Curated OER
A Serious Question
In this creative writing worksheet, students read a poem about a kitten called "A Serious Question" by Carolyn Wells. Students rewrite the poem, filling in the blanks with different words on their own.
Curated OER
Pinhole Photo Narratives
Students create original pieces of poetry and use this as a basis for a photography series using "pin-hole camera" techniques. This high school lesson plan is cross-curricular in scope.
Curated OER
Poetry--Homeless People
Eighth graders create a poem about homeless people using images they saw on websites. After reading the book "The Outsiders", 8th graders make connections of real life homeless people with characters in the book. Students search the web...
University of Arizona
Yoruba Legends: Southern Nigeria
Explore legends and storytelling with your learners. After listening to some legends, pupils work collaboratively and then individually to come up with original legends about animals.
College Board
2003 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions
The released 2003 AP® exam asks scholars to read and respond to two poems about the love god Eros. They also analyze the characterization and narrative in The Other Paris. A final essay question requires pupils to choose a novel or play...
Curated OER
The Old Man and the Sea: Guided Imagery
What do you imagine when you think of the sea? Put on some ocean sounds, close your eyes, and listen to a guided meditation based on the imagery from The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. After class members listen to...
K12 Reader
Metaphor and Simile: About You
Class members will be as confident as prize-winning thoroughbreds after completing a worksheet on figurative language. Young writers jot down metaphors and similes for three categories: they way they look, they way...
Curated OER
The Metamorphosis: Herber Readiness Activity
Delve into Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis before opening the book with a lesson on literary themes. High schoolers engage in a word association activity before reading a list of statements based on the book's...
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...
National Park Service
The Secret of Life
Dead trees provide nutrients for the soil, food for animals, protection and a home for organisms, a seed-bed for new trees, and a place for nitrogen-fixing bacteria to live. In the activity, pupils collect decaying logs, expose them to a...
Curated OER
Performance and Reflection on Listening and Speaking
Students prepare for and evaluate their performances in poetry slams. For this literature lesson, students write personal narratives about their poetry slam experiences.
Curated OER
School Day
Learners participate in a lesson that involves writing a persuasive essay. They use the prompt of "extending the school day". The paper should contain correct elements of sentence structure with clear purpose that is supported with...
Curated OER
Clay Story Adventure
Young scholars build three-dimensional rough draft for a story by creating objects, people, places, animals, etc., with clay, and write story in a journal, poem, or other written form.
Curated OER
Change Over Time
Learners write a personal narrative that is designed to help them reflect on the nature and meaning of change in their lives.
Curated OER
Out of the Dust
Seventh graders read a book of poems called "Out of the Dust". In groups, they research the Dust Bowl and how it affected people living through the Great Depression. Using the text, they identify the theme and key turning points and...
Curated OER
Prairie Poetry
Ninth graders take note of the ways in which word choice, rhythm, language and narrative voice, as well as point of view in a poem can be used to evoke a time and place. They use their insights to create a poem of their own.
Curated OER
Analyzing Poetry with TPCASTT
Middle schoolers read a poem and complete a TPCASTT chart. They make a prediction about the title (T) , paraphrase each line (P), identify poetic devices and nuances (C-connotation), explore mood and tone (A-attitude), point out shifts...
Curated OER
Use of Personification and Imagery in Poetry
A reading of Theodore Roethke’s dark "Root Cellar" and Sylvia Plath’s more abstract "Mirror" launches a discussion of imagery and personification in poetry. After finding examples of personification in the poems, class members...
Curated OER
Transforming Negatives to Positives
Students write diamonte poems that correspond to the double-exposed photograph they created. In this poetry and multimedia artwork lesson, students use the photographic process to create a double-exposed photo then create...
University of Southern California
Coming to America After the War
As part of their exploration of the American dream, class members examine primary source materials to compare immigrant experiences of those arriving early in our country's history to those arriving in the US after World War...
Curated OER
Adjective? What's an Adjective?
Mount a variety of pictures (fantasy, rustic, portraits, action) on large sheets of paper and post them around the classroom. Groups rotate from poster to poster, adding adjectives to describe each of the pictures. Writers use these word...
Curated OER
Poetry
Learners write a poem. In this language arts lesson, students discuss what they hear and see in a garden. Learners write a poem about the sights, sounds and smells of the garden.
Curated OER
Nature Walk Poem
Third graders read poetry inspired by nature. They talk a walk in nature or in their neighborhood with paper and pen and write down feelings and perceptions. They write a poem about their walk and share it with the class.
Curated OER
Cinematic Poetry
Eighth graders explore the genre of poetry through the creation of a multimedia presentation. Students write a poem and create an Avid presentation of their poem for the class. The poems and presentations are peer-reviewed.