Curated OER
Our Town
With the songs "My Hometown" by Bruce Springsteen and "Allentown" by Billy Joel, learners examine external versus internal conflict. When they have finished the first part of the lesson, they create their own poem (or song) about the...
Curated OER
Our Town: Using Song Lyrics in the Classroom
Bruce Springsteen’s “My Hometown” and Billy Joel’s “Allentown” motivate young lyricists to craft poems about their own home town. Groups compare the two songs, identifying details, symbols, and conflicts. Individuals then picture a place...
Curated OER
Exploring Themes in Literature: The Oral Tradition
Are you are considering a unit on Beowulf or Superman, on myths, or tricksters? Here's a great overview you can use to launch a study of universal themes and archetypes. The focus here is on the oral tradition, but the concepts apply to...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.5
Your students already know when they like a story and when they don't, but they may not know that the plots of these stories are shaping that opinion. Like all resources in this series, the two activities and quizzes provided here deal...
Curated OER
What Is a Euphemism?
In this euphemism worksheet, students study about this writing convention. Students guess what 5 euphemisms mean, then complete some writing and evaluating questions about euphemisms.
Curated OER
What Makes a Novel a Novel?
They always say to write what you know. This approach is used to get middle schoolers prepared to write novels of their own. Using a favorite book as a model, potential novelists respond to prompts that ask about characters, plot, main...
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.3
Focus on complex characters with a lesson from a series that teaches individual skills from the Common Core. Specifically, this resource provides practice with standard RL.9-10.3. Get pupils thinking and talking about characters with the...
Curated OER
Demian - Essay Questions
If your class is reading Demian by Hermann Hesse, consider printing this list of essay questions to help them explore the text. There are 13 questions provided; some are basic recall questions, but others encourage a deeper...
Curated OER
Modernism: American Literature 1914-1945
What characterizes modern literature? The first few slides of this 31-slide PowerPoint discuss what sparked the change to Modernism and discuss some of the key figures of the time (like Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud). The 20s and 30s are...
Curated OER
Using Walt Whitman¿¿¿s Poem ¿¿¿Leaves of Grass¿¿¿ And Takamri¿¿¿s Girl And Boy As Inspiration for Writing a Celebration of Self
Learners read and analyze Walt Whitman's poem, "Leaves of Grass." They compare/contrast Whitman's style to artist Takamori's style, and write an original poem about their childhood and fond memories.
Curated OER
Similes
In this similes worksheet, 4th graders complete the similes and highlight similes in a poem. Students complete 4 activities on this worksheet.
Curated OER
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Students read and analyze the novel "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou. They discuss the poetry and prose of the book, the importance of role models, complete a worksheet, and write a narrative using figurative language.
Curated OER
Persona Poem
Students write a poem from the perspective of the first-person persona. Through the words of the poem, demonstrate a higher level of thinking by providing insight to the personality of the poem's speaker, the "I" who is featured in the...
Curated OER
Don Quixote
Young scholars examine the use of metaphors in literature. In this literary devices lesson, students read poems that feature extended metaphors and compare them to the metaphors used in Don Quixote. Young scholars then try their hand at...
Curated OER
Searching for Images in Poetry
Young scholars are introduced to the concepts of similes, metaphors and personification. In groups or individually, they read different poems identifying the similes, metaphors and instances of personification in each. They record all...
Curated OER
Poetry Voices
Students investigate the performance aspect of poetry by reading, writing and discussing poetry pieces.
Curated OER
Literature: Poetic Devices Review
Tenth graders examine poems by Shel Silverstein and identify literary elements in them. The exercise is part of an examination review about poetic elements. The review concludes with students writing nature poems displaying the devices...
Curated OER
Scops, Rappers and You: Historians with Style!
Learners examine the epic poem Beowulf. In this analyzing poetry lesson, student compare listen to the Will Smith song "Wild, Wild West" and read Beowulf. Students analyze the song and the poem. Learners then research an influential...
Curated OER
Original Line or Familiar Find?
Students examine a primary source document from 1684 that includes many of the same lines found in Romeo's speech to Juliet from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Students compare the texts and discuss authorship during the sixteenth and...
Curated OER
Poetry and PowerPoint
Third graders read and discuss the poem, "April Rain Song" by Langston Hughes. After brainstorming examples of vivid verbs, figures of speech, language patterns, and imagery used in the poem, 3rd graders write a poem on a topic of...
Curated OER
Poetry Sings
Students examine examples of literary terms in poetry. Then they choose two songs, write out the lyrics, and decipher what they think the artist is trying to say. Each student presents their song to the class and they cite examples of...
Curated OER
Poetry for Kids
Sixth graders be immersed indirect experiences which are opportunities for students to reflect, look back, debrief or abstract from their experiences what they have felt, and thought, and studied.
Curated OER
Using Onomatopoeia
Learners explore onomatopoeia. They discuss the definition of onomatopoeia. Students brainstorm words that use onomatopoeia and they create a words work to use as a reference for poetry writing.
Curated OER
Use of the Simile
Fourth graders identify and write their own similes. In this literary devices lesson, 4th graders define and identify similes. The teacher scaffolds the lesson so that all students can write their own similes.