Academy of American Poets
The Immigrant Experience
The Buttonhook by Mary Jo Salter is the focus of a unit that explores the immigration experience to Ellis Island. First, scholars bring in an artifact that represents their heritage. A group-exercise allows them to share and discuss...
K20 LEARN
Memory Haiku: The Great Gatsby and the Sense of Smell
Scholars learn how smells evoke early childhood memories and apply that knowledge to a character from F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. After finding a passage from the novel that references smells, they craft a haiku and a...
EngageNY
Looking Closely at Stanza 3—Identifying Rules to Live By Communicated in “If”
Just as Bud, from the novel Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, had rules to live by, so does the poem, If by Rudyard Kipling, but how do the two relate? Pupils delve deep into the poem's third stanza, participate in a grand...
EngageNY
Analyzing, Comparing, Sharing: Modern Voices
What do modern voices sound like? Scholars explore the topic, reading two concrete poems from John Grandit's Blue Lipstick and analyzing them using a graphic organizer. Next, they read a third poem and work with partners to look for...
K20 LEARN
#Summarize: Summarizing
What are the effects of one's life experiences? Class members view a slam poetry reading, a speech by President Obama, and read a short story by John Steinbeck about responding to tragedies. They summarize these events and then craft a...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 11
In Audre Lorde's poem "From the House of Yemanjá," the speaker describes her mother's two faces, adding a whole new meaning to the phrase "two-faced." Pupils first read the final stanza of the contemporary poem. With a Quick Write, they...
Curated OER
Reflection
The tenth lesson in the 12-part poetry unit asks seventh graders to reflect on their learning about poetry and share their work with other poets.
Curated OER
Mood
Young scholars learn how to distinguish between the mood of a piece of writing (how the work makes the reader feel) and the tone (the writer's attitude toward the material) in the sixth lesson in a poetry unit. After watching two very...
EngageNY
Analyzing Structure and Theme in Stanza 4 of “If”
Here is a lesson that provides scholars with two opportunities to stretch their compare-and-contrast muscles. First, learners compare and contrast their experience reading the fourth stanza of If by Rudyard Kipling to listening to the...
Curated OER
Abigail in Childbirth
Childbirth has never been easy and is not without risk, even in the 21st century. Young historians gain insight into the travails of 18th-century childbirth as they read letters between Abigail Adams and her husband about their loss of a...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 10
Audre Lorde's poem "From the House of Yemanjá" describes the speaker carrying two women on her back—she must be strong! Pupils read the second stanza using instructional activity 10 of 14 from the Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2 series....
Learning for Justice
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou's poem, "Still I Rise", offers young scholars an opportunity to consider how poets use literary devices to create powerful messages. After a close reading and discussion of the poem, class members reflect on how they can...
Nebraska Department of Education
Where I'm From
We are a tapestry woven of the threads of our family and its history, our environment, our ethnicity, and our culture. High school freshmen reflect on how these threads influence their goals for the future. After reading George Ella...
EngageNY
Grade 11 ELA Module 2: Unit 2, Lesson 9
How do authors employ specific word choices to describe complex relationships? Scholars read and analyze the first stanza from Audre Lorde's contemporary poem "From the House of Yemanjá." Pupils determine the meanings of figurative and...
Curated OER
Introduction to Poetry
Students determine the rhyme scheme of a poem and find examples of similes. In this poetry analysis lesson plan, students review definitions needed for the topic and analyze the rhyme or rhythm for the example poems. Students also find...
Curated OER
Traveling Through Literature
Integrate geography with literature in this interdisciplinary lesson. Begin by reading a poem such as The Time We Climbed Snake Mountain by Leslie Marmon Silko. On a large map, place push pins in the cities or states mentioned. An...
Curated OER
Creative Writing/Poetry Lesson Plan
Students complete poetry writing activities and art analysis activities. In this creative writing and art lesson, students analyze a cubist piece by Picasso and discuss abstraction. Students read a poem by Gertrude Stein about Picasso...
Curated OER
Exploring Sensory Details in Fiction and Nonfiction Text
Second graders analyze storytelling devices by examining sensory details in literature. In this descriptive writing lesson, 2nd graders define the 5 senses and practice using descriptive vocabulary words in their writing. Students read...
EngageNY
Grade 10 ELA Module 1: Unit 1, Lesson 3
Poets write love letters, but how often do the objects of their love write back? Compare Christopher Marlowe's "A Passionate Shepard to His Love" to Sir Walter Raleigh's response, "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd," with an engaging...
National Endowment for the Humanities
The Beauty of Anglo-Saxon Poetry: A Prelude to Beowulf
Riddle me this! What do kennings, caesura, and alliteration have to do with the Nowell Codex? Introduce class members to Anglo-Saxon poetry and prepare readers for a study of Beowulf with a series of activities that...
MENSA Education & Research Foundation
Magical Musical Tour: Using Lyrics to Teach Literary Elements
Language arts learners don't need a lecture about poetry; they listen to poetry every day on the radio! Apply skills from literary analysis to famous songs and beautiful lyrics with a lesson about literary devices. As...
Curated OER
Analyzing Poetry and Characters
Students investigate historical context by reading poetry. In this language arts lesson, students discover the work of Michael Longley and examine his poem "Ceasefire." Students identify the sonnets used in the piece and...
Curated OER
Rhythm and Rhyme
Youngsters listen to poetry and music to understand that words are made of sounds. In this rhythm and rhyme lesson, students create songbooks of healthy eating songs. They will also act out pantomimes and dance to the music....
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.9-10.10
How do you assess what your pupils have learned over the course of the year? Find out how competent they are at reading and analyzing age-level literature with the ideas presented here. Included in this resource are two suggested...