Elegy Lesson Plans

Students examine an elegy for form, tone and subject matter.  In this elegy lesson, students share impressions from Dylan Thomas's poem and a critic's response to the poem. Students discuss emotions and the refusal to mourn death. 

Students identify and describe different types of poetry and discuss the relationship between the purpose and characteristics of the poems. In this poetry lesson, students are introduced to the main types of poetry. They use a worksheet embedded in the lesson to identify the types of poetry being read to them by the teacher. Good lesson!

Young scholars create 2-3 poems, a children's story, or a two or three dimensional piece of art.  In this Romantic Period lesson, students discuss the historical background of the Romantic Period and relevant literary terms.  Young scholars analyze and interpret texts from the Romantic Period.  Students then create a work using Romantic characteristics to for a class exhibit. 

Seventh graders investigate the characteristics of Manyoshu poetry. In this Manyoshu poetry lesson, 7th graders design a web graphic organizer that displays the five characteristics of this type of poetry. They write an original poem using the characteristics of Manyoshu poetry. They complete a scavenger hunt using online sites if computers are available.

Students research Rudy Autio. For this research lesson students maneuver through the Internet to better understand the artist Rudy Autio. They examine his background, educational experiences, art production, influences, and style.

Students define what it meant to be an American early on in the nation's history. In this American identity lesson, students examine the noted quotations and determine what was meant by each of the authors with regards to an American identity.

Young scholars analyze poems about death. In this poetry analysis instructional activity, students read poems from both Dylan Thomas and A.E. Housman and analyze them in groups for common poetic devices. Young scholars present their analysis and complete a Venn diagram comparison activity. Students select two poems about death and write an analysis of them.

Students analyze Henry David Thoreau's 'On the Duty of Civil Disobedience' and Dr. Martin Luther King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." In this civil disobedience lesson, students read Thoreau's essay and answer 6 questions for the lesson. Students read Dr. King's letter and answer 7 questions. Students write an essay using one of the three prompts for the lesson.

Students investigate equality and racism by creating a word art project.  In this civil rights lesson, students discover the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and create a word art project using the Internet site Wordle Web.  Students define several vocabulary terms as well.

Students listen to or read aloud selected poems. They discuss the form of the poems as well as compres/contrast poems with similar themes.