The final instructional activity in the Standing Up for Democracy unit offers class members a way they can stand up and speak out by crafting spoken word poetry, or Slam poetry. After analyzing several examples, individuals reflect on...

Links to other pandemic poems are provided in the optional extensions

Learners explore, analyze and interpret one form of poetry writing called Poetry Slam. They hear several examples of unexpected poetry and view a video of "Slam Nation." The books, "Hey You! C'mere: A Poetry Slam," by Elizabeth Swados...

Scholars analyze the poem My Puppy Punched Me in the Eye by Ken Nesbitt in order to locate examples of alliteration and assonance. After reading the poem, alliterative words are underlined and assonant words are circled. 

Historical poetry is lyrical in form and rich with content. After examining the differences between the Northern and Southern states before and during the U.S. Civil War, learners complete a Venn diagram and create an illustration of the...

Students prepare for and evaluate their performances in poetry slams. In this literature lesson, students write personal narratives about their poetry slam experiences.

Students create poems about raptors. They discuss raptors and create three poems including at least two of the following: haiku, diamante, found, and acrostic. They create a classroom book of poems or conduct a poetry slam where students...

Students explore poetry. They investigate the poetry al around them. Students examine poetry in order to create a deeper understanding of poetry. They read and write a variety of poetry.

A reading of Walter Dean Myers' "Harlem" sets the stage for studying the literature, art, and music of the Harlem Renaissance. The lesson begins with a review of the social, political, and economic conditions of the 1920s and 1930s that...

Young historians take a look at the age of gladiators, and the cultural atmosphere present when they staged their epic battles. Pupils pretend to be reporters and write newspaper articles about one of the events they stage. Then,...

Students decide on the reasonableness and relative magnitude of situations in their lives as Shel Silverstein did in the poem "How Many, How Much."