Searching for Meanings Beneath the Surface of the Poem

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...

How do writers use words to protest injustice, challenge the status quo, and shape their own identities? Individuals watch and discuss a video, read author biographies, write poetry and journals, develop a slideshow, and complete a...

Indulge your class in some classic iambic tetrameter with this poetry analysis activity on William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud." The first page supplies the entire poem with space for annotation, and the last two pages...

One of the many challenges in creating a poetry unit is selecting illustrative poems and designing activities to accompany each lesson. Here's a carefully crafted resource that can be used as a poetry unit or the individual lessons can...

Students analyze poetry. In this cultural perspectives instructional activity, students read the poem "Soccer Until Dusk" by Mark Brazaitis. Students analyze the poem and consider the cultural perspective it reveals.

Students read "Soccer Until Dusk". As a class, they discuss the various settings and actions in the poem and discuss the life in Guatemala and compare it with the United States. To end the lesson, they complete a journal reflection...

Choosing a poet or a theme, eighth graders conduct research in the world of poetry. They conduct Internet research and select five poems that fit their poet or theme, and create a seven slide PowerPoint presentation on their selected...

A repetition poem is the focus of a lesson that challenges scholars to compose an original piece. To add meaning to their poem, authors choose words to repeat at the start of most lines.  

This is a very much detailed five-day plan on writing portrait poems. Throughout, class members review figurative language and work systematically to develop their poems. The teacher provides rubrics for the poem as well as a portrait...

It's never too early to think about the future! Here is a lesson that sparks the thought, "What do I want to be when I grow up? Scholars begin by researching careers and completing a graphic organizer with their new-found knowledge....