Teaching Intentionally
Teaching Intentionally
Creative and Engaging Ideas to Help You Become Amazing!

 Poetry Activities

 
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Poetry Structure Mini Lesson

Poetry Annotation Guide

 

Resources

Poetry Theater-Words in Motion

Get your students comfortable with poetry by having them turn poems into live action skits!

Acting out poetry can be an engaging and effective way for students to deepen their understanding and appreciation of the art form.

This resource includes:

  • Eight middle school appropriate poems.

  • Worksheets that are formatted to walk students through the annotation process.

  • Discussion questions for each poem.

  • Create the Skit Worksheet

  • Detailed Teacher Instructions

 

Poetry Seminars

Take a deep dive into poetry and get your students talking about what it means to them with this engaging poetry seminar!

This resource includes:

  • Author Investigation: Interactive Google Slides, Investigation Sheet, Writing an Obituary Activity

  • Poem: Vocabulary Slides, Step-by-Step Annotation Guide

  • Seminar Tools: Instructions, Discussion Questions

  • Written Response: Three Prompts, Grading Rubric

  • Detailed Teacher Instructions with Answers

 

Found Poetry with

“We Shall Overcome” Speech

After students read Johnson’s “We Shall Overcome” speech about voter rights, they will underline important, impactful, and powerful words and phrases.

They will use these words to create a found poem.

This resource includes:

  • Activity Slides: Interactive Google Slides with moveable text boxes, Informational Video about Bloody Sunday, Links to Excerpts.

  • Excerpts: “We Shall Overcome” Speech split into three excerpts.

  • Also includes a sermon from Martin Luther King that he delivered in response to Bloody Sunday.

  • Detailed Teacher Instructions with Answers

 

Narrative Poetry Activity-

“The Highwayman”

Your students will love this poem! It has a little something for everyone- romance, betrayal, and action! Students will read the poem, watch the short movie, answer the questions, and finish it off with a 10-question quiz.

This resource includes:

  • Vocab Slides: 16 slides that teach the difficult vocabulary from the poem.

  • Student Worksheet: Includes the poem with at least 2 questions per stanza to help students analyze and understand the poem.

  • Student Response Questions- Two constructed response questions that require students to thinking analytically and provide textual evidence.

  • Quiz: 10 multiple choice questions related to the plot, author’s purpose, and figurative language.

  • Detailed Teacher Instructions with Answers

 
 
 

Poetry Structure

Videos

 
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Activities

Poetry Structure - Mini Lesson and Activities 

 

Poetry Structure Mini Lesson

Before students can analyze a poem, they need to understand the different components. This mini lesson will help students identify the 5 parts of a poem- stanza, repetition, rhyme, rhyme scheme, and line breaks.

 This Resource Includes:

  1. Google Slides Presentation: 15 colorful and engaging slides that introduce the parts of a poem.

  2. Notes: Defines and explains stanza, repetition, rhyme, rhyme scheme, and line breaks.

  3. Vocabulary Practice: Practice the five terms with Quizizz. Link and instructions included.

  4. Instructional Video: Video where I walk students through the slides and help them gain an understanding of the parts of a poem.

  5. Practice Activities: 5 interactive practice activities where students can identify the different parts of a poem.

Download Includes:

  • Link to a Google Slides Download

  • Link to a YouTube Instructional Video 

  • PDF Versions 

  • Teacher Instructions

 

Poetry Structure: The Quest Activity Pack

 

Poetry Structure Quests

These quests are an engaging and creative way to help your students analyze the importance of a poem’s structure.

The Quests: 

  • Quest 1: Part One- Students will identify the stanzas in “Ghost House” by Robert Frost. Part Two- Students will analyze how the poem would change if there no stanzas.

  • Quest 2: Part One- Students will identify the rhyme scheme in four sets of lyrics. Part Two- Students will select a rhyme scheme and write a poem using the same pattern.

  • Quest 3: Part One- Students will read a poem by Langston Hughes where the line breaks have been removed and will identify where they would put the line breaks if they were the author. Part Two- Students will analyze the effect of line breaks by answering three questions.

  • Quest 4: Part One- Students will read “The Bells” by Edgar Allan Poe and identify the effects of the repeating words and sounds. Part Two- Students will find a song with repeating phrases and analyze the effects of the repeating lyrics.

  • Quest 5: Students will put all of the components together to analyze the poem “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes.

Download Includes:

  • Link to a Google Slides Download and Google Doc version 

  • PDF Versions 

  • Teacher Instructions

 

Poetry Annotation Guide

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Annotating Poetry Guide

Use this framework to help your students actively read poetry. This 8-step guide will walk your students through any poem.

Download Includes:

  • Video: Walks your students through the 8-step process of how to annotate poems.

  • Fill in the Blank Notes: Keep our students on track while you’re teaching with this fill in the blanks note sheet.

  • Printable Poster: Print and hang in your classroom as a reference point for your students.

  • Student Printable: Print on cardstock and give to students to keep in their notebook.

 

Poetry Practice - “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by William Wordsworth

Poetry Practice - “Acquainted with the Night” by Robert Frost

Poetry Practice - “See it Through” by Edgar Albert Guest

Poetry Practice - “Naming Myself” by Barbara Kingsover ELA Unlimited Exclusive

Poetry Practice - “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns

Poetry Practice -“I-Years-had Been-from Home-” by Emily Dickinson ELA Unlimited Exclusive

 
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