Celebrate diversity with a toolkit designed to inspire young poets to develop their own voices. After examining poems by African American poets, individuals craft their own poetic stories. The packet features poems by Gwendolyn Brooks,...

Whether focusing on African American poets, Black History Month, or the poetic experience, an amazing toolkit that encourages learners to develop unique poetic voices deserves a place in your curriculum. 

After reading about the life of George Moses Horton, the first slave to publish anti-slavery poetry, learners will recall his major accomplishments, provide a summary of the obstacles he faced, and identify common aspects of the...

Pupils have the unique opportunity to learn about the institution of slavery by reading first-hand experiences as described by George Moses Horton, the first slave to publish anti-slavery poetry.

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...

An engaging biography of "Hoosier" poet James Whitcomb Riley serves as a springboard for study of his unique dialect-based verse. Several activities illuminate differences between spoken vernacular and formal language. Learners record...

Pair the famous poems "I Hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman, and "I, Too, Sing America," by Langston Hughes, with a more recent poem by Elizabeth Alexander called "Praise Song for the Day" to demonstrate a theme and introduce your...

Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise", offers young scholars an opportunity to consider how poets use literary devices to create powerful messages. After a close reading and discussion of the poem, class members reflect on how they can...

How do you describe the American Dream? What motivates others to immigrate to the United States, and why do some groups have trouble attaining the American Dream? Your learners will consider these questions as they explore figurative...

Although some African American abolitionists—such as Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass—are well known, others, like Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, remain in the shadows of history. Harper was a poet and activist who played an...

“What’s in a name?” Just about everything. Barack Obama, Vincent van Gogh, Justin Bieber. Famous names evoke a multitude of reactions and poets often use the names of famous people in their works precisely because names carry...

Young scholars read poetry and a biography of poet Anne Carson as part of a creative writing lesson. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read about the poet, read her poetry, and analyze a photograph to then write a poem. Young...

Langston Hughes' "Theme for English B" is featured in a instructional activity that asks pupils to first read a biography of Hughes and list things about his life they think are important. The class then reads the poem and compares what...

Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a lesson that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as well as questions...

After watching an excerpt from a video of Fannie Lou Hamer's testimony before Congress, pupils do a close reading of Mahogany L. Browne's poem "When Fannie Lou Hamer Said," annotate words and phrases that draw their attention and list...

What is "virtual freedom"? How about "enslaved entrepreneurship"? Class members will learn about these terms and much more as they read the poems and examine the life of George Moses Horton.

Students analyze Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken." In this poem analysis lesson, students review vocabulary for the poem and read the poem. Students discuss the meanings in each stanza, the theme, and its rhyme scheme. Students...

Students use Langston Hughes' "Thank You Ma'am" as a reading and vocabulary improvement activity. In this reading and vocabulary instructional activity, students review the related vocabulary and read the poem. Students discuss the story...

Sixth graders research online various types of poetry. In this poetry analysis lesson, 6th graders research different types of poetry online, their characteristics, and poets. Students create a class atlas that incorporates the seven...

Create an abundance of understanding, as your high school learners learn to analyze multiple love poems. Part one of this resource has learners define what love is, examine art that reflects the love between Robert and Elizabeth...

Students examine the historical and cultural context in Sandburg's poem. The poetic devices of personification and apostrophe are utilized in the poem and identified by Students.

Carl Sandburg composed poetry that conveyed a time and place in American Literature and history. Learners identify the literary techniques he uses to describe the historical and cultural context of living in Chicago. They define the...

Tumbling tumbleweeds! Scholars work with video clips, primary and secondary documents, and song lyrics to uncover life in the Old West. They examine song's lyrics to uncover myths told in the 1930s about life in the Wild West. 

Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...