Curated OER
The Color of My Words
Explore the story The Color of My Words by Lynn Joseph using this resource. Learners answer comprehension questions, fill in graphic organizers, and write a poem.
Curated OER
Writing about Poetry
Young scholars analyze a poem and the use of stylistic devices in the poem. They make connections between the techniques of the poem and its meaning.
Curated OER
Let Freedom Ring: The Life & Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Students use text and photos to visualize the delivery of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s historic "I Have A Dream" speech. They analyze Dr. King's speech for examples of imagery and allusion and create original poetry and illustrations...
Curated OER
Magazine Production
Analyze magazines as a class, looking carefully for the target audience, advertisements, and topics presented. Small groups then work as a publication team and receive a magazine that they have to "sell." Each individual has a different...
Curated OER
The Voices Within Theirs and Mine
Students create new words to convey their thoughts. They find, list and discuss the poetic devices used by the poet in creating his or her war poem and create their own war poems. They use sensory perception words and memory in...
Curated OER
Shakespeare Analysis
Eighth graders focus on the Shakespearian sonnet as a form and analyze the sonnet in terms of structure, the particular rhyme scheme of the quatrains and the rhyming couplet, the rhythm of iambic pentameter, as well as any figurative...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Charles Baudelaire: Poète Maudit (The Cursed Poet)
After learning the main ideas of the Decadent movement, students work in small groups to read and translate poems by the French poet Charles Baudelaire using basic etymology skills. They then read the accurate English translations to see...
Curated OER
The Tell-Tale Hearts of Writers
Knock, knock, knock...Creep out your class with a critical thinking lesson focused on word relationships in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." They investigate the relationship between word choice, mood, and interpretation of...
Curated OER
Say Hi to Haibun Fun
What is a haibun? With this interesting lesson plan, writers will experience the Japanese writing form haibun, identify elements important to Japanese writing styles, analyze a haibun, and compose their own. Different from the typical...
Curated OER
Seeing the Image in Imagery: A Lesson Plan Using Film
In our increasingly visual society, it is often difficult for some readers to create a mental picture of a picture created only with words. An image-rich text like F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby can therefore, present a real...
Phantom of Opera
The Phantom of the Opera: Ideas for Research and Discussion
You could spend a full day discussing The Phantom of the Opera and not scratch the surface, but a set of lessons about the literary elements and themes of the musical production is a great start. Young thespians build upon the...
Curated OER
Exploring Arthurian Legend
Students investigate the evolution of the King Arthur stories and analyze them as a window into the culture that preserved them. They trace the legends through their earliest versions through medieval and Victorian times and into the...
Curated OER
The New York School: Action and Abstraction
Students examine the influences and similarities between the New York School poets and Abstract Expressionist artists. They analyze paintings and poems, and write original poetry.
Curriculum Corner
7th Grade ELA Common Core Checklists
Track your class's progress on all of the ELA Common Core standards with these handy charts. Along the left side, each seventh grade identifier is listed along with the full text of the standard. As you teach, reteach, assess,...
Curated OER
Exploring Contrasts in "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins
Middle schoolers analyze the speaker's ideas and tone in the Billy Collins poem "The Lanyard." After identifying how each of the five senses is addressed in the poem, they compare images to draw conclusions about the speaker and his...
Curriculum Corner
8th Grade ELA Common Core Checklists
How close are your eighth graders to mastering the ELA Common Core standards? Keep an eye on progress with these charts, which include every eighth grade identifier and full standard text. As you move through the year and teach,...
Curated OER
What Is Haiku
Middle schoolers engage in a instructional activity that is concerned with the study of poetry while focusing on Haiku as a format. They practice reading a variety of different pieces of literature in order to increase exposure. Students...
Curated OER
Testimony: A Lesson in Creating Poetry
High schoolers closely analyze testimony from the Holocaust. They express, in poetic form, meanings students created in their analysis. They react to written passages from the time period.
Curated OER
It's All Poetry to Me!
Fourth graders explore language arts by analyzing poetry styles. In this writing analysis lesson plan, 4th graders read several sample poems in class and identify similes, metaphors and other figurative language within them. Students...
Curated OER
What Is CLIVAR and EPIC?
Students conduct Internet research to analyze climatic conditions. They answer questions by conducting Internet research about CLIVAR and EPIC and write an essay about why climate research is an international issue.
Curated OER
Deciphering the Mechanics of Poetry
Eighth graders read and listen to various types of poetry. They analyze the meaning of the poems by examining the use of poetic devices, voice and author's intention.
Denver Art Museum
Lesson: Facebook for a Prince
In 1538 a portrait and a praise poem were created in honor of Edward, Prince of Wales. Your class will analyze the poem and painting, research the life of young Edward, then use the information to create a Facebook page. They will...
Curated OER
Lesson: Looking Closer: The Artwork of Wangechi Mutu
Social issues of gender and media stereotypes, begins with a multi-sensory experience. Learners view the painting Backlash Blues and make critical comments based on what they see. They then read the Langston Hughes poem and listen to the...
Curated OER
The Internet of Things: IoT
How has the Internet of Things affected our lives? Scholars examine the massive influence of mobile devices in this analysis lesson, which begins with a seven-minute documentary clip. They also read a New York Times article (linked)...