Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "The Tradition" by Jericho Brown

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
To begin this lesson, class members examine Antonius Hockelmann's painting "Tree Flowers II," record elements of the painting that they notice, and share their observations with a partner. Next, pupils do a close reading of Jericho...
Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: "Spring is like a perhaps hand" by E. E. Cummings

For Teachers 6th - 12th
E. E. Cummings' "Spring is like a perhaps hand" offers young scholars an opportunity to try their hands at analyzing a simile. After a warm-up activity and a close reading of the poem, class members discuss what they think the poem is...
Activity
Digital Public Library of America

The Poetry of Emily Dickinson

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Are you contemplating a poetry study featuring Emily Dickinson? Finding good primary sources to accompany the study can be a challenge—never fear, help is here! Check out this primary source set that includes manuscripts of several of...
Lesson Plan
PBS

Pandemic Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Links to other pandemic poems are provided in the optional extensions
Lesson Plan
1
1
National Endowment for the Humanities

“House by the Railroad”: A Painting and a Poem for the Common Core

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
Introduce your class to ekphrastic poetry with an exercise that asks them to examine Edward Hooper's painting House by the Railroad and Edward Hirsch's poem "Edward Hopper and the House By the Railroad." After a close reading...
Unit Plan
Academy of American Poets

Women in Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Imagine linking poetry to technology! Thirty-three lessons comprise a 6-week "Women in Poetry" unit for high schoolers. Class members research women poets, learn how to respond electronically to discussions, write their poems, create web...
PPT
Springfield Public Schools District 186

Form and Structure of Poetry

For Students 9th - 12th Standards
If anyone suffers from metrophobia—the fear of poetry—the PowerPoint on the elements of poetry may help alleviate their worries. The presentation introduces learners to poetic elements, including simile, metaphor, and personification....
Activity
Curated OER

Express Yourself Pre Assessment Lesson 1 & 2

For Teachers 6th
Find out how much your class knows about literary elements with a quick pre-assessment. Pupils work first individually to identify the instances of personification, metaphor, simile, and more, and then with group members to...
Worksheet
Moore Public Schools

Lyric Poetry

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Discover lyric poetry through a reading of Sympathy by Paul Laurence Dunbar and analyze its meaning with three short-answer questions covering symbolism, personification, alliteration, metaphors, and similes. 
Worksheet
Soft Schools

Metaphor and Similes in Literature: A Challenge

For Students 7th - 10th
After identifying the similes and metaphors in a series of lines from poems, individuals then explain what is being compared and the characteristics the two items share.
Worksheet
K12 Reader

Metaphor and Simile: About You

For Students 4th - 5th Standards
Class members will be as confident as prize-winning thoroughbreds after completing a instructional activity on figurative language. Young writers jot down metaphors and similes for three categories: they way they...
Printables
ETFO

Free Verse Poetry Rubric

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
Follow poetry instruction with a four-category rubric designed to guide budding poets' writing of free verse poetry. 
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Short Poems Are Scary!

For Teachers K - 5th
What do all those chairs and pencils do in the classroom once everyone leaves? Allow imaginations to run wild with frighteningly short poems!
Lesson Plan
1
1
Utah Education Network (UEN)

7th Grade Poetry: Ode Poem

For Teachers 7th Standards
Walt Whitman's "Captain, My Captain" and Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" provide seventh graders with examples of odes. After reading and discussing these and other examples, young poets craft an ode and respond to the ode of a...
Lesson Plan
1
1
Utah Education Network (UEN)

7th Grade Poetry: Assess

For Teachers 7th Standards
To assess what scholars have learned throughout a five-lesson poetry unit, seventh graders first craft a Shakespearean sonnet based on a poem they have studied. In part two of the assessment, scholars complete a four-texts performance task.
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Deciphering the Mechanics of Poetry

For Teachers 7th - 9th
After a review of poetic terms, groups are given an object and they create a poem using a simile, a metaphor, internal rhyme, end rhyme, alliteration, and personification. Groups then exchange objects and repeat the process. Consider...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

1900 America: Primary Sources and Epic Poetry

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Using Walt Whitman's Song of Myself and Hart Crane's The Bridge as models, class groups first craft their own epic poems for 1900 and, using primary sources, create a multi-media presentation that captures the sights and...
PPT
Alabama Learning Exchange

Poetry-English 9

For Teachers 8th - 9th
Are your readers lost in the world of poetry? Show them this basic presentation to study elements of a poem. They learn the importance of the title, paraphrasing, connotation, tone, shifts, and theme. 
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Spiders, Spiders, Everywhere: Poetry Analysis - Theme And Metaphor

For Teachers 10th - 12th Standards
Walt Whitman's poem "A Noiseless Patient Spider" provides high schoolers an opportunity to reflect on the importance of perseverance and fortitude. After drafting a Quick Write about a time they tried and tried again to accomplish...
Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

Where I'm From: Poetry

For Teachers 8th - 10th Standards
We carry memories of where we're from; tweens and teens can capture these memories by first listening to several memory poems and then crafting their own. They analyze literary devices other poets use, brainstorm a list of images they...
Worksheet
Curated OER

Poetry Analysis Sheet

For Students 9th - 12th
Tasking class members to analyze a poem can strike fear into the hearts of many learners. Here's a worksheet that takes the mystery out of the process by providing questions about what to look for in the text and to the devices poets use...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Metaphor

For Teachers 9th - 11th
High schoolers identify the distinction between literal and figurative language with a focus on metaphors. They complete a metaphor analysis chart, then practice expanding metaphors by composing their own comparisons of elements of the...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Similes and Metaphors: An Interactive Review

For Teachers 7th
Get your pupils' attention with this lesson on similes and metaphors, which features two poems by Tupac Shakur. A SMART board presentation guides them through the lesson, which includes a BrainPop activity (linked). After they have...
Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Similes and Metaphors

For Teachers 4th - 5th
Pupils examine poetry to identify the use of metaphors and similes after the teacher defines what they are. They decide how they can use similes and metaphors to describe different pieces of fruit. Finally, they write poetry about the...

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