Curated OER
The Tone Map
Poems are meant to be heard. Hearing a poem being read enriches one’s understanding of the tone and mood of the piece. Introduce your class to the sounds of poetry with a packet that not only details how to use poetry recordings in the...
Prestwick House
Poe’s “The Raven” – Unity of Effect
How do Poe's choices of imagery, rhythm and rhyme scheme, and structure help build the desired single effect of "The Raven"? After listening to a dramatic reading of the poem, class members consider whether Poe's choices do create a...
Lions Clubs International Foundation
Mindful Self-Management Exercise: Pausing the Action
A self-management exercise allows scholars to mindfully pause the action by identifying emotions and changing their thought processes. When pupils feel strongly about something, they imagine themselves as a remote they can pause to...
Curated OER
Introduction to Poetry Part I-- The Three Pillars of Poetry
In these poetry writing worksheets, students learn the power of words and the ability of the poet to say a great deal with a few well-chosen words. Students learn the 3 pillars of poetry: Emotion (makes you feel something), Image (makes...
Curated OER
Definition Poems
“Hope is a tissue, wiping away your problems and fears.” Use a Definition Poem Web worksheet to model for your class how to craft a free verse poem based on an emotion. After brainstorming topics, groups use the sheet to make comparisons...
Lions Clubs International Foundation
Mindful Self-Management Exercise: Impulse Control
A coping skill helps to manage emotions. Young scholars pretend they are a remote control. When they feel strongly about something, they pause their actions, take a deep breath, reflect, and press play to get back to what they were doing.
Scholastic
Shy
Help your pupils examine their feelings with the materials here. The class can first read the included poem about a shy person and then respond to one or more of the six included writing prompts.
Roald Dahl
George's Marvelous Medicine
Six lessons comprise a unit about Roald Dahl's George's Marvelous Medicine. Over time, scholars explore themes such as the power of words, exciting writing, and mixed feelings. They examine the writing's literary devices, persuasive...
Curated OER
Poetry Reading
Students express the ideas of a poem. In this poem dramatization activity, students analyze poems for meaning studying their descriptive words. Students role play the descriptive language of the poem. Students draw a picture of the...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Person to Person: English Language Development Lessons (Theme 4)
Help language learners understand words and cultural concepts. The second installment in a series of three language development lessons designed to accompany Theme 4: Person to Person helps bridge the gap for language learners by...
Curated OER
A Poem About Sadness
In this emotional health worksheet, students explore the feelings of sadness, grief and loss by first reading and decorating a poem which states that it is all right to feel sad. Students color emotion pictures and discuss as a group why...
Curated OER
Elements of Poetry
Prepare your learners to identify figurative language in poetry. Tips for reading poetry and what to look for are listed on these slides. Rhetorical devices are defined and plenty of examples are given.
Curated OER
Get Excited, Get Mad, Show Emotion!
Youngsters explore the importance of becoming fluent, expressive readers by changing their voice when reading a book. They read the book Ella Sarah Gets Dressed, by Margaret Chodos-Irvine, and poems from the book For Laughing Out Loud,...
Curated OER
Exaggerated Poetry
Students use physical poses and vocal choices to create emphasis in communication. In this exaggerated Poetry lesson, students use physical movement and vocal choices to exaggerate an expression make a connection between literary content...
Curated OER
War Poetry, Journals and Letters: Viet Nam
Examine letters written during war-time. In this cross curricular history and English instructional activity, middle and high school scholars read letters and poems written by soldiers in the Vietnam war. They will examine the...
Curated OER
Japanese Poetry: Tanka? You're Welcome!
Students analyze Japanese tanka poetry. In this Japanese poetry lesson, students identify analyze the structure of tanka poetry. Students complete the activities at the given links for the lesson and compose two tanka poems.
California Federation of Chaparral Poets, Inc
Poetic Devices
Have everything you need to know about the elements of poetry with a nine-page handout. Split into four categories—word sounds, meanings, arrangement, and imagery—budding poets may reference terms, read definitions, descriptions, and...
Curated OER
Let's Be Emotion Detectors!
Young scholars observe and demonstrate how to read with expression. They discuss the types of emotions and expressions to use while reading, and identify the appropriate punctuation for a variety of sentences. Students then write a...
Curated OER
Rap as Lyrical Poetry
Students investigate the history of rap as an analysis of lyrical poetry and hip hop culture. In this rap analysis lesson, students watch a PBS NewsHour clip about the difference between rap music and hip hop culture. Students analyze...
Curated OER
Self-Awareness
Having a good self-image can be very important to how well a person does later in life. Learners create anagram poems with their names. Each word must describe one's personality, emotions, or attitudes. The class discusses how they see...
Curated OER
Biopoem
Reinforce the actions, emotions, and characteristics that determine what a character is like by having your middle schoolers create a biopoem using the model presented here. You could engage them first by having them write a poem about...
Curated OER
Creative Writing: Haiku
Haikus by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki are used as models for a brief lecture on the importance of poetry in Japan's history and the structure of this poetic form. Students then go on a nature walk, record impressions, and return to the...
Facing History and Ourselves
Hardship and Hope: Teaching Amanda Gorman's "New Day's Lyric"
Class members come together to study Amanda Gorman's poem "New Day's Lyric." After a close reading of the poem, learners watch a video of Gorman reading her poem, and then craft additional lines for the poem where they offer suggestions...
Nebraska Department of Education
Social Class and Fitting In
Social classes may be explicitly defined as in a caste system or based more informally on such ideas as wealth or education. After reading and discussing an article about one woman's experience with trying to fit into a system different...