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Lesson Plan
ReadWriteThink

Writing Free Verse in the "Voice" of Cesar Chavez

For Teachers 6th - 8th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Definition Poems

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
“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...
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Lesson Plan
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Academy of American Poets

We Sing America

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Academy of American Poets

Teach This Poem: “As I Walk These Broad Majestic Days” by Walt Whitman

For Teachers 6th - 12th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

A Garden of Verses: Poems About Class Gardens

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Students explore botany by participating in a language arts activity. In this garden poetry lesson plan, students read the classic poem "Mary, Mary Quite Contrary" and discuss the imagery and rhyming methods used. Students examine their...
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Lesson Plan
K20 LEARN

If You're a Bird, I'm a Bird: Symbolism

For Teachers 8th - 9th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
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UnboundEd Learning

Rosa Parks: The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement

For Teachers 2nd Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
National Council of Teachers of English

Acrostic Poems: All About Me and My Favorite Things

For Teachers 1st - 2nd Standards
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.
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Lesson Plan
Hawaiʻi State Department of Education

Picture Poetry

For Teachers 3rd
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry SLAM: Youth Verse Competition

For Teachers 8th - 10th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Understanding the Basics of Poetry: Free Verse

For Teachers 5th - 6th
Students 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. Students interpret the stanzas.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Japanese Poetry: Tanka? You're Welcome!

For Teachers 9th - 12th
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.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry Slam!

For Teachers 3rd - 12th
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 allows the teacher to view each learner's creative process and assess their current...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poem of Instruction

For Teachers 5th - Higher Ed
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.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Free Verse

For Teachers 1st - 5th
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.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry to the Core

For Teachers 2nd
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.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Poetry In Motion

For Teachers 4th
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,...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Teaching Selected Poems from Jim Wayne Miller's the Brier Poems

For Teachers 5th - 7th
Students explore the basic elements of poetry through Appalachian life poetry. In this poetry lesson plan, students read seven poems from Jim Wayne Miller's the Brier Poems and complete poetry analysis activities for each poem.
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Deciphering the Mechanics of Poetry

For Teachers 8th
Eighth graders analyze a variety of poems to develop the ability to recognize and explain a variety pf poetic devises.
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Lesson Plan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Walt Whitman: From Song of Myself

For Teachers 9th - 12th Standards
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.
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Handout
Office of Migrant Education

Poetry: Form, Syllables, Mood, and Tone

For Teachers 9th - 12th
Looking for a resource to introduce homeschoolers and other out-of-class learners to the elements of poetry? Check out this packet that defines and illustrates important poetry terms.
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Lesson Plan
Prestwick House

"Because I could not stop for Death" -- Visualizing Meaning and Tone

For Teachers 9th - 10th Standards
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...
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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Friendly Patter Poetry

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
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...
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Lesson Plan
Poetry Society

The Jumblies

For Teachers Pre-K - 3rd
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...