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Poetry: The Most Compact Form of Literature
Introducing or need to review literary devices and terms for a study of poetry? Though text heavy, the explanations and examples of key poetic devices will provide learners with the vocabulary they need to discuss and craft poems.
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Poetry in Song
Have your music lovers examine song lyrics and identify the poetry elements or tools used by a lyricist. They review the song individually before working in groups to discuss what they discovered about the song's narrator or character...
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"Oh, Kingdom in the Sky"
Students write a poem. In this historical figures lesson, students learn about Mary Ann Camp, read an interview, read vignettes about life in her host countries and read her poem "Oh, Kingdom in the Sky." Students answer questions about...
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Searching for Meanings Beneath the Surface of the Poem
Students analyze poetry. In this cultural perspectives lesson, students read the poem "Soccer Until Dusk" by Mark Brazaitis. Students analyze the poem and consider the cultural perspective it reveals.
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Natural Similarities and Opposites in Two Poems by Joseph Ceravolo
In this antonyms and synonyms instructional activity, students look in two short poems by Joseph Ceravolo to find opposite or contradictory statements that express many sides of a feeling. Students answer 25 short answer questions about...
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Virtual) Poetry Slam
Students create a "virtual poetry slam." This project can easily be implemented at any grade level where students have created short pieces of personal writing. They write, edit, and revise a short piece of poetry or personal writing.
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Personal Poetry Books
Pupils work in the classroom and in the computer lab to produce a Personal Poetry Book.
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Famous Poems and Poets: Enjoy the World of Words
Class members select a culture from a provided list and research the customs, beliefs, traditions, clothing, and environment of this group. They then create an idea web and craft this information into a poem. The lesson plan is short on...
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Deciphering the Mechanics of Poetry
After a review of poetic terms, groups are given an object and they create a poem using a simile, a metaphor, internal rhyme, end rhyme, alliteration, and personification. Groups then exchange objects and repeat the process. Consider...
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Creative Writing: Haiku
Haikus by Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki are used as models for a brief lecture on the importance of poetry in Japan's history and the structure of this poetic form. Students then go on a nature walk, record impressions, and return to the...
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Creepy Read Week
Here's a clever technology twist to writing in the round. Participants rotate through a series of computers adding to stories and editing by keystroke and mouse click. "Locked" forms prevent the loss of stories filled with suspense and...
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Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
Do your young readers know that poems can be performed as a team? They listen to a few examples from Paul Fleischman's book Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices, paying attention to how the how readers work together....
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Animal Acrostic
In this animal acrostic worksheet, students read a short poem. Afterward, they answer questions about the poem and then write their own acrostic poetry. Students share their poetry with a friend, and guess what type of animal is described.
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Guided Reading: Three Little Pigs (Plus Wolf: Javalinas)
Guide your class through reading various versions of The Three Little Pigs. Talk about the traditional story line and then discuss a different point of view: Maybe the wolf was just an innocent bystander! This lesson plan, which has...
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Poetry Cyberbook
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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"Leap, plashless": Emily Dickinson & Poetic Imagination
Learners examine different poems from Emily Dickinson. They practice listening for meter in the poems and make connections between the texts. They also practice their own creative writing skills.
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Introduction to Modernist Poetry
Students examine the concept of modernism. They analyze different modern poetists writings and identify the context in which the poems were written. They write poems of their own to complete the activity.
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Mini Beasts and Dialect
Discover the differences in dialect. Inquisitive minds read poems and discuss how words or phrases are different in standard English and other dialects. Using a dictionary, class members locate the definition of each word, find...
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1900 America: Primary Sources and Epic Poetry
Using Walt Whitman's Song of Myself and Hart Crane's The Bridge as models, class groups first craft their own epic poems for 1900 and, using primary sources, create a multi-media presentation that captures the sights and...
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Learning Refrain and Verse
Instruct your young musicians on the terms verse and refrain. They listen to two songs, and point out the verse and refrain as they occur. Students then play drums when they hear the verse and the refrain. Note: Song lyrics, sheet music,...
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Modernism in Poetry, Painting, and Music
Are you teaching Modernism to your class? Connect different areas of artistic expression in the Modernist Era. Learners read T.S. Eliot, view art by Pablo Picasso, and listen to a Modernist musical composition. This final assignment is...
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"The Great Figure": Theme of Technology and Modernization
Learners respond to four short answer and essay questions based on themes in the poem "The Great Figure" by William Carlos Williams. The poem itself is not included, but the questions could lead to some very interesting class...
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"The Great Figure": Theme of Time
Click on and read the poem "The Great Figure" by William Carlos Williams, and then answer the four short answer and essay questions based on themes therein. A link to the summary and analysis questions is also included.
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Introduction to Poetry Lesson Plan
Analyze poetry in a group setting. Middle and high schoolers read lyrics to a Tom Petty song and free write about the song's tone, setting, and speaker. They then complete the same activity in a group setting using seven poems. The...