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National Endowment for the Humanities

Hopi Poetry

For Teachers K - 5th Standards
The Hopi refer to corn as their children, demonstrating its importance to the Native American group. Class members consider the role of literal and figurative language by examining poetry from this indigenous group. The resource includes...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "The Shapes of Leaves" by Arthur Sze

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Arthur Sze's poem, "The Shapes of Leaves," encourages young scholars to notice and speak for others who "do not speak." The lesson begins with pupils writing about a tree that they really like. The class then examines an image of...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days” by Walt Whitman

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Walt Whitman's poem "As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days" offers scholars an opportunity to practice their noticing skills. They first examine a postcard of the Newport News Shipyard listing things they notice about the image and how...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Lines Written in Early Spring" by William Wordsworth

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
William Wordsworth's poem "Lines Written in Early Spring" lets learners sharpen their observation skills. Class members first closely examine the image "Flowers in Front of an Abandoned House in Demerino, Russia," listing what they...
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Activity
Poetry Society

Writing a Personification List Poem

For Teachers 6th - 12th
After a close reading of Sylvia Plath's "Mirror" and Flora de Falbe's "Five Things About the Lake," young poets craft their own personification list poem about a very special place.
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Violin" by Nikki Wallschlaeger

For Teachers 3rd - 12th Standards
Nikki Wallschlaeger's Violin is the featured poem in a instructional activity that uses music and multiple readings to delve deep into its analysis. After a writing warm-up, learners watch and listen to a video that showcases Regina...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Declaration” by Tracy K. Smith

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Tracy K. Smith's erasure poem "Declaration" challenges scholars to use their noticing skills to make connections between an engraving entitled "The Declaration of Independence" and Smith's poem. Class members record observations and...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "The Snowfall Is So Silent" by Miguel de Unamuno

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Cold, beautiful, unique! Class members closely examine John Singer Sargent's watercolor "Snow," taking note of the artist's techniques, and pair up to discuss how the image makes them feel about snow. They then repeat the process with...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond" by E. E. Cummings

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars engage in a role-play exercise, compare their demonstration to a time-lapse video, and to a poem by E.E. Cummings. The ensuing discussion asks learners to consider the similarities among the three.
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Heart to Heart" by Rita Dove

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Take heart! Here's a lesson that will encourage learners to notice details. After listening to Sarah Vaughan singing "My Funny Valentine" and noting how the word heart relates to Valentine's Day, scholars observe a human heart image....
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Lesson Plan
EBSCO Industries

Music and Poetry

For Teachers 8th - 10th Standards
Song lyrics, like poems, are meant to be heard. After examining the literary devices in several poems, scholars examine the lyrics of popular songs and identify the sound devices and the figurative language writers use to create the...
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Lesson Plan
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art

Where I'm From: Symbolism in Paint and Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
After a review of symbolism, class members use the provided worksheet to first list the objects they observe in Arnold Mesches' painting "Coney Island" and then suggest possible symbolic meanings for each of the objects. A second...
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Activity
PBS

Write a New Year Poem Inspired by Amanda Gorman’s "New Day’s Lyric"

For Students 6th - 12th
Here's a new take on a new year. After watching and discussing the video of Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman performing her "New Day's Lyric," young poets craft poems that reflect their feelings about the past year and their resolutions...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Instructions on Not Giving Up" by Ada Limón

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
What do the myth of the phoenix bird and Ada Limón's poem "Instructions on Not Giving Up" have in common? Young scholars create a list of what they notice about both the myth and poem, then consider what the similarities might indicate...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “One day is there of the series” by Emily Dickinson

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
A lesson plan begins with learners saying three words they associate with Thanksgiving dinner. They examine a picture of a menu from a Thanksgiving meal and discuss what they believe the artist wants them to feel, pointing out details....
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Once the Magnolia has Blossomed" by Ed Roberson

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A free write, an image of magnolia leaves, and the Ed Roberson's poem "Once the Magnolia has Blossomed" ask scholars to use their noticing skills to reflect on the lesson beauty teaches about loss and grief.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Technopoet - Poetry Lesson Plans

For Teachers 4th - 7th
Practice word processing while writing different types of poems. First, elementary and middle schoolers use Word templates to write poetry. They use rhyming and descriptive words as they work with clipart, text wrapping, and picture...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Different Types of Poetry

For Teachers 4th - 6th
Provide pupils samples of different types of poems including haikus, narrative, nonsense, shape, and rhyming poems. In groups, class members read the poems, establish their general meaning, identify poetic devices, and rate the poems,...
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Writing
Curriculum Corner

My Book of Poems

For Students 2nd - 3rd Standards
Copy all pages to create a book of poems during a poetry study. From alliteration to cinquain to acrostic poem, your class won't run out of templates for writing poems! Each sheet serves as a template for an entire book of poems. Other...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Word Association Poetry with Visual Thesaurus (or Not)

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Young poets get inspiration and guidance for making word association poems with the Visual Thesaurus. Your class could complete this project with nothing more than a pencil and paper as well. A nice one-off for a substitute during your...
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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Alliteration in Headline Poems

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Poetry is everywhere you look! Create found poems using headlines from newspapers and magazines. Young poetry focus on creating alliterative phrases with words they find in headlines, tying their poems to a central theme.
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Activity
Kansas Poets

Persona Poem

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed Standards
Young poets are asked to craft a poem in the voice of a first person narrator, a dramatic monologue of sorts, that reveals not only a dramatic situation but something of the narrator's character as well.
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Lesson Planet Article
Curated OER

On World Poetry Day, We're All Poets

For Teachers 4th - 8th
Put away the books and the printouts, and break out the paper and pens to honor World Poetry Day.
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Lesson Plan
University of Arizona

Found News Poems

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Combine informational text and creative writing with one fun activity! Middle and high schoolers write found poems based on newspaper headlines that they find. The resource includes a thorough lesson plan and many links to articles that...

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