Athlete Dying Young" and Dylan Thomas' "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night"

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students analyze poems about death. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read poems from both Dylan Thomas and A.E. Housman and analyze them in groups for common poetic devices. Students present their analysis and complete a Venn...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Preparing for Poetry: A Reader's First Steps

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students complete poetry analysis using William Shakespeare's "Sonnet 130" as a part of a study of figurative language. In this Shakespearean language lesson, students define literal and figurative language and practice paraphrasing and...
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Study Guide
Penguin Books

The Discussion Guide to the Inaugural Poem: The Hill We Climb by Amanda Gorman

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed Standards
National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman's "The Hill We Climb," featured at the 2021 inauguration of President Joseph Biden, is the focus of a six-page guide. The guide includes before reading, during reading, and after reading...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

“House by the Railroad”: A Painting and a Poem for the Common Core

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading of the two...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Sor Juana, la poetisa: Los sonetos

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Examine two of Sor Juana's sonnets in depth. Learners first listen to an audio recording or a reading of the sonnets and then analyze the structure and form, paying attention to elements of the Baroque and el gongorismo. Assess student...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Texture Poetry: The Great Gatsby and the Sense of Touch

For Teachers 10th - 11th Standards
To prepare for crafting a descriptive poem about a character in F. Scot Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, groups describe the texture of objects hidden in small bags. Individuals then select a character from the novel and an object...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Diggin' Deeper - Poetry Made Relevant: Poetry And Poetic Devices

For Teachers 7th - 12th Standards
What do Beethoven, Bob Dylan, and Pharrell all have in common? Works by these three musicians are used to launch a study of poetry. Class members listen to passages from the music and craft a quick write about how the music makes them...

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