Curated OER
Genre Lesson: Poetry
Hook kids into a study on poetry elements by asking them to bring in the lyrics to their favorite song. Discuss the elements in one or two songs (preferably that demonstrate rhyme, figurative language, or a repeating phrase). Groups do...
Curated OER
Simile and Metaphor
Middle schoolers use context clues to find the figurative meaning of similes and metaphors in writing. They practice using figurative language to help their writing come alive. Use this activity in a activity about poetry, figurative...
Curated OER
Poetry Shopping Spree
Scholars demonstrate the ability to evaluate authors' use of literary elements such as metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, and onomatopoeia. They are provided with a checklist and must shop for poems that contain the poetry terms...
National Endowment for the Humanities
“House by the Railroad”: A Painting and a Poem for the Common Core
Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading of the two...
Curated OER
Lesson: Urs Fischer: Controlling our Logic, Metaphors, and Semantics
Kids use poetry and contemporary art to start thinking about logic and personal expression. They read Sylvia Plath's poem "Metaphor," and critically examine the art of Urs Fischer. After working though a few logic problems they write...
National Park Service
Lesson 5: Coded Spirituals, Metaphor in African Spirituals
If a picture is worth a thousand words, song lyrics also can communicate many meanings. Using the lyrics of spirituals, young historians analyze them for coded messages about freedom. Resources include a chart to help individuals track...
Curated OER
Patterns In Poetry: Images (Part 3)
Students explore imagery in poetry. In this poetry instructional activity, students examine how the use of metaphors and similes aid in reading comprehension. Multiple resources are provided.
Curated OER
Similes & Metaphors
Similes and metaphors are the focus of a 57-slide presentation that your class members should find engaging. Although your students may find the musical selections dated, the color coding highlights the similes and metaphors found in...
Georgia Department of Education
Exploring Poetry and Poets
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...
Curated OER
Parrot in the Oven: Instructional Routine
After reading "The Bullet," a particularly intense chapter in Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida, class members listen to the Spanish and the English versions of "Dimelo" by Enrique Iglesias. They then discuss how the song...
Curated OER
Similes and Metaphors: An Interactive Review
Get your pupils' attention with this lesson on similes and metaphors, which features two poems by Tupac Shakur. A SMART board presentation guides them through the lesson, which includes a BrainPop activity (linked). After they have...
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...
Poetry Society
How do Poets Use Language?
Why do writers choose the language they do? Here's a resource that has the poet himself answer that very question. Joseph Coelho explains why he chose the words and images he used in his poem, "If All the World Were Paper."
National Park Service
The Poet's Toolbox
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...
Curated OER
Metaphorical Poetry
Twelfth graders read and discuss poems by Jewel., Sylvia Plath, and Langston Hughes They examine poems for examples of metaphors and similes. After discussing Jewel's poem Lost, they write their own poems. They hold a poetry reading in...
Curated OER
Poetry in Music
Sixth graders look at poetry in music. In this language arts lesson plan, 6th graders listen to and read the lyrics of songs to find the poetic aspects of them. They focus on similes and metaphors and write their own songs lyrics.
Curated OER
Figurative Language in Poetry and Prose
Students examine the impact of sound devices in poetry. In this poetry instructional activity, students read the listed poems and identify uses of hyperbole, simile, metaphor, imagery, and personification. Students discuss how sound...
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 plan about literary devices. As class...
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...
Curated OER
Symbolic Poem
Students 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
Searching for Images in Poetry
Students 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 answers...
Curated OER
Poetry
What is the difference between a simile and a metaphor? Third graders read a poem as a class and chart all of the similes and metaphors they hear. They then discuss the differences between each literary device as well as what is being...
Curated OER
Poetic Devices
Introduce middle schoolers to poetic devices with a lesson that asks them to find examples of alliteration, anaphora, onomatopoeia, metaphors, similes, and personification in various poems. Young scholars craft examples of these poetic...
Curated OER
Similes and Metaphors
Middle schoolers explore similes and metaphors. They discuss and define similes and metaphors, identify the similes and metaphors in two poems, and create three original examples of each.