What is Poetry? Contrasting Poetry and Prose

Lesson Plans

Student Interactives

Calendar Activities

Professional Library

Games & Tools

Podcast Episodes

 

LESSON PLANS

Grades   6 – 8  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Using Classic Poetry to Challenge and Enrich Students' Writing

This lesson sets poetry in motion when students experiment with poetic styles to improve their writing skills and enhance their understanding of poetry.

 

Grades   6 – 8  |  Lesson Plan  |  Unit

In the Poet's Shoes: Performing Poetry and Building Meaning

Students take poetic license when they interpret William Carlos William's poem "The Red Wheelbarrow" to help create a poem of their own.

 

Grades   6 – 8  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Using the Four-Square Strategy to Define and Identify Poetic Terms

How do poets play with language? Students will explore some answers to this question as they search through poems for examples of alliteration, assonance, simile, and rhyme.

 

Grades   4 – 8  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Talking Poetry with Blabberize

Students will be motivated to share their poetry through an online tool the features recording and animation.

 

Grades   6 – 12  |  Lesson Plan  |  Standard Lesson

Making History Come Alive Through Poetry and Song

Students compare the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald with the song, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” then create their own poetry about a historical event.

 

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STUDENT INTERACTIVES

Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Writing Poetry

Diamante Poems

This online tool enables students to learn about and write diamante poems.

 

Grades   K – 12  |  Student Interactive  |  Organizing & Summarizing

Venn Diagram

This interactive tool allows students to create Venn diagrams that contain two or three overlapping circles, enabling them to organize their information logically.

 

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CALENDAR ACTIVITIES

Grades   K – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  April 1

April is National Poetry Month!

Students are assigned to be "poets of the day" and are provided several models to create, illustrate, and present their different poems to the class.

 

Grades   3 – 12  |  Calendar Activity  |  March 21

Today is World Poetry Day.

Students read and respond to Billy Collins' poem "Introduction to Poetry." Students then write about a favorite poem and imagine the perfect way to read it.

 

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PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY

Grades   6 – 8  |  Professional Library  |  Book

Living Voices: Multicultural Poetry in the Middle School Classroom

Jaime Wood offers middle school English language arts teachers material for teaching poetry by Nikki Giovanni, Li-Young Lee, and Pat Mora; the text includes graphic organizers and other resources.

 

Grades   K – 8  |  Professional Library  |  Journal

Language and Literacy: The Poetry Connection

Offers a conceptual framework for building language awareness through the reading of poetry, encouraging children to reflect on language in interesting and powerful ways. Provides an instructional model for constructing literature-based experiences in the classroom.

 

Grades   7 – 12  |  Professional Library  |  Book

Wordplaygrounds: Reading, Writing, and Performing Poetry in the English Classroom

O'Connor offers new approaches to teaching poetry in middle and high school with more than 25 writing activities that can constitute an entire course or work as individual lessons.

 

Grades   3 – 8  |  Professional Library  |  Journal

Cold Plums and the Old Men in the Water: Let Children Read and Write "Great" Poetry

The author of this article advocates using "great" poetry with children, and providing the link between the reading and writing of poetry.

 

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GAMES & TOOLS

Grades   3 – 12  |  Game & Tool

Diamante Poems

Diamante poems are poems where the longest line comes in the middle, creating a diamond-like shape. The Diamante Poems tool helps children write these patterned poems.

 

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PODCAST EPISODES

Grades   6 – 12  |  Podcast Episode

Celebrating Poetry for Teens

In honor of National Poetry Month in April, tune in for recommendations of a variety of poetry books for teens.

 

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