Core Knowledge Foundation
Sixth Grade Poetry
Study some of the most prominent poets and works of poetry in history with a language arts poetry unit. From Virgil to Shakespeare to Dickinson to Angelou, the resources present biographies and examples of poetic elements to the sixth...
Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media
War and Poetry
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'...
Curated OER
Express Yourself Lesson Seed 2
Use Langston Hughes's poem, "Words Like Freedom," to explore the concepts of freedom and liberty. Learners read the poem, determine the theme, and use the provided graphic organizer to examine the connotative and denotative meanings of...
Academy of American Poets
We Sing America
Pair the famous poems "I Hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman, and "I, Too, Sing America," by Langston Hughes, with a more recent poem by Elizabeth Alexander called "Praise Song for the Day" to demonstrate a theme and introduce your...
Curated OER
Personification
Introduce your young scholars to personification. The literary device is clearly defined and illustrated with clever examples. Opportunities for guided and independent practice using poems by Emily Dickinson and Langston Hughes are also...
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian In Your Classroom: The Music in Poetry
Take poetry off the page and put it into terms of movement, physical space and, finally, music with this series of three lessons from the Smithsonian Institution. This resource introduces students to two poetic forms that originated as...
Curated OER
Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes
A carefully crafted three-day lesson integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The lesson activates...
Curated OER
The Civil Rights Movement
Students compare and contrast African-American, Asian-American, Chicano and Native-American movements with the civil rights movement and are exposed to the sociopolitical and economic factors involved in the rise of social movements.
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Poet's Voice: Langston Hughes and You
Middle schoolers complete a unit of lessons that explore the poetic voice of Langston Hughes. They define voice, read and analyze various poems by Langston Hughes, and complete journal entries for each instructional activity.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes: Poems for a Democracy
Explore the idea of democratic poetry. Upper graders read Walt Whitman, examining daguerreotypes, and compare Whitman to Langston Hughes. They describe aspects of Whitman's I Hear America Singing to Langston Hughes' Let America Be...
Curated OER
A Raisin In The Sun
Tenth graders complete a brief journal entry explaining what they would do with one million dollars. They read and discuss "Dream Deferred" by Langston Hughes. Students finish reading Act I of A Raisin In The Sun and identify the...
Curated OER
Personification #2
Langston Hughes’ poem, Fall Leaves, provides the text for a personification identification activity. Pupils underline examples of this literary device and then write an explanation of how it is used in the poem.
Curated OER
Creating an Author Brochure
Students, while in the computer lab, visit a variety of web sites and read about the life and work of Langston Hughes. They create an author's brochure on Mr. Hughes from the data they collect from the various web sites. Each student...
Curated OER
Rhythm & Improv: Jazz & Poetry
Students analyze the elements of poetry and jazz. In this critical thinking skills lesson, students take a closer look at the rhyme, rhythm, alliteration, form, free verse, lyricism, and imagery that exist is jazz as well as poetry.
Curated OER
The Education Element of the Harlem Renaissance and Its Impact on the New Negro
Students investigate African American history by researching culture. In this Harlem Renaissance lesson, students identify the teachings, music and art associated with African Americans in Harlem in the early 20th century. Students...
Huntington Library
The Poetry and Prose of Langston Hughes
Eleventh graders discover the poetry of Langston Hughes. In this social issues lesson plan, 11th graders experience the views of Langston Hughes. Students read Hughes' poetry and discuss the basic theme. Students evaluate the political,...
Curated OER
Digital Dreams
Students write a speech. In this dreams lesson, students define the word dreams and list their own dreams. Students read and discuss Langston Hughes work, read and discuss excerpts from speeches by JFK and Martin Luther King, Jr., and...
Curated OER
Langston Hughes and the Blues
Learners explore the connections between Langson Hughes and blues music. In this African American culture lesson, students compare and contrast blues music with poetry and short stories by Langston Hughes.
Curated OER
Creative Voices of Harlem
Students explore the Harlem Renaissance. In this American history lesson plan, students examine a poem by Langston Hughes and identify the characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance. Students research and report on a famous Harlem artist.
Curated OER
Making Poetry Writing Fun!
Students find a group of words from an unlikely source and turn them into a poem. They discuss the central image in two well-known poems by Langston Hughes and Emily Dickinson. They write their own short poem expressing one central...
Curated OER
Deep like Rivers: Four African American Poets of the 1920s and 1930s
Students examine work by outstanding African American poets from the time period of the 1920s and 1930s. They study aspects of American and African American social, cultural and artistic history that influenced the content of some of the...
Curated OER
Investigating Langston Hughes
Third graders read and appreciate the writing of great American Authors. use technology to garner information about famous American authors. They have selected sites to explore. The information they save be used for a future Powerpoint.
PBS
Being Heard
Examine the work of contemporary authors who use their writing to express opinions about the struggle against prejudice and oppression in our society. A short lesson on the Harlem Renaissance introduces learners to the most prominent...
Curated OER
The Negro Speaks of Rivers Themes
For this poetry analysis worksheet, students respond to 5 discussion questions that require them to investigate the symbolism of rivers in the Langston Hughes poem “The Negro Speaks of Rivers."