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...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Langston Hughes' "Theme for English B" is featured in a lesson plan 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 they...
Study Guide
Penguin Books

An Educator Guide to Call Us What We Carry by Amanda Gorman

For Teachers 6th - Higher Ed Standards
Call Us By What We Carry, a poetry collection by Nation Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman, is the focus of a 10-page teacher's guide. 
Activity
Harper Collins

Every Thing On It Lessons and Activities

For Students 1st - 3rd Standards
Honor the great poet, Shel Silverstein with eighteen activities and lessons showcasing his collection of poems from the book, Every Thing On It. Activities challenge scholars to rhyme words, make inferences, recite a poem, and...
Lesson Plan
Poetry4kids

Rhyme Schemes Lesson Plan

For Students 3rd - 8th Standards
Scholars read four brief poems and analyze their word usage in order to identify the rhyme scheme. 
Printables
ETFO

Free Verse Poetry Rubric

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Follow poetry instruction with a four-category rubric designed to guide budding poets' writing of free verse poetry. 
Unit Plan
Smithsonian Institution

Water/Ways: The Poetry of Science

For Teachers 1st - 12th Standards
Water is the source of life. It appears in poetry in both peaceful and torrential descriptions; it appears in earth science in its liquid, gaseous, and solid states. Combine these interpretations of our planet's most precious and...
Unit Plan
Trinity University

Introduction to Poetry

For Teachers 4th
Introduce fourth graders to poetry with a three-week unit that has them examine the structural elements of poetry, analyze poems, and craft their own original poems rich in sensory details and other poetic devices. Young scholars study...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Grade 9 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 10

For Teachers 9th Standards
An engaging unit connects Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson's shared themes of madness and departure from reality. The 10th lesson in the unit explores Dickinson's figurative language and structure choices in "I Felt a Funeral, in my...
Lesson Plan
Main Memory Network

Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith" and Whitman's "Song of Myself"

For Teachers 11th - 12th Standards
Although the work Americans do has changed over time, the plight of the American worker has largely remained the same. Facilitate a class discussion aboutAmerican workers using Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Village Blacksmith" and...
Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Comparing and Contrasting: Seeing and Hearing Different Genres

For Teachers 6th Standards
Let's compare and contrast! Scholars use a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the experience of reading a poem and listening to its audio version. Next, they complete graphic organizers, comparing two different genres: a poem and a...
Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

8th Grade Poetry: Narrative Poem

For Teachers 8th Standards
The first lesson of a five-lesson unit designed for eighth graders has class members reading and watching a video of Edgar Allen Poe's narrative poem, "The Raven." They then craft their narrative poem, illustrate it, and share their work...
Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

7th Grade Poetry: Metaphor Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
The second lesson in a five-part poetry unit asks seventh graders to construct a metaphor poem. First, pupils examine Emily Dickinson's "The Railway Train" and identify the metaphor. They then select an object and an animal and craft a...
Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

7th Grade Poetry: I Am Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
A study of Alfred Noyes's poem "The Highwayman" opens a lesson about narrative poetry. Scholars read the poem and compare it to the animated video version using a worksheet. Learners look at models and use a template to craft an "I Am"...
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...
Lesson Plan
Prestwick House

Rhyme and Repetition in Poe's "Annabel Lee"

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
Many and many a year ago Edgar Allan Poe crafted the chilling tale of "Annabel Lee." The poem is the perfect vehicle to introduce Poe's concept of unity of effect, the idea that every element in a poem or story should help to develop a...
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

The Poetry of Maya Angelou

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Maya Angelou's work reflects her passion for life, civil rights, and justice for all. A collection of 12 primary sources provide scholars with insight into this amazing woman. The set includes photographs, articles, recordings of...
Lesson Plan
Poetry4kids

Simile and Metaphor Lesson Plan

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
Similes and metaphors are the focus of a poetry lesson complete with two exercises. Scholars read poetry excerpts, underline comparative phrases, then identify whether it contains a simile or metaphor. They then write five...
eBook
Clackamas Community College

Towards an Open Anthology of Poetry

For Students 9th - Higher Ed Standards
Towards an Open Anthology of Poetry features poets talking about their work, poems by topic, terms to use when teaching poetry, and poems to use for close reading.
Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

8th Grade Poetry: Assess

For Teachers 8th Standards
Eighth graders craft a Petrarchan sonnet and respond to a performance assessment to demonstrate what they have learned in this five-lesson plan poetry unit.
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Poems about Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Learners of all ages hear the words “Today we’re going to start poetry” and begin their plans to drop out of school. It is not the teacher's fault! Use this resource to help young scholars understand the genre of poetry and why it is...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "The Tradition" by Jericho Brown

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
To begin this lesson plan, class members examine Antonius Hockelmann's painting "Tree Flowers II," record elements of the painting that they notice, and share their observations with a partner. Next, pupils do a close reading of Jericho...
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...
Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Concrete Poems

For Teachers 7th Standards
Concrete poems, or shape poems as they are sometimes called, are the focus of the eighth lesson in this poetry unit. Young scholars examine several examples of concrete poems and consider how the shape contributes to the poem's meaning.

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