Curated OER
Emily Dickinson & Poetic Imagination: "Leap, plashless"
Students analyze the poems of Emily Dickinson and write their own nature poem. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read Dickinson poetry and analyze the use of imagery, sound, and metaphor. Students write their own nature poem using...
Curated OER
The American Dream Poetry
Students analyze how poetry can reveal themes of 'The American Dream.' In this poetry themes lesson, students discuss the elements of poetry and define imagery. Students read 'Lost Sister' by Cathy Song and complete a related worksheet....
Curated OER
Sound Devices in Poetry, Fiction and Nonfiction
Students examine the impact of sound devices in poetry. In this poetry lesson plan, students read the listed poems and identify uses of alliteration, repetition, consonance, rhythm, rhyme, and slang. Students discuss how sound devices...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Responding to Emily Dickinson: Poetic Analysis
Learners explore Emily Dickinson's poem "Safe in Their Alabaster Chambers." In this Dickinson poem lesson, high schoolers analyze the poem as proof of Dickinson' awareness of her reader. Learners analyze her style and identify her...
Curated OER
A Journey To Japan Through Poetry
Third graders gain an appreciation for writing, analyzing, reading and listening to poetry, viewing poems as a motivation for studying Japanese culture and tradition. They study and create their own haiku and tanka poems with illustrations.
Curated OER
Place and Character in Poetry
Students examine how place in poetry helps give clues about character. For this poetry lesson, students read a poem while focusing on the descriptions of the room that is being described and predict what type of person would live there....
Syracuse University
Harlem Renaissance
The music and literature of the Harlem Renaissance defined American culture, including its poetry. Using a poem from the period, individuals explore its musical qualities and how it is reflective of the period. Then, they use what they...
Curated OER
Exploring Contrasts in "The Lanyard" by Billy Collins
Middle schoolers analyze the speaker's ideas and tone in the Billy Collins poem "The Lanyard." After identifying how each of the five senses is addressed in the poem, they compare images to draw conclusions about the speaker and his...
Anti-Defamation League
10 Ideas for Teaching Black History Month
Celebrate Black History Month with the help of 10 ideas that delve deep into the history, major events, contributions, famous African Americans, and sheds light on how scholars today can take a proactive stance on current civil rights...
Maryland Department of Education
The Concept of Identity Lesson 2: The Historical/Biographical Approach
"How does our environment shape our identity?" After researching biographical information about John Knowles and considering how these experiences are reflected in A Separate Peace, class members consider the strengths and weaknesses of...
Curated OER
Text Features of Fiction, Poetry, Drama: Story Matrix
How do novels differ from plays? Explore with your class the text features of fiction and drama by reading The Hidden One: Native American Legend and then performing a reader’s theater script based on the story. Class members create a...
Curated OER
Upon the Burning of Our House
Tenth graders read the poem "Upon the Burning of Our House" and complete analysis activities. In this poetry analysis lesson, 10th graders read the poem and create original scenes summarizing the stanza.
Curated OER
Borrowed Inspiration: Writing Social Commentary
Students read poems with social themes. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read poems selected by their instructors and complete the provided social commentary chart to determine how the poems speak out against social ills....
Curated OER
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Haunted Houses"
Learners read and analyze Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Haunted Houses." They define key vocabulary terms, discuss the poem's technical aspects, and create an original poem about a haunted house or a haunted place.
Curated OER
Listening to Poetry: Sounds of the Sonnet
Students experience and enjoy the sounds of poetry. They erform sound experiments with sonnets and closely read and analyze a sonnet by Shakespeare. Students write an analysis of how sound affects meaning in a sonnet chosen from the...
Curated OER
Ted Hughes "Pike"
Students analyze how a poet uses language to capture creatures and draft a poem on a 'sinister' animal. In this poetry analysis lesson, students read Ted Hughes' poem 'Pike' and analyze pictures of pike fish. Students use their research...
Curated OER
Anne Carson
Students read poetry and a biography of poet Anne Carson as part of a creative writing instructional activity. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students read about the poet, read her poetry, and analyze a photograph to...
Curated OER
"Thank You Ma'am" by Langston Hughes
Young scholars use Langston Hughes' "Thank You Ma'am" as a reading and vocabulary improvement activity. In this reading and vocabulary lesson, students review the related vocabulary and read the poem. Young scholars discuss the story...
Curated OER
The Road Not Taken
High schoolers analyze Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken." In this poem analysis lesson, students review vocabulary for the poem and read the poem. High schoolers discuss the meanings in each stanza, the theme, and its rhyme...
Curated OER
He Sees it in His Joy
Students research the importance of play. In this research lesson, students work in pairs and interview each other about their 'play history.' Students take data from the interview and shape it into a play history for the individual....
Curated OER
Interaction as Analysis: Emily Dickinson
Emily Dickinson’s “Hope is a thing with feathers” is the focus of a series of activities that model for learners how close reading can lead to understanding. The whole class plays with the metaphor, groups talk about the author’s...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 11
In Audre Lorde's poem "From the House of Yemanjá," the speaker describes her mother's two faces, adding a whole new meaning to the phrase "two-faced." Pupils first read the final stanza of the contemporary poem. With a Quick Write, they...
Center for History Education
How Did the Public View Women’s Contributions to the Revolutionary War Effort?
Calling upon the legacies of Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I, and Catherine the Great, Esther Reed rallied Southern women to support the American Revolution. Using a broadside by Reed and other primary sources, such as poetry, young historians...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 7
Can three works of literature work together to establish and develop a common central idea? Put your thoughts into writing with a final assessment focused on a unit-long analysis of Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepard to His...