Curated OER
Use Digital Photos of Scary Things to Inspire Poetry Writing
There's nothing like a provocative image to inspire a creative writing session. In the language arts lesson presented here, middle schoolers bring in digital photos of scary objects, such as a big spider, or a hornet's nest. The pictures...
EngageNY
Grade 9 ELA Module 2: Unit 1, Lesson 10
An engaging unit connects Edgar Allan Poe and Emily Dickinson's shared themes of madness and departure from reality. The 10th lesson in the unit explores Dickinson's figurative language and structure choices in "I Felt a Funeral, in my...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Magical Musical Tour: Using Lyrics to Teach Literary Elements
Language arts learners don't need a lecture about poetry; they listen to poetry every day on the radio! Apply skills from literary analysis to famous songs and beautiful lyrics with a lesson about literary devices. As class...
Curated OER
Cluing into Symbols Robert Frost
Students use the Internet and video to discover how find evidence in poetry in order to discover the theme(s) of the poems. They are able to define poetic devices like simile, metaphor and repetition. Students identify themes in...
Curated OER
"Leap, Plashless": Emily Dickinson & Poetic Imagination
Students read and explore one of Emily Dickinson's nature poems, "A Bird Came Down the Walk-" through interaction with a variety of art forms. Clips of a hymn to hear meter and the viewing of bird images exposes them to the language and...
Curated OER
Figurative Language iMovie
In order to understand figurative language, learners read 5 poems, each exemplifying a different literary device. They discuss and write responses to each poem. They then choose one literary device which they will use as the basis for a...
Curated OER
Figurative Language
What is figurative language, and why do we use it? Introduce your high schoolers to some examples and discuss the importance of including this element in your writing. After studying a text and searching for examples, writers will...
ReadWriteThink
Sonic Patterns: Exploring Poetic Techniques Through Close Reading
Robert Hayden's poem "Those Winter Sundays" serves as the anchor text in a five-part lesson that takes the mystery out of poetry analysis by modeling explicit strategies for pupils to employ to conduct a close reading of a poem. After...
Curated OER
Simile And Metaphor
Students engage in a lesson about metaphor and simile while using them in different contexts. They are asked to share some samples that are designed by them to other members of the class. Students practice writing them with the help of...
Curated OER
Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes
Learners examine how Tennyson and Noyes use words to paint vivid pictures. They read and analyze two poems, complete an online scavenger hunt, complete a worksheet, and write examples of alliteration, personification, metaphor, simile,...
Curated OER
Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
Curated OER
Similes, Metaphors, and Symbols
Here is an outline of a lesson in which learners examine the use of similes, metaphors, and symbols in poetry. They define similes, metaphors, and symbols, complete a handout, and create a poem using types of figurative language.
Curated OER
Pictures in Words: Poems of Tennyson and Noyes
Students analyze poems by Tennyson and Noyes. They identify examples of alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, metaphor, and simile. Students create examples of alliteration, onomatopoeia, personification, metaphor, and simile.
Curated OER
Deciphering the Mechanics of Poetry
Eighth graders study poetic devices and use them in their own writing and apply them when reading poetry. In groups, they describe an item using poetic devices.
Curated OER
Poetry: Metaphor
Ninth graders investigate the uses of metaphor in poetry. They construct poems demonstrating the correct usage of metaphors.
Curated OER
Looking at Life through the Creation of Personal Metaphors
Young scholars focus on the creation of personal metaphors, which are first illustrated in pictures and caricatures and then extended to descriptive/analytical paragraphs. They teach the lesson to others using their own personal...
Curated OER
Poems for Every Season
Students read and explore autumn poetry. In this poetry lesson plan, students read Autumnblings and are introduced to different poetic forms. Lesson includes ideas for exploring the poetic forms presented in the book and cross-curricular...
Curated OER
Similes, Metaphors, and Personification
Eighth graders explore figurative language, specifically focusing on similes, metaphors and personification. They work on the web to identify poems that demonstrate simile, metaphor, and personification, then analyze how it enhances...
Curated OER
Symbolic Poem
High schoolers read and analyze several highly symbolic poems. They create their own symbolic poem, read it to the class, and discuss whether they can guess any hidden meanings.
Curated OER
Snappy Solutions, Sizzling Sentences
An examination of the figurative language in Gwendolyn Brooks’ To Young Readers challenges your writers to think about the richness of language. Ask your class why Brooks says, “Good books are bandages.” This discussion of alliteration,...
Curated OER
Ballad
Young balladeers analyze examples of ballads and generate a list of common traits (story, quatrains, rhyme schemes, refrains, etc.), then identify these traits in Robert W. Service's "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and a ballad written by...
Curated OER
"How to Eat a Poem"
Eighth graders write a poem showing what they know about metaphors, and non-literal language to express ideas, convey meaning, and create images after they read Eve Merriam's "How to Eat a Poem".
Curated OER
Searching for Images in Poetry
Young scholars are introduced to the concepts of similes, metaphors and personification. In groups or individually, they read different poems identifying the similes, metaphors and instances of personification in each. They record all...
Curated OER
Pound A Poem
Students participate in various poem-related lessons to learn how they can make a difference in the lives of people they don't know. In this poetry instructional activity, students discover that this pound a poem competition is about...