http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/lessons/grade-9-12/Rhythm_and_Improv_Jazz_Poetry.aspx
Connects Blues music to poetry and literature.
A 5 day collaborative poetry writing lesson plan
Intro idea for a poetry unit found on http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/poetry-sound-sense-848.html?tab=4#tabs
istudents read "Ars Poetica" by Archibald MacLeish or "Poetry" by Marianne Moore
Writing a catalog poem
Read "Fear" by Raymond Carver and then the other examples of catalog poems. Allow students to choose whether they would prefer to write a catalog poem focusing on one emotion or focusing on one object.
Read poetry by Langston Hughes
This would be a great lesson to introduce the idea of literary criticism.
Develop the characters from the poem "We Real Cool".
Reference this additional website:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/impact-poems-line-breaks-enjambment-and-gwendolyn-brooks-we-real-cool
Writing a found poem on love
Writing a parody of a poem.
Model Walt Whitman's catalog poem
Refer to the following website for additional ideas:
http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/walt-whitman-langston-hughes-poems-democracy#section-16880
Variation: read and compare three poems about America: “I Hear America Singing”, “I, Too, Sing America”, “On the Pulse of the Morning”. Have students write poems in response to one of the three poets as Hughes did to Whitman. Students should focus on tone (anger, sarcasm, humor, sadness, etc.) and emphasize their own backgrounds and life experiences through point of view.
Maybe do this lesson after we have done the community poem lesson.
How to understand and interpret poetry.
1. As you read the poem for the first time focus on punctuation, not line breaks.
2. Look up any unknown words.
3. Identify the speaker.
4. Identify the tone and any shifts in attitude.
5. Identify the audience.
6. Identify the setting, if applicable.
7. Paraphrase by summarizing the purpose of the poem.
4.
Explores the connection between literature and society
Poetic Devices: definitions, examples, and worksheets