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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Heart to Heart" by Rita Dove

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Take heart! Here's a lesson plan that will encourage learners to notice details. After listening to Sarah Vaughan singing "My Funny Valentine" and noting how the word heart relates to Valentine's Day, scholars observe a human heart...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “Making History” by Marilyn Nelson

For Teachers 3rd - 8th Standards
What makes an event newsworthy, worth a reference in a news magazine or textbook? Who decides? These are questions Marilyn Nelson asks readers of her poem "Making History" to consider. To begin, class members list details they notice in...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles" by Francisco X. Alarcón

For Teachers K - 12th Standards
After sketching an essential person and reading an article, scholars read the poem "In a Neighborhood in Los Angeles" by Francisco X. Alarcón. They listen to the poem in English and Spanish and record lines that stand out to them. Small...
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Lesson Plan
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National Endowment for the Humanities

Hopi Poetry

For Teachers K - 5th Standards
The Hopi refer to corn as their children, demonstrating its importance to the Native American group. Class members consider the role of literal and figurative language by examining poetry from this indigenous group. The resource includes...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "The Shapes of Leaves" by Arthur Sze

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Arthur Sze's poem, "The Shapes of Leaves," encourages young scholars to notice and speak for others who "do not speak." The lesson begins with pupils writing about a tree that they really like. The class then examines an image of...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "When Giving Is All We Have" by Alberto Ríos

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
What makes giving meaningful? Class members discuss this question, then listen to Alberto Rios reading his poem, "When Giving Is All We Have." Finally, the class considers what the poet says about the question.
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "The Snowfall Is So Silent" by Miguel de Unamuno

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Cold, beautiful, unique! Class members closely examine John Singer Sargent's watercolor "Snow," taking note of the artist's techniques, and pair up to discuss how the image makes them feel about snow. They then repeat the process with...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond" by E. E. Cummings

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Scholars engage in a role-play exercise, compare their demonstration to a time-lapse video, and to a poem by E.E. Cummings. The ensuing discussion asks learners to consider the similarities among the three.
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Once the Magnolia has Blossomed" by Ed Roberson

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
A free write, an image of magnolia leaves, and the Ed Roberson's poem "Once the Magnolia has Blossomed" ask scholars to use their noticing skills to reflect on the lesson beauty teaches about loss and grief.
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Lesson Plan
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Poetry Society

War Horse and WWI Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Here's a resource that deserves a place in your curriculum library. As part of their study of War Horse individuals create an anthology of World War I poetry. 
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry: Walking With My Iguana

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Bring a little excitement to your next poetry analysis instructional activity. Using the highly energetic poem "Walking With My Iguana," learners consider poem structure and rhyme. They listen to the poem, discuss the rhythm and tone...
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Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

8th Grade Poetry: Narrative Poem

For Teachers 8th Standards
The first lesson of a five-lesson unit designed for eighth graders has class members reading and watching a video of Edgar Allen Poe's narrative poem, "The Raven." They then craft their narrative poem, illustrate it, and share their work...
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Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

7th Grade Poetry: Metaphor Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
The second lesson in a five-part poetry unit asks seventh graders to construct a metaphor poem. First, pupils examine Emily Dickinson's "The Railway Train" and identify the metaphor. They then select an object and an animal and craft a...
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Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

7th Grade Poetry: I Am Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
A study of Alfred Noyes's poem "The Highwayman" opens a lesson plan about narrative poetry. Scholars read the poem and compare it to the animated video version using a worksheet. Learners look at models and use a template to craft an "I...
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Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

8th Grade Poetry: Catalog Poem

For Teachers 8th Standards
After conducting a close reading of Billy Collin's poem "Forgetfulness" and responding to questions on a worksheet, young poets craft catalog poems and share their work with a partner. The lesson ends with the partner using the provided...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Comparing/Contrasting Characters Through Two-Voice Poems: Characterization

For Teachers 11th Standards
Two babies, two fathers, two experiences, two worlds. Partners craft two-voice poems to capture the points of view of two men with very different lives who have just become fathers.
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Lesson Plan
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media

War and Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
A band of brothers or the Devil's agents? Nobel warriors freeing the oppressed or mercenaries working for the military/industrial complex? Groups examine poems from the Civil War, World War I, and World War II to determine the poets'...
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Lesson Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Exploring Poetry and Poets

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Combine the study of poetry and non-fiction texts with this complete and ready-to-use six-week unit. After reading numerous poems from local writers and compiling a personal anthology, high schoolers find and read a memoir or biography...
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

Concrete Poems

For Teachers 7th Standards
Concrete poems, or shape poems as they are sometimes called, are the focus of the eighth instructional activity in this poetry unit. Young scholars examine several examples of concrete poems and consider how the shape contributes to the...
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Lesson Plan
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Utah Education Network (UEN)

8th Grade Poetry: A to Z Poem

For Teachers 8th Standards
A two-part lesson asks eighth graders first to draw connections between the myth of Aengus and William Butler Yeats' poem "The Song of Wandering Aengus." In the second part of the lesson, writers craft an "A to Z Poem."
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Lesson Plan
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Curated OER

What Is Poetry?

For Teachers 7th Standards
The first lesson plan of 12 in a poetry unit asks class members to develop their own definition of poetry. After crafting a response, they examine a variety of examples and decide if the resources are or are not poems.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry and Hip Hop

For Teachers 11th - Higher Ed
High schoolers compare and contrast the genres of poetry and hip-hop. They view a poetry slam and write about it in their journals. Learners view a Lauryn Hill music video and respond to it in their journals. They compare and contrast...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Searching for Meanings Beneath the Surface of the Poem

For Teachers 6th - 12th
Young scholars analyze poetry. For this cultural perspectives lesson, students read the poem "Soccer Until Dusk" by Mark Brazaitis. Young scholars analyze the poem and consider the cultural perspective it reveals.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Cyberbook

For Teachers 8th
Emerging poets design a website and then post seven original poems as well as their written critique of these poems. Although the resource mentions Inspiration and FrontPage technologies, any software could be substituted. 

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