Poetry Seminar

Interested in bringing Socratic seminars to your classroom? A thorough resource includes an outline of the basic seminar procedure, differentiation strategies, student handouts, and major steps that learners should take before, during,...

Three of Emily Dickinson's poems, "I like to see it," "Because I could not stop for Death," and "We grow accustomed to the Dark," provide instructors with an opportunity to model for class members how to use close reading strategies to...

Developed specifically for AVID students, this packet of materials that includes an explanation of the Socratic seminar, the preparation materials, and tips and protocols, is a must-have resource for any class. 

High schoolers complete literature analysis activities for Beowulf. They read lines from the poem and complete character analysis activities. In addition, they write and share a boast modeled on the text and then create heroes and...

Great literature discussions are a consequence of carefully crafted questions, interpretative questions that permit more than one response, and responses supported by specific evidence from the text. The discussion questions in a guide...

Peter Weir's classic film, Dead Poet's Society, provides the text for a socratic discussion of the wisdom of the "Carpe Diem" philosophy. After viewing and discussing the film, individuals select one poem mentioned in the film and...

Young scholars read and analyze poems by Li Po and Wang Wei. They answer discussion questions, identify the elements of the poems, examine and discuss Chinese landscape paintings, write an original poem, and write a comparison/contrast...

What will your class members see in Sylvia Plath's "Mirror"? After reading the poem, learners engage in a Socratic seminar prompted by the provided questions. Individuals then create an illustration, focusing on the personification and...

Mermaids will sing to your class members as they engage in an activity related to T.S. Eliot's famous dramatic interior monologue. After engaging in a socratic seminar about literary devices in the poem, individuals choose one...

Students study Langston Hughes's poetry, short stories, and his first autobiography. They read and appreciate the candid, honest and powerful creative masterpieces of this black genius and discuss the numerous universal themes and...