Annenberg Foundation
Rhythms in Poetry
Rhyme, rhythm, free verse, imagery: Do these words describe poetry, or jazz music? The answer is both! A resource explores these similarities as scholars watch a video, engage in discussion, read author biographies, write poetry and...
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Poets Got Them Blues
Contemplate what music learners listen to and why they listen. Can they find poetry within music lyrics? Specifically hone in on blues lyrics and ruminate upon the social issues prevalent in the themes. Particular song lyrics coincide...
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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...
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Langston Hughes and the Blues
Students explore the connections between Langson Hughes and blues music. For this African American culture lesson, students compare and contrast blues music with poetry and short stories by Langston Hughes.
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I See The Rhythm : The Study of Blues and Jazz
Students gain an appreciation for various types of music. Using the music of the past, they compare it with the music of today. In groups, they research periods in which blues and jazz were most popular and write their own piece of music...
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Rhythm & Improv: Jazz & Poetry
High schoolers 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...
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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...
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Mississippi Delta Blues Moves: Second in a Series of Three with Barb Hoffman and Steve Hoskins, MGM
Students complete a graphic organizer reviewing Barb Hoffman's prior lesson," Slave Songs (1840-1876)" as well as listen to and discuss Delta Blues music samples. Students research one Delta Blues singer and write a "color coded"...
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Water Saving
Water conservation and management is the focus of this lesson plan. Learners identify the need for being "water wise" in society through research and discussion. and present their findings in many different formats (short story, poetry,...
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Langston Hughes: Artist and Historian
Students examine the life and works of Langston Hughes. In groups, they research the characteristics of the Harlem Renaissance and how Hughes' poems relate to the era. They use the themes in his writings and relate it to the Great...
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Stain My Days Blue
Students read several poems related to the life and culture of the Appalachia region. They are introduced to the poetic forms of simile, alliteration and onomatopoeia and respond to the poems through journal entries and poetry of their own.
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Poetry
Students reflect on a news report through poetry. Students write a poem based on this week's news events. Students share poems with each other. Students reflect on a poem of their choosing.
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Winter Lights: A Season In Poems & Quilts
Learners read the book Winter Lights: A Season in Poems & Quilts and do language arts and math activities that go with the book. In this language arts and math lesson plan, students read the book given and do activities that include...
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Poetry Unit
High schoolers, after examining three forms of poetry, review and document a variety of literary terms. Vocabulary words are enveloped into the literary terms as well and are cited from each selection by each student.
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Picture This
Elementary writers practice writing descriptive paragraphs by adding adjectives and sensory words to their writing. They use a picture of a monster for their descriptive paragraph. This 12-page lesson should increase your charges...
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Ocean Life Mural
How many oceans can you name? First, have learners try to name as many oceans as they can, and then have them locate and identify the oceans on a world map. They create a recognizable ocean animal using poster board and tissue paper....
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Black and Blue: Jazz in Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man
Students analyze the impact of jazz on the novel, "Invisible Man," by Ralph Ellison. They read and discuss excerpts of the novel, write an essay on the influence of jazz on Ralph Ellison as a writer, and view video excerpts on jazz...
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Modern American Poetry
Students identify different types of literary terms in poems. They read different poems and create a packet summarizing them. They write a poem of their own and a biography of one of their favorite poets.
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Painless Poetry
Students choose two poems they like and share them with the class. Then they write their own poems using various forms.
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Dicey Poetry
Middle schoolers role cubes prepared with vocabulary and parts of speech on each side. They collect words and create poems from the words collected. They read their poems to the class.
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Post-It Poetry
Seventh graders explore how to spice up their work using vivid words and images. Afte a lecture/demo, 7th graders try their hand at writing poetry using a lot of adjectives and vivid verbs.
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It's A Blue, Blue Monday
Students create images that convey how the weather makes them feel. As a class, students discuss the way weather can effect their mood. After reading several passages describing the weather, students use vivid descriptions and...
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Paper Cranes
Paper folding is a great art form that can be incorporated into cultural, mathematic, and art lessons. This resource includes the full instructions needed to fold a paper crane, as well as a Haiku poetry idea. Tip: This activity would be...
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Jazz Talk
Students analyze the origins of jazz music by examining work songs, spirituals, blues, and gospel songs as well as works of poetry from African American artists. They create their own poems from either the narrative, dramatic, or lyric...