Curated OER
Rhythm and Improv, Jazz and Poetry
Connect the ideas of jazz improvisation and art to writing poetry. Learners collaborate and write different lines of poetry, imitating the jazz styles of improvisation and freewriting. Take a close look at the poems "Tenebrae" by Yusef...
Curated OER
Digital Dreams
High schoolers write a speech. In this dreams lesson, students define the word dreams and list their own dreams. High schoolers read and discuss Langston Hughes work, read and discuss excerpts from speeches by JFK and Martin Luther...
Curated OER
Langston Hughes: Dream Variations
Students examine African-American communal life. In this Langston Hughes lesson, students read poetry by Hughes in order to gain insight into the Harlem community. Students select artwork that represents their community.
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Utopia/Dystopia: The American Dream
America was founded by dreamers, and the American dream still resonates in our country today. Track the American dream from its Puritan beginnings to its optimistic descendants with a instructional activity that focuses on speeches by...
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
African American Poetry
Students write their own dream poems in the style of African American dream poetry. In this African American poetry lesson, students discuss the dreams of African Americans during the Civil Rights Movement and read Langston Hughes's...
Curated OER
The South, the North and the Great Migration: Blues and Literature
Here is a complex lesson plan that interweaves the history of the Jim Crow South and the Great Migration with the study of poetry, art, and blues music from the Harlem Renaissance. The plan helps young historians develop a deep...
Curated OER
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...
Curated OER
Poetry through Jazz, Rap, and Hip Hop
Students explore poetry through jazz, rap, and hip hop music. They discover the common threads that run through the poetry and music. Students design their own lyrics to a jazz, rap, or hip hop selection and share their songs with the...
Curated OER
Visualizing Jazz Scenes From the Harlem Renaissance
Students identify themes of selected nonfiction, fiction, poetry and art to Harlem Renaissance jazz and describe the impact of jazz on African-American literature of the Harlem Renaissance
Curated OER
The Language of the Civil Rights Movement:
Tenth graders study the poetry of the US Civil Rights movement and the Black Arts movement over a 12 day period. They author a website showing works of poetry that students have chosen to analyze and relate to these movements.
Curated OER
Paper Vests
Second graders listen to background information on designated Black Americans and read some books about them. They choose one of the persons studied and create a paper vest relating the person's contributions.
Curated OER
Zora Hurston Teacher's Guide
Students explore American culture by reading classic literature in class. In this African-American history lesson, students read the story Zora Hurston and the Chinaberry Tree while identifying the work and contributions of the real life...