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Lesson Plan
National History Day

More Than Mud and Cooties: The Poetry of World War I Soldiers

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
Poetry is not just for romance. Teach middle schoolers about soldiers' experiences during World War I with poetry written by the soldiers themselves. The lesson includes a simulation activity, a graphic organizer activity, and a...
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Organizer
National Endowment for the Humanities

Elements of the Epic Hero Cycle

For Students 9th - 12th
Here's a handy worksheet applicable to any study of epic heroes, including those in epic poetry. Readers record examples from their text that identify the quest, the tests, helpers and companions, as well as the low point, the...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Deciphering the Mechanics of Poetry

For Teachers 7th - 9th
After a review of poetic terms, groups are given an object and they create a poem using a simile, a metaphor, internal rhyme, end rhyme, alliteration, and personification. Groups then exchange objects and repeat the process. Consider...
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Writing
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Teacher's Corner

Diamonte (dee-a-MON-tay)

For Students 3rd - 7th
Did you say a diamonte? Ask your young poets to craft and polish this gem of a form poem. The fifth in a series of ten poetry writing exercises.
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Unit Plan
National Center for Families Learning

The Summer Fun Summer Learning Poetry Unit

For Teachers 1st - 8th Standards
Focus on poetry this summer to enhance those comprehension, fluency, and language skills with a set of resources intended to explore different types of poetry, specifically lyric poetry. The daily activities contain differentiation ideas...
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Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

7th Grade Poetry: Ode Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
Walt Whitman's "Captain, My Captain" and Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" provide seventh graders with examples of odes. After reading and discussing these and other examples, young poets craft an ode and respond to the ode of a...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

(Not Quite) Breaking All The Rules: Poetry And Grammar

For Teachers 8th Standards
FANBOYS will enjoy breaking grammar rules, but they will have to use coordinating conjunctions, gerunds, compound sentences, compound-complex sentences, and even predicates as they craft poems like Shel Silverstein.
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Lesson Plan
EngageNY

Peer Critique: Use of Evidence in the Two-Voice Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
Peer editors review critique expectations before offering feedback on each other's two-voice poems. They record their feedback on peer critique recording forms, and then begin revising their poems. 
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Lesson Plan
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Prestwick House

Teaching Shakespeare: Sonnet 73

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
It's that time of year to consider how Shakespeare selects his images and structures his Sonnet 73 to develop the meaning of the poem. Class members examine the rhyme scheme, the indented lines, the conceit, and the images used in each...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Extreme Poetry Vocabulary

For Teachers 12th
Challenge your class with this comprehensive list of literary vocabulary words. Learners take a pre-test, look up definitions, come up with an example, and then take a post-test. You might use this prior to a unit about poetic devices in...
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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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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
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
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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
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 for two voices. The...
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App
Tiny Mobile

Poetry Creator | Verses

For Students 2nd - 8th
Construct from a canvas of words, lyrical expressions that your budding poets can share and post.  Based on refrigerator magnet poetry, creative writers can develop their poetry independently, or from a given prompt from their instructor.  
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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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Post-Colonial Writers Unit

For Teachers 9th
How do cultural and historical background impact thought? To explore this essential question, class members view of portion of the film, The Passage to India, read an excerpt from The Magician’s Nephew, and Nissim Ezekiel’s poem, "In...
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Lesson Plan
Poetry Society

A Conceit Poem

For Teachers 2nd - 6th
Young writers needn't be self-involved to craft a conceit. Directions for how to craft this form of extended metaphor, models, and a worksheet are all included in the packet.
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Worksheet
Curated OER

Poem in Your Pocket Day: Ideas for Celebrating

For Students K - 12th
First instituted in New York City in 2002 and recognized nationwide in 2009, "Poem in Your Pocket Day" is part of National Poetry Month (April) and celebrates poetry in everyday life. A brief news story includes 9 ideas about how to...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Understanding the Context of Modernist Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students examine the historical, social, and cultural context of modernist poetry. They explore websites, complete a chart, compare/contrast rural and urban life, watch a video of early New York, and complete a writing assessment...
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Writing
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Teacher's Corner

Tanka

For Students 3rd - 7th
The Tanka, another fix from of Japanese poetry, is featured in the final exercise in a 10-part series of poetry writing activities.
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Writing
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Teacher's Corner

Cinquain (sink-ain)

For Students 3rd - 7th
The cinquain, a five line, fixed-form poem that features one subject, is the focus of the third exercise in a series of ten poetry writing resources.
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PPT
Curated OER

An Introduction to the Odyssey

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Epics, like the Odyssey, were told over the span of several days and drew quite a crowd. Before starting the famous work with your class, review this presentation to gain some insight into the structure and history of epic poems.