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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Poem for Two Voices for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Poems For Two Voices are a great resource in any language arts classroom, whether you are studying poetry or not. Focusing on The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this lesson plan prompts young authors to write a Poem For Two...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Toward the Winter Solstice" by Timothy Steele

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Timothy Steele's poem, "Toward the Winter Solstice," offers scholars an opportunity to consider what poets and scientists could learn from each other's work. First, learners examine a NASA image of a star-forming region in the Orion...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Phillis Wheatley's poem, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" is the focus of a lesson that asks readers to consider how the poem is a critique of slavery. Groups comprise a list of words and phrases they notice as well as questions...
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Printables
A to Z Teacher Stuff

The Gingerbread Man

For Students Pre-K - 2nd
You may not be able to catch the Gingerbread Man, but you can sing a catchy song about him! Incorporate a poem into a study of poetry and/or the alphabet in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
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Unit Plan
Teachers & Writers Magazine

Persona Poetry and Mask-Making

For Teachers 5th - 8th Standards
Looking to engage scholars in poetry with hands-on activities? What better way than making masks? Readers analyze literary devices in poetry, examine Native American masks, create their own masks, and then write poems to tell its story!
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Tuesday 9/11/01" by Lucille Clifton

For Teachers 6th - 12th
A photograph and a poem remind young people of the events of November 11, 2001. After examining Andrea Booher's photograph taken on September 13, 2001, and reading Lucille Clifton's poem "Tuesday 9/11/01", scholars compare their...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Old South Meeting House" by January Gill O'Neil

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
The vaulted ceiling of the Old South Meeting House has heard many voices. Young scholars read an excerpt about its importance in American history and then do a close reading January Gill O'Neil's poem, "Old South Meeting House." After...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "November 2: Día De Los Muertos" By Alberto Ríos

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
Scholars examine a colorful and detailed picture, then view an engaging video in preparation for reading the poem "November 2: Día De Los Muertos" by Alberto Ríos. Learners discuss their observations, feelings conveyed, and the...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Introducing Metaphors Through Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Metaphors are word pictures, creating images in our brains that draw readers to consider how two seemingly unrelated items are alike. Poems by Langston Hughes, Margaret Atwood, and Naomi Shihad Nye provide learners with an opportunity to...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Using Poetry in Teaching Reading to Special Education Students

For Teachers 6th - 9th
A series of well-written activities, these lessons prompt middle schoolers reading below grade level (at a second, third, or fourth grade level) to use poetry to practice basic reading skills. They rhyme, build words, make inferences,...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “The Everglades” by Campbell McGrath

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Florida's Everglades come alive for young environmental scientists as they watch a video taken in the park and read a poem about the watery paradise. After a careful study of the two resources, class members consider the function of the...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Putting in the Seed" by Robert Frost

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young botanists dig into a instructional activity that has them planting lima bean seeds and observing their growth. They compare their experience to that of the speaker in Robert Frost's poem, "Putting in the Seed."
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Bucket List Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 10th
What is on your pupils' "Bucket Lists" - the list of things they want to do before they die? Their choices of activities for this list could be very revealing, and is a great source of inspiration for a personal poem. The lesson prompts...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

The Metamorphoses and Modern Poetry: A Comparison of Mythic Characters

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
To gain an appreciation of the power of point of view, class members compare Ovid's version of the myth of "Orpheus and Eurydice" with that used by H.D. in her poem, "Eurydice." Individuals then craft a reflection in which they use...
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Lesson Plan
PBS

Exploring Identity and Intersectionality in Poetry

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Just as Kermit the Frog notes, "It isn't easy being green!" it isn't easy occupying "multiple Identity spaces." Class members read and discuss poems by writers detailing what it is like when their identities are "oppressed."
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Discovering Poetry

For Teachers Pre-K - 1st
Poetry is such a wonderful form of writing. Young children naturally gravitate to it because of the the wonderful imagery and the rhyming of the words. After sharing some poems with your kids, they work together to create a class poem....
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Writing
Worksheet Place

Back to School Acrostic Poem

For Students 1st - 4th
Acrostic poems are a great way to get your class in the back to school mode. Each poet will compose a poem using the letters of the words 'back to school' as the beginning of the first lines of each line of the poem. There are many...
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PPT
Curated OER

A History of Poetry

For Teachers 7th - 12th
What has rules and has no rules? What has rhythm and rhyme, and no rhythm or rhyme? What is arranged carefully and is scattered? Why, poetry, of course. Although text-heavy, this PowerPoint does provide a context for the study of poetry...
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PPT
Curated OER

Types of Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Expose your class to various poetic forms. Listed in and described in this slide show are: ballad, lyric poem, ode, dramatic monologue, sonnet, and villanelle. Some descriptions are more detailed than others. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Virtual) Poetry Slam

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Students create a "virtual poetry slam." This project can easily be implemented at any grade level where students have created short pieces of personal writing. They write, edit, and revise a short piece of poetry or personal writing.
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Activity
Curated OER

The Kite Runner: Kite Making and Poetry Reading

For Teachers 11th - 12th
Readers of Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner select 100 words from chapters five and six of the novel, use these words to create a found poem, and then attach their poem to a kite that they construct.
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Activity
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Practical Criticism

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
As an introduction to literary criticism, class members recreate I.A. Richards' close reading experiment. Individuals select a poem, paraphrase the story, focus on the imagery used, consider what the imagery adds to the tale, and...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Making Objects Human

For Teachers 4th - 5th Standards
Explore poetry, personification, and multiple languages with a poetry reading and writing activity. After the teacher reads the poem to the class, a discussion about personification follows. The class then writes a collaborative poem...
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Lesson Plan
National Park Service

The Poet's Toolbox

For Teachers 3rd - 6th Standards
If you need a lesson for your poetry unit, use two poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ("Rain in Summer" and "The Slave in the Dismal Swamp") and a resource on Elements of Poetry. The lesson plan guides you through activities on...

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