ReadWriteThink
Writing Free Verse in the "Voice" of Cesar Chavez
Introduce middle schoolers to free verse poetry with a lesson that has young poets read two free verse poems and list the common characteristics of the form. They then read a passage from Cesar Chavez's biography and a free verse poem...
Curated OER
Definition Poems
“Hope is a tissue, wiping away your problems and fears.” Use a Definition Poem Web worksheet to model for your class how to craft a free verse poem based on an emotion. After brainstorming topics, groups use the sheet to make comparisons...
Academy of American Poets
We Sing America
Pair the famous poems "I Hear America Singing," by Walt Whitman, and "I, Too, Sing America," by Langston Hughes, with a more recent poem by Elizabeth Alexander called "Praise Song for the Day" to demonstrate a theme and introduce your...
Academy of American Poets
Teach This Poem: “As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days” by Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman's poem "As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days" offers scholars an opportunity to practice their noticing skills. They first examine a postcard of the Newport News Shipyard listing things they notice about the image and how...
Curated OER
A Garden of Verses: Poems About Class Gardens
Young scholars explore botany by participating in a language arts activity. In this garden poetry lesson, students read the classic poem "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" and discuss the imagery and rhyming methods used. Young scholars examine...
K20 LEARN
If You're a Bird, I'm a Bird: Symbolism
Would a bluebird be as scary as a vulture? Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" is the central text in a lesson about symbolism. After a close reading of the poem, learners consider what the raven might represent to the narrator. They then...
UnboundEd Learning
Rosa Parks: The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement
Class members listen to a passage on Rosa Parks, examine images of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and respond to questions based on the text. They then craft a free-verse poem that recounts her achievements and reveals why she is considered...
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.
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education
Picture Poetry
What a fun idea! The class discusses, and then writes free-verse poems using sensory detail. They get into small collaborative writing teams to compose their poems. Next, they pantomime the actions from the poem while their teammates...
Curated OER
Poetry SLAM: Youth Verse Competition
Use this model, based on urban youth poetry competitions, to create an engaging venue for your poets to share their work out loud, with expression. Build class community, have fun, and celebrate your authors' original verse. Resource is...
Curated OER
Understanding the Basics of Poetry: Free Verse
Young scholars analyze free verse poetry. In this free verse poetry lesson plan, students complete a worksheet for free verse poetry and read an example poem by Wallace Stevens. Young scholars interpret the stanzas.
Curated OER
Japanese Poetry: Tanka? You're Welcome!
Students explore tanka, a form of Japanese poetry. They read and analyze tankas to determine the structure and intent, and compose a traditional and a non-traditional tanka.
Curated OER
Poetry Slam!
Create poems without writing! Young poets create poems using words cut from newspapers, read their poems aloud, and compile them in a book. This lesson plan allows the teacher to view each learner's creative process and assess their...
Curated OER
Poem of Instruction
Students write a free-verse poem and utilize the skill of providing detailed instructions. identify opportunities to create poems from simple, everyday verbal or written instructions. They study everyday language that has merit as poetry.
Curated OER
Free Verse
Learners write free verse poems. In this poetry lesson, students use a three-step method to create a free verse poem. Learners brainstorm ideas, let their ideas "incubate," and write a free verse poem.
Curated OER
Poetry to the Core
Second graders examine several examples of poetry in the six lessons of this unit. The lessons focus on five poetic forms, couplets, quatrains, limericks, Haiku, and free verse.
Curated OER
Poetry In Motion
Fourth graders read and analyze poetry and examine the process of writing poetry. They read and analyze the poem "From a Railway Carriage" by Robert Louis Stevenson, and answer comprehension questions. They identify the similes,...
Curated OER
Teaching Selected Poems from Jim Wayne Miller's the Brier Poems
Students explore the basic elements of poetry through Appalachian life poetry. In this poetry lesson, students read seven poems from Jim Wayne Miller's the Brier Poems and complete poetry analysis activities for each poem.
Curated OER
Deciphering the Mechanics of Poetry
Eighth graders analyze a variety of poems to develop the ability to recognize and explain a variety pf poetic devises.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Walt Whitman: From Song of Myself
Looking for a resource that models how to read and analyze a poem? Check out this packet that uses sections of Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" to demonstrate how to paraphrase, note literary elements, and identify the poet's inferences.
Prestwick House
"Because I could not stop for Death" -- Visualizing Meaning and Tone
Emily Dickinson's "Because I could not stop for Death" provides high schoolers with an opportunity to practice their critical thinking skills. They examine the images, diction, rhythm, and rhyme scheme the poet uses and consider how...
Curated OER
Friendly Patter Poetry
Students create a free from poem on the topic of friendship. They read examples of free form poetry to gather ideas. Through the use of a graphic organizer, students generate a list of friendship characteristics which is used to create...
Poetry Society
The Jumblies
Who would ever think to go to sea in a sieve? Only Edward Lear's Jumblies! The poem "The Jumblies" is the inspiration for these poetry reading and writing activities that ask learners to think about how strangers are different, consider...
Curated OER
Five Simple Poems
Students listen as the teacher explains what poetry is as well as describes several types of poetry such as haiku, free verse, limerick, cinquain, and an acrostic. Students read examples of each type of poetry. They compose a poem...