Turn your classroom into a music studio as groups work together to determine why music sounds different when performed live versus a recording. After listening to some different music, each group picks a poem, creates a recording, and...

Middle schoolers view a piece of impressionist art, listen to a piece of jazz music and then write a piece about the picture in the style of beat poets. They compare their writing and look for differences in their perceptions.

Students go outside to the playground and write a piece in the style of beat poets based on what they see and hear outside.

A reading of Robert Frost’s "The Road Not Taken" launches an interdisciplinary study of the connection between the meters of a poem and a melody. After identifying the number of beats in each line of the poem, young musicians use...

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

Learners explore the poetry of Allen Ginsberg. They read and analyze poems by Allen Ginsberg, conduct Internet research, collect examples of art of the 60s, and create a presentation.

Put the tips and tricks in this guide into practice in order to encourage your pupils to blossom into poets. A wonderful reference material for teachers, this packet includes definitions of poetic terms and forms as well as step-by-step...

Students explore poetry that examines social concerns. In this poetry lesson, students research poems and poets. Students present their findings to their classmates.

A video featuring members of Oregon’s Astoria Native American fishing community launches a study of the oral tradition of poetry, and how traditions are passed down within different cultures. Activities, assessments, extensions and...

  Learners explore the art of haiku's by listening to, modeling and creating them.  In this haiku poetry lesson, students choose an object to focus their haiku on.  After hearing a brief history of the haiku; learners make...

Seventh graders describe an event, a situation, etc. through the eyes of two people or two inanimate objects.

This unit examines poetry of the postmodernism period, focusing on the Beat Movement, Black Arts Movement, feminism, and other related movements and periods in recent literary history. An extensive list of authors, time line, video, and...

Poet Allen Ginsberg is featured in this brief biography for his literary contributions to the Beat movement. See "Allen Ginsberg Activities" for related resources.

Gary Snyder is the focus of this biography, identifying his contributions to literature through poetry. Click on "Gary Snyder Activities" for related artifacts and activities.