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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 activity begins with pupils writing about a tree that they really like. The class then examines an image of...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Poetry of Liberation

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
How do writers use words to protest injustice, challenge the status quo, and shape their own identities? Individuals watch and discuss a video, read author biographies, write poetry and journals, develop a slideshow, and complete a...
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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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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
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
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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

Seeing Sense in Photographs & Poems

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Learners analyze photographs and poetry as forms of each other. In this poetry and photography analysis lesson, young scholars use the photographs of Alfred Stieglitz and poetry from William Carlos William to explore how poetry and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creative Writing/Poetry Lesson Plan

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
Students complete poetry writing activities and art analysis activities. In this creative writing and art lesson, students analyze a cubist piece by Picasso and discuss abstraction. Students read a poem by Gertrude Stein about Picasso...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Listening to Poetry: Sounds of the Sonnet

For Teachers 9th - 12th
High schoolers experience and enjoy the sounds of poetry. They erform sound experiments with sonnets and closely read and analyze a sonnet by Shakespeare. Students write an analysis of how sound affects meaning in a sonnet chosen from...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes

For Teachers 9th - 12th
A carefully crafted three-day instructional activity integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The...
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PPT
Curated OER

Modern Drama

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Upper graders can read all about the origins of modern drama. Each slide provides a paragraph of information related to key players, art movements, and time periods that shaped modern drama. It relates well to many aspects of literature...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Power Poetry

For Teachers 8th - 12th
Students use poetic devices to discuss political issues. In this cultural diversity lesson, students listen to the president's State of the Union address and write poetic pieces that express their opinions about issues the president...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Beowulf: Songs of Ancient Heroes

For Teachers 12th
Introduce your class to epic heroes with these activities for Beowulf. After watching a video clip, taking notes on heroes, and tracking characteristics of heroism throughout Beowulf, class members retell an episode of Beowulf using a...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

"Compression of Emotional Power"--Responding To Unseen Poetry

For Teachers 11th
Eleventh graders identify the structure, rhythm and style of a selected poem, experience utilizing poetic devices and analyze an annotated poem. They evaluate the themes and inferred meanings to a variety of poems from their textbooks.
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AP Test Prep
College Board

2012 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions

For Students 10th - 12th Standards
Does the world shape a person's character? Scholars choose a novel or play, take a close look, and write essays about how surroundings affect a character. Writers also analyze literary elements in an excerpt from a novel and poetic...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Modernist Portraits

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
How did literature reflect people's attitudes in post-World War I America? A lesson explores the topic using a variety of activities. Individuals watch and respond to a video; read author biographies and engage in discussion; write...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poets Got Them Blues

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Contemplate what music learners listen to and why they listen. Can they find poetry within music lyrics? Specifically hone in on blues lyrics and ruminate upon the social issues prevalent in the themes. Particular song lyrics coincide...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Utopian Promise

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars learn all about the Puritans in the third installment of a 16-part lesson series. After watching a video, they read and discuss biographies of Puritans and Quakers from American history, write journal entries and poetry, and...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Becoming Visible

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The television and interstate highways both came of age in 1950s America. Scholars use film, text, and discussion to explore how these and other cultural icons shaped the literature of the time. Pupils also create a family history...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Native Voices

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The Navajo people build their dwellings with the doors facing the rising sun in the east to welcome wealth and fortune. Pupils learn about the traditions of the Navajo people in the first part of a 16-part unit. They explore American...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Rewriting Shakespeare

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Have your learners play around with Shakespeare's language. In this plan, small groups examine and rearrange soliloquies from Othello, noting how the language changes and morphs. All groups have a chance to change each soliloquy, making...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Last Meow

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Students explore the popular culture phenomenon of the musical 'Cats' and the T.S. Eliot poems that were its inspiration. They write original poems about animals, and read them aloud to their peers.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

"My Last Duchess" Theme of Power

For Students 10th - 12th
In this "My Last Duchess" worksheet, students discuss the theme of power in the poem. Students answer questions about the political and social power of the Duke. Students decide what it was about the Duchess that threatened her husband's...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Symmetry in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

For Teachers 10th - Higher Ed
Students examine knightly virtues and will measure Gawain's strength in the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In this poetry analysis lesson, students identify the bob-and-wheel poetic form and analyze symmetry in the poem. Students...

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