Curated OER
Soliloquy Performances
Students investigate soliloquies. In this performing arts instructional activity, students discuss figurative language within soliloquies and then perform a soliloquy to the rest of the class.
Curated OER
Poetry In Motion
Fourth graders read and analyze poetry and examine the process of writing poetry. They read and analyze the poem "From a Railway Carriage" by Robert Louis Stevenson, and answer comprehension questions. They identify the similes,...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Reading Literature - My Last Dutchess
Draw back the curtain, add a spot of joy to your class, and let learners be lessoned by a close reading exercise that models how to develop an interpretation based on evidence drawn from a text. Robert Browning’s dramatic monologue “My...
Curated OER
Lesson Plan: Letting Go
Why would an artist destroy his own work? Kids examine the Malagan practice of creating and then destroying art. They talk about the cultural and spiritual significance of this practice, as well as how it relates to consumerism in...
Curated OER
Mastering the Mighty Melville
“Bartleby the Scrivner” as an existential forerunner to The Office? Dense and often dark, Herman Melville’s stories abound with Biblical allusions and complex symbols. If you are considering using Melville’s novels or short stories with...
Curated OER
"Compression of Emotional Power"--Responding To Unseen Poetry
Eleventh graders identify the structure, rhythm and style of a selected poem, experience utilizing poetic devices and analyze an annotated poem. They evaluate the themes and inferred meanings to a variety of poems from their textbooks.
Curated OER
Deciphering the Mechanics of Poetry
Eighth graders study poetic devices and use them in their own writing and apply them when reading poetry. In groups, they describe an item using poetic devices.
Curated OER
Poetry: Metaphor
Ninth graders investigate the uses of metaphor in poetry. They construct poems demonstrating the correct usage of metaphors.
Curated OER
Exploring Contrasting Story Elements Through Tapestry and Poetry
Young thinkers view two narrative art tapestries and study the images included that tell a story about the Roman Emperor Constantine. As they examine the details of the tapestries, pupils use a Venn Diagram to record the similarities and...
Curated OER
Pretty Plants Point of View
Young poets use Kidspiration to draw a flower, personify the flower, and write a poem from the flower's point of view. Sharing these poems in small groups will reinforce learners' knowledge of personification.
Curated OER
Fairy Tale Alliterations
Fairy tales are the perfect way to focus on alliteration. Learners complete activities relating to alliteration and similes using a fairy tale theme. Then, they complete an acrostic poem using the words fairy tale.
Curated OER
Personification #2
Langston Hughes’ poem, Fall Leaves, provides the text for a personification identification worksheet. Pupils underline examples of this literary device and then write an explanation of how it is used in the poem.
Curated OER
Natural Disasters: Stormy Weather in Art, Writing, and Music
Using personal experience, visual art, and music that evoke natural disasters, your older high schoolers create their own expressions of storms. Learners conduct online research about weather drama. They make their own expressive...
Curated OER
Headless Horseman, Heady Author
Twelfth graders explore figurative language as it appears in Washington Irving's original text, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, answer questions based on story, and write sequels to it by using the different types of figurative language...
National Endowment for the Humanities
A Raisin in the Sun: Whose "American Dream"?
How does Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun factor into a discussion of the American dream? High schoolers define the American dream and recognize the historical setting of the play. Additionally, they identify...
Curated OER
Louisiana's Tragic Hero - "Evangeline"
"Ye who believe...List to a Tale of Love in Acadie." Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline," launches a study of tragic heroines, epic poetry, the expulsion of the Acadians from Canada, and their subsequent migration to Louisiana. The...
Curated OER
The Ballad Of Captain Super
Engaging and fun, this lesson is a good way to reinforce context clues with this lesson, in which middle schoolers investigate literary puzzles. They apply critical thinking skills to codes in order to solve them. They use a variety of...
Reed Novel Studies
Winnie-The-Pooh: Novel Study
Winnie the Pooh lands in a gorse-bush plant in chapter one of A.A. Milne's beloved children's novel, Winnie-the-Pooh. With the novel study, scholars research three interesting facts about the plant. They also compose a four-line poem...
Curated OER
Symbolic Poem
Pupils read and analyze several highly symbolic poems. They create their own symbolic poem, read it to the class, and discuss whether they can guess any hidden meanings.
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
Introduction to Poetry
Students determine the rhyme scheme of a poem and find examples of similes. In this poetry analysis lesson, students review definitions needed for the topic and analyze the rhyme or rhythm for the example poems. Students also find...
Dr. Seuss Enterprises
Dr. Seuss in the Classroom
Explore the works of Dr. Seuss, such as Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches and Egg, The Sneetches and Other Stories, The Lorax, The Butter Battle Book, and Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories. Each story lesson includes reading...
Curated OER
"How to Eat a Poem"
Eighth graders write a poem showing what they know about metaphors, and non-literal language to express ideas, convey meaning, and create images after they read Eve Merriam's "How to Eat a Poem".
Curated OER
Forms of Poetry
Pupils identify distinguishing features of poetry. They identify and use literary terminology including symbol, theme, simile, and alliteration. They recognize the effects of language.