Curated OER
Picturing America: Images and Words of Hope from Romare Bearden and Langston Hughes
A carefully crafted three-day instructional activity integrates poetry and visual art. By analyzing and comparing Langston Hughes' poem "Mother and Son" and Romare Bearden's collage "The Dove," readers explore the theme of hope. The...
K20 LEARN
Blackout Poetry: Re-Envisioning Writing
Introduce young poets to Blackout Poetry. Much like Found Poems, Blackout Poetry challenges scholars to rethink the process writers may use to craft their poems. After watching a short video in which poet Austin Kleon describes his...
Curated OER
Writing: Narrative, Expository, Persuasive, and Descriptive
If you are interested in having a basic framework for teaching expository, narrative, persuasive, and descriptive writing, this resource may help; however, you will have to find information on the different forms of writing to share with...
EngageNY
Peer Critique of “Inside Out” and “Back Again” Poems
Class members closely examine the use of words in the poems "Inside Out" and "Back Again" to determine if different words would create more powerful poetry. They then conduct peer reviews of the poems they created and offer suggestions...
EngageNY
Writing, Critique, and Revising: Two-Voice Poems (Chapter 14: "Las Ucas/Grapes")
Continue work on the two-piece poem that compares two characters from Esperanza Rising. Give class members a few minutes to finish their drafts. After they have a complete product, model how to critique and edit the poems with one group....
Poetry4kids
Forced Rhymes and How to Avoid Them
Ready to take your poetry writing to the next level? Use an independent lesson to iron out all those forced rhymes, wrenched rhymes, and near rhymes from first-draft poems.
EngageNY
Peer Critique: Use of Evidence in the Two-Voice Poem
Peer editors review critique expectations before offering feedback on each other's two-voice poems. They record their feedback on peer critique recording forms, and then begin revising their poems.
EngageNY
Revision: Best Draft of “Inside Out” and “Back Again” Poems (Final Performance Task)
Scholars read their poems to their research teams as their final performance task. The teams listen and give feedback on the flow between the two poems. Writers then take the feedback from their teams and revise their poems before...
Curated OER
Dali & Desnos: Surrealism in Poetry and Art
High schoolers research the surrealism movement and its primary artists. Language is also analyzed, and students will create their own original poem utilizing surrealistic techniques.
Trinity University
Who Am I? Using Personal Narrative to Reflect on Identity
Who am I? Pupils work to answer this question through a unit that explores personal narratives and identity. Exit tickets for activities that examine different poems, short stories, and autobiographical writing serve as prewriting for...
National Council of Teachers of English
Acrostic Poems: All About Me and My Favorite Things
Budding poets create two acrostic poems, one for their name and another using a word of their choice. Over the course of five days, scholars compose, revise, publish, and share their work with their peers.
Curated OER
Ready, Set, Tech (Primp Up Your Poems: Literary Devices)
High schoolers study literary devices used in poetry. They gain access to a specific Internet poetry site that provides a step-by-step guide on how to write a poem. They each write a poem and then exchange it with others in a group for...
Denver Art Museum
Putting Images into Words
Engage your class in art analysis of Indian Look-Alike by Melanie Yazzie. Using this work of art as inspiration, writers compose a poem or short story. After a peer review session, the teacher conveys information about the work of art as...
California Education Partners
Covers by Nikki Giovanni
Over three days, scholars listen to and read the poem, "Covers" by Nikki Giovanni. Learners complete a graphic organizer by sketching their visualizations from each stanza then discuss their pictures with a peer. Pupils answer...
Curated OER
Christmas Tree Shaped Poems
Learners think about ways in which they can spread joy during the holiday season. They create poems in the shape of a Christmas tree. Pupils use formatting tools in Microsoft Word to format the text of the poem. Students discuss ways...
Curated OER
Poetry
Fifth graders explore poetry. They write a variety of poetry using the writing process. Students choose a topic related to Thanksgiving and write a Thanksgiving themed poem. They write a rough draft and peer edit their poems. Students...
Bully Free Systems
Bully Free Lesson Plans—Eighth Grade
Middle schoolers are likely very familiar with the concept of bullying and cliques. Discuss their experiences and brainstorm ways to handle peer conflict and feelings of exclusion with a poem that focuses on bullying, and a second lesson...
Curated OER
Number Writing Poems
Students read the short poem for each number to help them with number formation. In this numbers lesson plan, students follow directions of the poems.
Curated OER
Biopoem
Reinforce the actions, emotions, and characteristics that determine what a character is like by having your middle schoolers create a biopoem using the model presented here. You could engage them first by having them write a poem about...
Shutterfly
Photo Story Lesson Plan
After reading Loree Leedy's There's a Frog in My Throat: 440 Animal Sayings a Little Bird Told Me, kids create and illustrate their own poems that convey the meaning of an idiom. The poems are then transferred into Shutterfly's Photo...
Curated OER
Revision is Part of the Writing Process: Peer Workshops
Twelfth graders go through the peer editing process by reading each other's work and talking about it. They realize revision is part of the process of writing poetry.
Curated OER
Acrostic Poems: What's In a Name?
Learners find words that begin with the letters in their own names, using a variety of sources including word banks and online dictionaries. They create an acrostic poem. Pupils revise poems as needed, for meaning and conventions. ...
Curated OER
Letter Writing: An English Language Arts Lesson For Writing/Proofreading
Ninth graders write a letter to someone who is deserving of thanks. Peer and self-editing takes place. After the writing process is completed and a copy is made for the portfolio, envelopes are distributed, addressed, sealed, and mailed.
Curated OER
Revision Lesson
Students, through a series of 4 lessons, explore what it means to revise their written work. They revise a bland story together and then practice revising their own papers by identifying the main action and "exploding" that moment into...