Rudyard Kipling's advice to his son in the poem "If" is a resounding message that echoes through generations. After reading the famous poem, middle schoolers work on analyzing specific lines, completing activities based on unfamiliar words and literary devices, and writing a short personal response to the poem.

 

Concepts

poetry, poetry analysis, rudyard kipling, character traits, figurative language, Vocabulary, main ideas, supporting evidence

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Additional Tags

english language arts

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Instructional Ideas

• Send home with language arts learners as a homework packet
• Encourage young writers to turn their responses into a longer narrative essay
• Bring into your poetry unit, or when discussing the works of Rudyard Kipling
• Compare the themes of the poem to "Father and Son" by Cat Stevens

Classroom Considerations

• Parts of the worksheets are in color, including backgrounds and pictures

Pros

• Focuses on a beautiful poem that your learners may not have read before
• Addresses multiple reading skills, including figurative language, vocabulary, and literary analysis
• Prompts learners to respond to the text with their own experiences
• Provides an answer key for each worksheet

Cons

• None

Common Core

RL.6.1 RL.6.2 RL.6.3 RL.6.4 RL.7.1 RL.7.2 RL.7.3 RL.7.4 RL.8.1 RL.8.2 RL.8.3 RL.8.4