Unit Plan
Teaching Matters

Welcome to Writing Poetry

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Your pupils are poets, and now they'll be able to show it with the exercises in this packet. The lessons, designed for beginner, intermediate, and experienced poets, not only feature a variety of poetic forms, but take...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Nature Poems

For Teachers 5th - 8th
Students explore the visual, auditory, and verbal worlds offered by iLife applications to create a project that engages all learners and learning styles. They create a class book and CD of nature poems and artwork.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Breaking up a Poem

For Teachers 7th
Complete with a SMART board presentation and all necessary materials, this lesson guides seventh graders through the process of writing poems and utilizing line breaks. After reading through the presentation and different examples, they...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Poems for Two Voices

For Teachers 9th - 11th
"That man is not truly one, but truly two." The Strange Case of  Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde offers readers a change to craft a poem combining words and phrases from Robert Lewis Stevenson's novella to create a poem...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Epic Improvisation

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Really? Rapping The Odyssey? Really. A discussion of the oral tradition of story telling and its links to Epic poetry sets the stage for a series of activities that encourage improvisation to integrate music into other classrooms....
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Home” by Bruce Weigl

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
A poetry lesson takes a close look at home. Scholars discuss with partners what they are most grateful for at their homes. A timelapse video showcases potato tubers growing. While watching, pupils write down what they notice. Learners...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Poem for Two Voices for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Poems For Two Voices are a great resource in any language arts classroom, whether you are studying poetry or not. Focusing on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this lesson prompts young authors to write a Poem For Two...
PPT
Curated OER

Western Medieval European Poetry and Literature

For Teachers 11th - 12th
One of the Common Core standards requires learners to make connections between literature or media of the past and the present. Provided here, are key elements found in medieval poetry and literature that are connected to several more...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Tuesday 9/11/01" by Lucille Clifton

For Teachers 6th - 12th
A photograph and a poem remind young people of the events of November 11, 2001. After examining Andrea Booher's photograph taken on September 13, 2001, and reading Lucille Clifton's poem "Tuesday 9/11/01", scholars compare their...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "November 2: Día De Los Muertos" By Alberto Ríos

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Scholars examine a colorful and detailed picture, then view an engaging video in preparation for reading the poem "November 2: Día De Los Muertos" by Alberto Ríos. Learners discuss their observations, feelings conveyed, and the...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Diamante Poem

For Students 3rd - 4th
A diamante poem, a form poem, compares two nouns using adjectives and participles. The worksheet provided by Busy Teacher Café includes the definitions of these parts of speech, a model for the form, and a sample poem. The...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Toward the Winter Solstice" by Timothy Steele

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Timothy Steele's poem, "Toward the Winter Solstice," offers scholars an opportunity to consider what poets and scientists could learn from each other's work. First, learners examine a NASA image of a star-forming region in the Orion...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a lesson that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as well as questions...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Old South Meeting House" by January Gill O'Neil

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The vaulted ceiling of the Old South Meeting House has heard many voices. Young scholars read an excerpt about its importance in American history and then do a close reading January Gill O'Neil's poem, "Old South Meeting House." After...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Poetry in Teaching Reading to Special Education Students

For Teachers 6th - 9th
A series of well-written activities, these lessons prompt middle schoolers reading below grade level (at a second, third, or fourth grade level) to use poetry to practice basic reading skills. They rhyme, build words, make inferences,...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Introduce Vocabulary: My Chinatown: One Year in Poems (Mak)

For Teachers K - 3rd
Beautiful illustrations and tender memories of cultural identity make Kam Mak's story My Chinatown an ideal resource for budding readers learning four vocabulary words in context: fortune, scraps,...
Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

The Metamorphoses and Modern Poetry: A Comparison of Mythic Characters

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
To gain an appreciation of the power of point of view, class members compare Ovid's version of the myth of "Orpheus and Eurydice" with that used by H.D. in her poem, "Eurydice." Individuals then craft a reflection in which they use...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry: When the Rain Sings Poems by Young Native Americans

For Teachers 7th - 11th
Poetry can express feelings, values, and culture; it also provides insight into a time and place. Young analysts discuss the meanings of several poems from a collection of Native American works entitled, When the Rain...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Exposure: A Poem by Wilfred Owen

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Here’s a great way to engage your pupils in poetry analysis. Show your class this student-produced, PowerPoint analysis of Wilfred Owen’s “Exposure.” Have your class critique the strengths and weakness of the presentation. (They are sure...
Activity
Curated OER

The Last Lecture: Found Poem

For Teachers 9th - 12th
To focus attention on key concepts and vocabulary words in The Last Lecture, readers use power words drawn from the text to craft found poems.
Activity
Curated OER

The Kite Runner: Kite Making and Poetry Reading

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Readers of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner select 100 words from chapters five and six of the novel, use these words to create a found poem, and then attach their poem to a kite that they construct.
Activity
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1
National Endowment for the Humanities

Practical Criticism

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
As an introduction to literary criticism, class members recreate I.A. Richards' close reading experiment. Individuals select a poem, paraphrase the story, focus on the imagery used, consider what the imagery adds to the tale, and...
Lesson Plan
Film English

To This Day

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Bring bullying out into the open with an involved lesson surrounding the animated version of Shane Koyczan's spoken word poem "To This Day." Class members discuss images related to bullying and watch the video without sound. They write a...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Objects Human

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
Explore poetry, personification, and multiple languages with a poetry reading and writing lesson plan. After the teacher reads the poem to the class, a discussion about personification follows. The class then writes a collaborative...

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