Spark Notes
The Epic of Gilgamesh: Study Guide - Mini Essays
In this online interactive literature worksheet, students respond to 6 short answer and essay questions about The Epic of Gilgamesh. Students may check some of their answers online.
National Humanities Center
Teaching Emily Dickinson: A Common Core Close Reading Seminar
Three of Emily Dickinson's poems, "I like to see it," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "We grow accustomed to the Dark," provide instructors with an opportunity to model for class members how to use close reading strategies to...
Busy Teacher’s Café
"Smart" by Shel Silverstein
Find out just how smart your young mathematicians are with this cross-curricular math and language arts lesson. After first reading Shel Silverstein's poem "Smart", students draw pictures of coins to model the different exchanges...
Southern Nevada Regional Professional Development Program
Reading Literature - The Ruin
Cross-comparison, the technique of focusing on two different texts with the same themes, motifs, events, etc., is employed in an exercise that asks groups to examine two different translations of “The Ruin,” a poem, written in Old...
Curated OER
Great Robert Frost Poems: Fun Trivia Quiz
This 10-question quiz tests familiarity with several Robert Frost poems. Before giving this quiz, you will want to review the questions to be sure you've covered each of the poems.
Curated OER
Teaching the Holocaust Through Poetry
W.H. Auden’s poem “Refugee Blues” launches a study of the problems of refugees. Background information about the poem and general information about Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria are provided, as are discussion questions and...
Curated OER
Art, Commentary and Evidence: Analysis of "The White Man's Burden"
A cross-curricular lesson combines poetry and history for your middle and high schoolers. The class critically examines Kipling's poem, "White Man's Burden" as historical evidence of the Imperialist ideology popular during his time. The...
Curated OER
Ode to the West Wind Questions
In this literary analysis worksheet, students read the poem "Ode to the West Wind," by Percy Bysshe Shelley and then respond to 5 short answer discussion questions about the significance of wind in the poem and the symbolism of...
Curated OER
Understanding Narrative Poetry
In this poetry activity, students learn about narrative poetry. They then answer 7 questions about one of the poems they read, practice writing their own narrative poem, and complete a research project using the internet. The answers are...
Prestwick House
Teaching Shakespeare: Sonnet 73
It's that time of year to consider how Shakespeare selects his images and structures his Sonnet 73 to develop the meaning of the poem. Class members examine the rhyme scheme, the indented lines, the conceit, and the images used in each...
E Reading Worksheets
Tone Worksheet 4
A poet's word choice can be the difference between a poem that is merely sad, and a poem full of heartbreaking regret. Middle schoolers discern the tone in four different poems, noting the relevant textual evidence that supports...
Poetry Class
Free Writing
It will cost you little to ask class members to engage in a free writing exercise that helps even reluctant writers craft a poem.
Penguin Books
A Teacher's Guide to the Signet Classic Edition of Beowulf
Beowulf, the Old English epic hero, comes alive again in the activities found in a teacher's guide designed to accompany a reading of the classic poem.
College Board
2015 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions
It is a cruel world. Scholars create essays about a piece of work that describes what cruelty reveals about a character. A prompt from the 2015 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions also contains two other essay...
College Board
2004 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions
Have you ever felt left in the dark? Scholars write essays after analyzing two poems pertaining to night and darkness. Pupils also read a passage and write an essay discussing the author's depiction of characters. A third essay allows...
Curated OER
Dilworth Elementary Character Education Respect (September)
R-e-s-p-e-c-t, find out what it means to your class! After a grand conversation about what is, and how one can show respect, scholars take part in a plethora of activity choices such as role playing, a game of Simon Says, wood working,...
College Board
2007 AP® English Literature and Composition Free-Response Questions Form B
Does a love for reading begin early in life? Scholars write essays using a passage from Seamus Deane in which he wrote about his childhood experiences with reading and books. They also create essays that focus on betrayal and elements in...
Curated OER
Stage a Poetry Slam!
Students write and perform poetry. In this poetry presentation lesson, students learn about the concept of a poetry slam. Students plan and hold their own poetry slam.
Curated OER
Eight Lines about home
Pupils brainstorm positive things about their city and write an eight line poem about it.
Curated OER
Clicking Your Way to Poetry: Composing Word Association Poems with the Visual Thesaurus
Use a Visual Thesaurus to compose word association poems. Discuss poetry and word association, create word maps, then practice creating poems based on playful word associations. A perfect way to celebrate "Poem in Your Pocket Day" (April...
Curated OER
Seasonal Poetry Reflective Journal
Pull quotes from a text and craft responses to the quotes you chose. First, read a short excerpt from Mary Claire Wilfert's oral history. Then, read the contemporary poem "Robert's Cove," pulling quotes and writing responses as...
Curated OER
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
In this literature activity, learners respond to 10 short answer and essay questions about The Once and Future King. Students may also link to an online interactive quiz on the novel at the bottom of the page.
Curated OER
Lesson: Urs Fischer: Controlling our Logic, Metaphors, and Semantics
Kids use poetry and contemporary art to start thinking about logic and personal expression. They read Sylvia Plath's poem "Metaphor," and critically examine the art of Urs Fischer. After working though a few logic problems they write...
Core Task Project
Whatif by Shel Silverstein
What a skillful way to incorporate Shel Silverstein, a wonderful author, into the classroom. Composed of three tasks, children are led through a series of text-dependent questions that force them to unveil the meaning of Silverstein's...