“What’s in a name?” Just about everything. Barack Obama, Vincent van Gogh, Justin Bieber. Famous names evoke a multitude of reactions and poets often use the names of famous people in their works precisely because names carry...

Young poets try their hand at one of the most popular fixed poetry forms, the limerick. The eighth in a series of ten poetry writing exercises.

The stated goal of this unit is to use poetry to "improve the emotional health of young people." Budding poets read and then supply their own lines for poems that deal with alienation, loneliness, and rejection.

Honor the great poet, Shel Silverstein with eighteen activities and lessons showcasing his collection of poems from the book, Every Thing On It. Activities challenge scholars to rhyme words, make inferences, recite a poem, and...

Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" provides high schoolers with an opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills. They examine the images, diction, rhythm, and rhyme scheme the poet uses and consider how...

Budding poets compose an original free verse poem. Encouraged to use personification and alliteration, scholars read over three tips and examples then try their hand at drafting a poem of their own style.  

Writing funny poems is the best part about learning poetic forms! Young poets learn all about clerihews—humorous four-line poems about people—with an explanatory lesson.

Students study poetry and poets from different countries and time periods. They analyze various poems, present a dramatic reading of a poem and teach a poem they like to their class.

Students study the work of William Shakespeare. They survey the elements of comedy and tragedy and read plays and poems. They discuss the texts they read and recite poetry. They dramatize poems with movement and sounds and write poetry...

Eighth graders gather ideas generated from other poems and their own inspiration, to create original poetry. A celebration is included as students bind and submit poems for publication.

High schoolers explore how poems represent the social, historical, and cultural times that they were written in. In this poetry lesson plan, students compare and contrast poems with music of the time and explore implications of writing...

Students watch Tell About the South II: Poets and Prophets video, discuss Lillian Smith's work and her triple focus of race, class and gender, and create persuasive essays that argue whether racism, classism, or sexism is strongest...

Young scholars, in groups, reflect on their attitudes towards poets and poetry. They read excerpts from George Puttenham's The Arte of English Poesie, which was written during Shakespeare's day. They compare their attitudes toward...

Poets write love letters, but how often do the objects of their love write back? Compare Christopher Marlowe's "A Passionate Shepard to His Love" to Sir Walter Raleigh's response, "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd," with an engaging...

How do writers develop a central idea in a text? How can readers identify this central idea? These are the challenges class members tackle as they continue their analysis of "Letter One" from Rainer Maria Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet.

Class members continue their analysis of Letters to a Young Poet, paying particular attention to how Rilke uses metaphor to develop his ideas about the source of inspiration.

Where does a writer find inspiration? "Go into yourself," says Rainer Maria Rilke in "Letter One" from Letters to a Young Poet. Readers of Rilke's letter to Franz Xaver Kappus examine the words and figurative language Rilke uses to...

To prepare for the end-of-unit multi-paragraph essay, class members review Rainer Maria Rilke's collection, Letters to a Young Poet, and David Mitchell's Black Swan Green and identify central ideas in both texts. Writers then formulate a...

As an end-of-unit assessment, class members craft a formal, multi-paragraph essay identifying a similar idea found in Rainer Maria Rilke's collection, Letters to a Young Poet, and David Mitchell's Black Swan Green. Writers state and use...

Does identity come from within, or do external forces shape it? Explore the complex identity concept with a two-unit module for 12th-grade language arts. The first unit uses A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and "A Daily Joy...

William Shakespeare: a writer, a poet, a fake? For their mid-unit assessments, scholars read an excerpt from the article "The Top Ten Reasons Shakespeare Did Not Write Shakespeare" by Keir Cutler. Next, they analyze the author's argument...

Young poets view a model two-voice poem while discussing capitalization and punctuation. Pupils also complete an end-of-unit assessment about using strong evidence to support a literary analysis. 

Learners finish the end-of-unit assessment by completing a poetry analysis of We Wear the Mask. Scholars may use their Poet’s Toolbox reference sheets and How to Read a Poem anchor charts to guide them through the assessment. 

Young scholars are asked to reflect on how personal experiences might influence points of view and perspectives. They read poems and biographies of the poets and then match the poem to the poet. To justify their matches, learners...