Description

Are you tired of the eye rolling and heavy sighs that accompany your announcement of "We're going to start a poetry unit today!" Are you ready for a unit that combines a study of accomplished poets with opportunities for students to write? Then, you've found the right unit. In this unit plan, students explore poets such as Langston Hughes, Shel Silverstein and Robert Frost and examine what makes their poetry so great. Then, students have a chance to author their own poems and celebrate their accomplishment by submitting the poem for publication to a magazine of their choice. Help students explore that they are a poet. They just didn't know it!

Duration

The planned duration of this activity is 14 days.

Lesson Plans

There's a Writer Waiting Inside Me
Psst....Did you know there’s a writer waiting inside each of your students? In this introductory lesson, students are introduced to the concept, What Makes Good Poetry? and are asked to explore the writer within!

The Inside Story
When is a door not a door? When it’s symbolic of something else! Students study the usage of symbolism in poetry and examine how symbolism can be used to explain their own lives and emotions.

A Moment in Time
A moment in time before shooting a foul shot or the moment right before a runner steals a base can make for a fascinating poem. Students study poems to see how punctuation, line length, rhythm and word choice can be used to create a memorable moment.

Personify This
Can a tree’s fingers really stretch towards the setting sun? They can if the author is using personification! Students study personification in published works of poetry then create their own through the use of diamante or cinquain poetry.

I Just Want to Say
I just want to say- I love you, I hate you, things haven’t been easy for me, and much more. Through the use of poetry, people can relay a powerful message. Students study poetic devices included in conversation poems and explore their eloquent messages.

Life Is Like
Is life really like a box of chocolates? Is it more like a bowl full of cherries? Students explore how to create their own metaphors for life.

I'm A Poet and Now I Know It
This is the final phase of the poetry unit, I’m a Poet and Didn’t Know It! Using ideas generated from other poems and their own inspiration, students create original poetry. A celebration is included as students bind and submit poems for publication.