Students explore the visual, auditory, and verbal worlds offered by iLife applications to create a project that engages all learners and learning styles. They create a class book and CD of nature poems and artwork.

If you're looking to tie rap music into poetry writing, this would be a good presentation to use as you kick off your mini-unit. Learners are given a brief, but descriptive, history of rap music and rap poetry. The slides include...

Have your music lovers examine song lyrics and identify the poetry elements or tools used by a lyricist. They review the song individually before working in groups to discuss what they discovered about the song's narrator or character...

Although not a complete lesson plan, this set of emotionally powerful texts could be used in a variety of lessons. From The New York Times' Learning Network site, the resource includes a poem, an excerpt from a New York Times article and...

Students analyze, discuss and compare sources of inspiration, use of words and imagery, and other differences in writing styles between two featured songwriters. This is an introductory lesson to a creative project unit.

Students read various examples of poetry and create a poetry portfolio. In this poetry writing lesson, students work at their own pace to complete a poetry portfolio with examples of the different poetic forms demonstrated. ...

Engage your class in art analysis of Indian Look-Alike by Melanie Yazzie. Using this work of art as inspiration, writers compose a poem or short story. After a peer review session, the teacher conveys information about the work of art as...

Jazz and the City, Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement, Jazz and Gender, Jazz and Literature, Jazz and the Arts, Jazz and Film. Here's a packet of unit plans organized around themes that reflect American culture. Each unit examines how...

Students interpret poetry though movement. In this poetry lesson students take a poem they've previously read and discussed in class and work in pairs to develop gestures for each line.

Students analyze Edward Hopper's painting and Hirsch's poem to explore the types of emotion generated by each work. In this literary and art analysis lesson plan, students discuss how Hopper establishes tone and analyze Hirsch's use of...

Remember learning to spell “encyclopedia” by singing along with Jiminy Cricket? How about using a singing exercise to learn the names of the presidents? “The Presidents Song,” includes the names, in order, from Washington to Coolidge....

Introduce your middle schoolers to the lives of past Native Americans. First, learners work together to put photographs in a sequence. Then, using their sequence, they create stories to share with the whole class. No matter how old your...

The Harlem Renaissance if the focus of a carefully crafted, interdisciplinary unit designed to introduce middle schoolers to the contributions key figures made to American art and culture during the period. Class members select...

Students analyze how a poet uses language to capture creatures and draft a poem on a 'sinister' animal. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read Ted Hughes' poem 'Pike' and analyze pictures of pike fish. Students use their research...

Examine the contributions of African-Americans in the worlds of art and literature. Over the course of a few days, young scholars will read and analyze a poem, a short story, and a piece of art. They complete a range of...

Learners explore the relationships between music, poetry, and visual art. Using the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, pupils develop an awareness of the compositional elements of the Classical style, and the aesthetic effects of those...

Students evaluate Lincoln's impact on American History. For this Civil War lesson, students view a film clip of writings about Lincoln. Students take notes and compare how the writings define his legacy. Students write their own poem or...

Engage your middle schoolers with Pastor Martin Niemoller's famous poem that begins, "First they came for the communists." Now that you have their attention, send learners to the various work stations you created to have them explore...

Learners collect memorabilia and create shadow boxes in the style of David Stewart. They also compose a poem and explain their identity in an oral presentation. This is a rare lesson that works quite well for a variety of age levels.

Create songs and raps to develop an understanding of the proper use of common misused words and homophones. First, your class defines misused words and homophones correctly by utilizing the words in a rap or song. Then they use...

Students determine if Lincoln and Whitman ever met and write a dialogue between the two men. In this Whitman and Lincoln activity, students read Whitman's poem "Beat! Beat! Drums!" and connect it to the events of Lincoln's presidency....

Students analyze Alexander Gardner's photograph of Abraham Lincoln and complete related activities. For this Abraham Lincoln lesson, students describe Abraham Lincoln as he is presented in Gardner's photograph. Students read a biography...

As the culminating activity in a unit study of science fiction, young writers demonstrate their understanding of the genre by producing their own graphic novel. After deciding on the main elements of their story, individuals use a comic...

A series of 4 activities foster critical thinking, careful observation, and creative expression with the work of Canadian artist Robert Harris. Learners respond to half a painting and then to the whole picture while listening to a poem;...