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Poetic Devices in Songs
By teaching about poetic devices in music teachers can provide a creative way to practice reading, writing, and language skills.
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Music With a Message
Students write a line by line analysis of a song which they feel expresses a powerful message that can change society for the better. They then present their analysis to the class in an oral report.
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How Poets Evoke Social and Historical Representations
Students explore how poems represent the social, historical, and cultural times that they were written in. In this poetry lesson plan, students compare and contrast poems with music of the time and explore implications of writing poems...
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Cowboys
Students analyze cowboy literature. In this United States history and literacy lesson, students listen to a variety of cowboy songs and poetry, view the video "Rediscovering America: The Real American Cowboy," and view related websites....
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Blank Verse and Iambic Pentameter
Shakespeare's use of language is the focus of this short PowerPoint. Each of the three slides describes one way he chose to write his plays: in iambic pentameter, and in couplets. The final slide describes a sonnet, which is a lyric poem...
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A New Life, a New Home
Students connect with an immigration unit through research, journal writing, digital photography, and a movie production using iMovie. By acting out the immigrant's experience, students gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of...
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THE PEN VS. THE SWORD: LYRICAL RESPONSES TO A NATION AT WAR
Students brainstorm lists of songs that were written in response to American wars; consider the patterns in the lists they create.
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Memory of a Kiss
Third graders read, discuss, and memorize the poem "Jenny Kissed Me." as an example of lyrical poetry. They write a letter to Jenny reliving the memory of her kiss from an elderly person's point of view. They illustrate their poems.
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Connecting Poetry with Philanthropy
Middle schoolers examine the different types of poetic conventions. They write a poem about philanthropy using these conventions. They illustrate their poem with artwork of their choice.
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A Call for Change
"Come gather round people, wherever you roam..." Bring the voice of Bob Dylan to your class with this lesson plan, which takes Dylan's song "The Times They Are A-Changing" and analyzes both the message and voice in the lyrics. Your class...
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Analyzing the Use of Irony in a Short Story
Ninth graders examine how literature connects to real-life and see how irony aids in the development of theme. They read Shirley Jackson's The Lottery, and discuss elements of foreshadowing and situational irony. Then learners will write...
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Figurative Language
What is figurative language, and why do we use it? Introduce your high schoolers to some examples and discuss the importance of including this element in your writing. After studying a text and searching for examples, writers will...
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The Quatrain
Students analyze the quatrain structure and rhyming in the song, "Puddles". They use this format to create their own quatrain lyrics for a song then they share their song ang revise it.
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Sing Me a Story!
Sixth graders explore lyrics, phrases, and the beats in each phrase. They select a nursery rhyme, set it to a simple tune they already know, and match the tune with the same number of beats per phrase with a poem with the identical...
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Screening Coleridge’s Fantasies: Using Popular Music as a Bridge to Literacy
Twelfth graders use music to aid them in interpreting poetry. In this poetry lesson, 12th graders analyze the lyrics, figurative language, and literary devices of selected music. Students compare the music to the poetry of Samuel...
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Cloud Haiku
Learners listen as a haiku is read by the teacher, determining what season is being portrayed in the poem. Students work together as a class and create a model haiku, then complete a worksheet, completing their own poem. Learners will...
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A Round and A Round
Learners practice singing rounds in daily warm-ups for 2 weeks prior to beginning this composition lesson. Students incorporate movement to the rhythm of each syllable, discuss syllables of words and their relationship to note values and...
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Rap Music and Hip-Hop
Pupils explore rap and hip hop music. In this music and culture lesson, students experience the music of Will Smith in order to work on language and communication skills such as rhyming words, writing, and public speaking.
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Know Yourself
Eleventh graders explore the events of the Holocaust. In this cross curriculum lesson, 11th graders examine the differences between prejudice and discrimination. Students read various forms of literature and write...
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The Catcher in the Rye: Chapters 21-23
After answering comprehension questions (good for a homework reading check), class members analyze "Comin' Thro the Rye," and using the included guidance questions, discuss Holden's misreading of Robert Burns' poem. The URL to text of...
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Hearts and Partners
Tenth graders explore, examine and study poetry within a variety of different strategies within this lesson. They review and discuss a diagram of the big picture of why it's importance to study, analyze and deconstruct poetry, so that...
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The Poetics of Hip Hop
High schoolers consider the role of rhythm, form, diction, and sound in poetry. In this integrated arts lesson, students discuss the attributes of poetry as they analyze Shakespearean sonnets, hip hop music lyrics, and poems by...
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Poetic Analysis
Students write a poetic analysis on a poem by Carl Sandburg. They take their previous knowledge of poetic devices and apply them to a piece of writing that displays their knowledge on a specific poem. They explain what they know about a...
Alabama Department of Archives and History
Strange Fruit: Lynching in America
To continue their study of the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the beginning of the civil rights movement, class members watch the YouTube video of Billie Holiday singing "Strange Fruit" as an introduction to an examination of...