Cluster 4: Range of Reading and Level of Text ComplexityArchived

In this lesson (lesson two of a two-lesson unit), students will use Bishop's poem as a model to write their own Florida poem brimming with figurative language and vivid vocabulary. They will also select digital media to reflect the content of their original poems.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this third lesson of a three-part unit, students will explore structure and its affect on theme in poetry. Using pairs of poems about the Holocaust, students will use graphic organizers and rubrics to help them organize their observations into a comparison/contrast essay and Socratic Seminar contributions. The summative assessment for the three-lesson unit is a final draft of an essay (drafted in Part I of the unit) about what separates poetry from prose.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this second lesson of a three-part unit, students will explore how to identify and explain theme in poetry. Small group and full class discussions will be included as will a review of poetic and sound devices. Using Shakespeare's "Sonnet 71" and poetry of the Holocaust, students will analyze two poems and write theme analysis paragraphs for one of them with the help of a graphic organizer and rubric.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will study two poems in this lesson: Robert Frost's "The Road Not Taken" and Dale Wimbrow's "The Guy in the Glass." Students will identify and explain the use of metaphor in each poem, and they will also examine the imagery and personification used in each one. Students will also determine a theme of each poem and explain the similarities and differences in their related themes.

Type: Lesson Plan

The three-part unit, of which this lesson is the first, examines the poet's ability to marry form and theme using poetic devices in order to create verse that cuts to the heart of some of humanity's most profound experiences. This first lesson is an exploration of a broad range of poetic and sound devices, and a detailed analysis of how these devices are at work in Shakespeare's Sonnet 71. The lesson culminates in small group review sessions where students apply their learning about poetic terms to revising their own written musings on what distinguishes poetry from prose.

Type: Lesson Plan

Explore the poem “The Railway Train” by Emily Dickinson in this interactive tutorial. Learn about personification and vivid descriptions and determine how they contribute to the meaning of a poem. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to identify and analyze the development of theme in this interactive tutorial. We'll read excerpts from "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs and examine how several different themes are developed throughout the text. We'll explore how each theme is conveyed in the story as the plot unfolds.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn about two types of figurative language—similes and metaphors—in this interactive tutorial. You'll read several classic poems, including "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost and "Hope" by Emily Dickinson. You'll examine how each poem uses metaphor to convey a specific idea to readers.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

The goal of the exemplar from Student Achievement Partner web resources is to give students practice in reading and writing about poetry. The poem makes connections to World War I as students closely analyze the poet's depiction of war. Students explore complex text through a) re-reading, paraphrasing, and discussing ideas, (b) achieving an accurate basic understanding of the stanzas of the poem, (c) achieving an accurate interpretive understanding of the piece, and (d) building a coherent piece of writing that both constructs and communicates solid understanding of the poem.

Type: Teaching Idea

This resource from Teaching Tolerance focuses on Maya Angelou's poem "Still I Rise." It begins with a discussion of figurative language and the power of words and moves into a discussion of overcoming hardships.

Type: Teaching Idea