In this lesson, students compose found and parallel poems based on descriptive literary passages they have read. Students first select a passage and then pick out descriptive words, phrases and lines. They then arrange and format the excerpts to compose their own poems. Students create found poems (poems that are composed from words and phrases found in another text) as well as parallel poems (original poems that use the same line structures as another poem, but focus on a completely different topic.) This process of recasting the text they are reading in a different genre helps students become more insightful readers and develop creativity in thinking and writing. Since students are primarily identifying nouns and verbs for use in their poems, the lesson also provides a relevant opportunity for a grammar review of these two parts of speech.

This resource includes one poem, with an accompanying link to the poem being read aloud, and nine text-dependent questions (including one optional constructed-response prompt for students), and explanatory information for teachers regarding alignment to the CCSS.

In this lesson, students can explore for themselves the problem Tom Sawyer faced, how he “solved” his conundrum, and what he learned about human nature in the process. When combined with writing about the passage, students will learn to appreciate how Twain’s humor contains a deeper message and to derive satisfaction from struggling to master complex text.

In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In the first half of this lesson, you lead the class in discussing another poem, “If We Must Die” by Claude McKay. In the second part of this lesson, students apply what they have learned about poetic tools to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

This is the final lesson on poetry, and it includes the End of Unit 1 Assessment, which focuses solely on poetry.

Students will explore the distinction between a hero and an idol. Based on collaboratively established criteria for heroism and characteristics of heroes, students will select, read about, and report on a hero. Students will identify how their hero matches their criteria and characteristics. Hero reports will be compiled into a class book. As a follow-up, the teacher will read aloud and lead a discussion of the poem Heroes We Never Name to emphasize the fact that there are heroes all around us. Students will write about a hero they know and describe this person's noble qualities and deeds.

The highwayman is an eighteenth century thief, who promises to return to his love Bess, the landlord’s daughter. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

This PDF allows students to read passages, identify the text structure, and write information from the passage into the appropriate graphic organizer. The handout will serve as a great means of practice to remediate, enrich, or extended students? knowledge about various types of text structures found in informational text.

This is an online exploration poetry lesson. Students will navigate through aninteractive PowerPoint presentation and complete different tasks while acquiring knowledge on the various aspects of poetry.

Students will explore images from the Klondike and read White Fang closely to learn how to define and differentiate these terms, ultimately presenting their findings as nature and culture detectives.

This autobiographical piece tells what a neat, tidy rule-follower this author was in his youth—except for his yo-yo. In this CCSS lesson, students will explore this story through text dependent questions, academic vocabulary, and writing assignments.

In this lesson, students complete a literary analysis on a Shakespearean Sonnet, understand the language that empowers the piece, and gain inspiration from Shakespeare's words to write their own sonnet.

This lesson introduces students to the way lines work in poems and create texture. Students will learn the difference between end-stopped lines (lines that end with punctuation) and enjambed lines (lines that break where there is no punctuation, that continue in the reader's same breath). The lesson will also guide students toward listening to the natural cadences of a poem when reading it aloud.

In this lesson, students will learn the process for reading poetry. Students will work with the "How to Read a Poem" anchor chart, which will give them specific steps on reading and rereading poetry to find different layers of meaning.

In this lesson, students will discuss the poem, "If We Must Die," by Claude McKay. Then, students will apply what they have learned about poetic tools to Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

In this lesson, students will continue to build their poetry analysis skills. They analyze poetry individually and with a partner or small group. The How to Read a Poem anchor chart guides their analysis and provides structure for their thinking and conversations. Students will work with a complex poem--"slave ships" by Lucille Clifton.