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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

De-Mystifying Poetry: Understanding Narrative Poetry

For Teachers 10th
Tenth graders explore narrative poetry. They analyze sections of a poem and present to groups. They compose their own narrative poems using pictures as prompts. They exchange their poems and analyze their classmate's poem.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

6th Grade: Express Yourself, Lesson 1: Poem

For Teachers 6th Standards
While originally created to accompany The Cay, this poetry instructional activity could be used on it's own, especially if you are working on dialect. Class members conduct a close reading of "When Malindy Sings" by Paul Laurence Dunbar...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Workshop: Fixed Form Poems

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Encourage the poetic genius in your young creative writers with a poetry workshop. Fix form poems (cinquains acrostic poems, octopoems, hello/goodbye poems) provide a framework and encourage vocabulary development as well as an awareness...
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Worksheet
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Curated OER

A Mysterious Story Poem

For Students 1st - 3rd Standards
Your scholars will be hooked after reading the cryptic narrative poem "The Listeners." They explain why it is so mysterious, then use the poem to learn about pronouns. Learners read an excerpt from the poem that has been altered to not...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Poems that Tell a Story: Narrative and Persona in the Poetry of Robert Frost

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Dig in deeper with Robert Frost's, "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." Learners will read and discuss poems by Robert Frost and learn the meaning of terms such as narrative and personal. They journal, collaborate, and present poetry...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Seven Poems, Seven Paintings: A Teacher's Guide to Selected Holocaust Poetry

For Teachers 12th Standards
Seven poems paired with seven original works of art provide learners an opportunity to draw connections between literary and artistic interpretations. Designed to augment a study of the Holocaust, each pair is accompanied by discussion...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Maniac Magee: Found Poem

For Teachers 4th - 6th Standards
Instruct your readers to scrounge through the pages of Maniac Magee in search for descriptive passages or words they may use to write poetry. As they look for meaningful, sensory descriptors in Jerry Spinelli's novel, readers connect to...
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Lesson Plan
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Baylor College

Body Strength

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Your young learners will discover how muscular strength and endurance can increase with this truly hands-on activity! Beginning by writing an acrostic for the word strength, class members then engage in tracking their ability to squeeze...
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PPT
Springfield Public Schools District 186

Form and Structure of Poetry

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
If anyone suffers from metrophobia—the fear of poetry—the PowerPoint on the elements of poetry may help alleviate their worries. The presentation introduces learners to poetic elements, including simile, metaphor, and personification....
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

1900 America: Primary Sources and Epic Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Using Walt Whitman's Song of Myself and Hart Crane's The Bridge as models, class groups first craft their own epic poems for 1900 and, using primary sources, create a multi-media presentation that captures the sights and sounds of life...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poems that Tell a Story: Narrative and Persona in the Poetry of Robert Frost

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students investigate and explore the poems of Robert Frost. They read and discuss poems by Frost, define narrative and personal, write narratives in a journal, and present a dramatic reading of a poem to the class.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Collective Poetry: Teaching Tolerance

For Teachers 2nd - 4th
Help your class create collective poetry following a simple, engaging model from Teaching Tolerance (tolerance.org). Each young poet writes five things on an index card: sayings from others, favorite sound, favorite place, favorite...
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Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

8th Grade Poetry: Assess

For Teachers 8th Standards
Eighth graders craft a Petrarchan sonnet and respond to a performance assessment to demonstrate what they have learned in this five-instructional activity poetry unit.
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Unit Plan
Curated OER

Teaching Phonics Through Poetry

For Teachers 1st
Students understand rhythm and rhyming words in poetry. In this poetry lesson, students listen to poetry and are able to find the ABAB pattern. Students recognize the "ow" sound. Students complete various activities to practice the...
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Lesson Plan
National Park Service

The Poet's Toolbox

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
If you need a lesson plan for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities on...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Personal Poetry Books

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students work in the classroom and in the computer lab to produce a Personal Poetry Book.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry and Hip Hop

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
High schoolers compare and contrast the genres of poetry and hip-hop. They view a poetry slam and write about it in their journals. Learners view a Lauryn Hill music video and respond to it in their journals. They compare and contrast...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Creating a Found Poem

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Teach your English learners about theme through this found poem project. Class members read two versions of O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi": the original version and a synopsis. After learning about themes and connecting theme to their...
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Activity
Smarter Balanced

Poetry

For Teachers 7th - 9th
How does poetry differ from other forms of writing? Class members view two writing samples, decide which one is a poem, and then identify the criteria they used to distinguish between the two samples.  
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Cyberbook

For Teachers 8th
Emerging poets design a website and then post seven original poems as well as their written critique of these poems. Although the resource mentions Inspiration and FrontPage technologies, any software could be substituted. 
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Lesson Plan
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Poetry Society

Simile and Metaphor

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Young poets use word cards to prompt a metaphor poem comparing to very dissimilar items.
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Lesson Plan
Poetry Society

How do Poets Use Language?

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Why do writers choose the language they do? Here's a resource that has the poet himself answer that very question. Joseph Coelho explains why he chose the words and images he used in his poem, "If All the World Were Paper."
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

The Palm of My Heart: Poetry By African American Children

For Teachers 1st - 6th
Elementary young scholars explore African American culture by reading children's poetry. They read the book, The Palm of My Heart which features poetry by an assortment of young African American boys and girls. Students define several...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Sense Poems

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young scholars explore 5 senses poetry.  In this poetry writing lesson, students visualize a special day and brainstorm related vivid adjectives and phrases.  Young scholars create mindmaps of the five senses to go with their...