University of Arizona
Fusing Firecrackers with Narrative
Improve your youngsters' descriptive writing. They study an object and write about what they see as a warm-up, then they read an excerpt from Paul Guest's memoir, One More Theory about Happiness. The next part of the activity prompts...
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My Antonia: Guided Imagery
Willa Cather's novel My Antonia is full of vivid imagery. Encourage your pupils to visualize and translate images from the text into original writing with this guided imagery activity. Learners listen to an excerpt, take a moment to...
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My Winter Acrostic
Learners create an acrostic poem about winter. In this lesson about acrostic poems, students explore acrostic poetry. Learners read an acrostic poem as an example. As a class, students come up with an acrostic poem for the word "CLASS"....
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Writing
Learners write poems and a narrative story. In this writing activity, students read stories and poems written by other learners and read examples of haiku's and diamonte's. Students write an acrostic poem and a diamonte poem. Learners...
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Poetic Form
Students read Red Boots On and explore prepositions. In this poetic form lesson, students analyze the use of prepositions in the poem. Students might also explore the rhymes or objects. Students write original poems using whichever...
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Riddle Poem
Second graders practice writing skills by writing riddle poems using adjectives to describe vegetables.
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Border Poetry/Writing Workshop
Students analyze a poem set in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands and defend their own interpretations of the work. They demonstrate understanding of poetic technique by writing their own poems of living on the border.
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Teaching Selected Poems from Jim Wayne Miller's the Brier Poems
Students explore the basic elements of poetry through Appalachian life poetry. In this poetry instructional activity, students read seven poems from Jim Wayne Miller's the Brier Poems and complete poetry analysis activities for each poem.
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Thanksgiving Acrostic Poems
Students watch streaming video, Holiday Facts and Fun: Thanksgiving, define and discuss acrostic poetry, complete circle map using words associated with Thanksgiving, and create acrostic Thanksgiving poems to be typed in Microsoft Word...
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Electronic Poetry Project
Students explore poetry. In this cross curriculum poetry and technology lesson, students choose a favorite poem and analyze its meaning. Students select several images and music to represent the poem, then create a corresponding...
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Christmas Tree Shaped Poems
Learners think about ways in which they can spread joy during the holiday season. They create poems in the shape of a Christmas tree. Pupils use formatting tools in Microsoft Word to format the text of the poem. Students discuss ways...
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No Regrets: a Poetry Analysis
Young scholars read a poem and use the TPCASTT strategy for analysis. In this poetry analysis lesson, students journal about their future goals and read John Updike's "Ex-Basketball Player." Young scholars discuss the purpose of the poem...
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Six Trait Writing with Kenneth Grahame and Ogden Nash
Third graders complete a unit of lessons on the process of six trait writing. They identify good writing traits, read and evaluate poems, literature, and myths, utilize a rubric to evaluate their own writing, and evaluate classmates...
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Searching for Meanings Benath the Surface of the Poem
Students read "Soccer Until Dusk". As a class, they discuss the various settings and actions in the poem and discuss the life in Guatemala and compare it with the United States. To end the instructional activity, they complete a...
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Six Trait Writing with Jonathan Swift and Washington Irving
Fourth graders demonstrate and evaluate the six traits of writing. They read and identify good writing and bad writing, utilize a rubric to self-evaluate their own writing, participate in a Reader's Theater, and publish a class book.
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Write Me a Story
Second graders use the writing process and submit a story to www.kids.com. In this story writing lesson, 2nd graders choose a topic for a story contest. Students develop their stories. Students complete a her prewriting organizer....
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How can we write a silly story?
Second graders use the writing process and create a silly story. In this silly story activity, 2nd graders will review person, event and setting and complete a chart for each. Students will put a person, event and setting in an...
Poetry Out Loud
Poems Put to Use
Why do we have to study poetry? Here is a lesson that demonstrates some of poetry's more practical and real-world applications for reluctant learners. Start by leading a brainstorming session about where poems or pieces of poems might be...
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Reading Pictures, Seeing Poetry
Students examine the painting, The Combat of the Giaour and Hassan based on a poem by Lord Byron. They compare how Romantic artists and writers made choices about visual elements and language to depict their subjects.
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Writing With Punch
High schoolers watch the series "Unforgiveable Blackness". They examine the media's response to Jack Johnson in the film. They role-play the role of reporters to compose poems of headlines.
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Lesson Exchange: Introduction to Research Papers (Senior, Literature)
Although unlikely in today's English classroom, this lesson focuses on introducing research papers to seniors in high school. It briefly reviews the parts of an essay, and mentions showing learners example essays, but no examples are...
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Sense Poetry
Access your young poets' senses and emotions with this activity, which guides them through the process of writing a "sense poem." After working on a sense poem as a class and modeling the procedure, individuals work on their own poems...
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Expressing Our Thoughts Through Poetry
Students create a poem on about spring. They read final version of their poem chorally. They write reflections of their experience in creating the poem.
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Latino Literature: Poetry
Under construction, this lesson focuses on Canto Familia, a collection of poetry about Gary Soto's experiences growing up in California's Imperial Valley. Representative of the experiences of many Latinos, the poems also address themes...