Intro to Poetry Lesson Plan

Class: Honors English I

Grade Level: Freshman

Unit: Poetry

Teacher: Ms. Schira and Ms. Venezio

Objectives
Throughout the lesson, and by the end of the lesson, students should be able to say:
 I can identify examples of what poetry is and who composes it.

Common Core State Standard(s)-CCSS

 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text,
including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of
specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense
of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

Iowa Core Curriculum-Subject Area Standard

 Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually,
quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue
under study. (SL.6.2.)

21st Century Skill(s)

 Interpret information and draw conclusions based on the best analysis

Essential Question
 In a world of literature, media, significant figures, and people, what, and who
exactly, is poetry?

Anticipatory Set (20 minutes):

 Welcome students into class and take attendance. (2 minutes)
 Tell students to put all electronics away for the moment, and to take out a sheet of
scratch paper or a notebook. Have students silently brainstorm what they believe
poetry is, what poetry means to them, and/or who they think some known poets
are. (5 minutes)
 Students will then line up alphabetically according to their favorite musician. (2
minutes)
 I will tell students to share who their favorite musician is with the class, and then
depending on how many students are in class, they will share what they came up
with to their neighbor on their right. (5 minutes)
 Students can go back to their seats and I will ask 2 or 3 students to share aloud
what they brainstormed to the class. (3 minutes)
 I will then tell students to take out a scratch sheet of paper or write in their
notebooks a KWL chart. I can introduce the concept to them, and show an
example of one that I created projected on the board. I will tell them that
throughout the poetry unit they can fill it out. For today, they can transfer their
 brainstormed ideas into the ‘know’ column, and fill out what they ‘want to know’
today in the ‘W’ column, and as they ‘learn’ about poetry they can fill in the ‘L’
column. They can also fill out the ‘learn’ column today, and throughout the unit. I
will tell students that this is something they fill out as they go along, and that by
no means does it need to be all filled out by the end of the lesson. (3 minutes)

Teaching Activities:
 As a class, we will go over some different definitions of poetry that we find
online: For a general definition of poetry, we can look at the definition on
Merriam-Webster: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/poetry. For a
more descriptive definition, we can check out this article as a class and skim
through what the author says poetry is: https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-
poetry-852737 (this article is brief and provides good description about the
broadness of poetry). Students can write these definitions of what poetry is if they
would like, or they can listen. Show the website
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ to use as a reference whenever reading or
discovering poetry before we dive into who and what are some examples of
poetry. (10 minutes)
 As a class, we will then go through 3 different poets. If we have time and get
through the first 3 poets, I have 3 more poets we can learn about. We will start
with 3 different poets for 3 different time periods: a historic poet, a 20th century
poet and a 21st century poet. We will examine how poetry has changed over time,
and briefly examine who each poet was/is, and what one or some of their works
are. As we go along doing this, I will project a PowerPoint for students to look at.
Students can write notes down, listen, and fill out their KWL charts if they wish
to. The most important part of this process is to show students how poetry can
change over time, and how poetry can influence people in the future. Students can
also follow along on their chrome books as we read the poems. After we read and
listen to the poems, I will ask students what stuck out to them, and what they
think the poems are about. We will highlight major aspects of the poem as
brought up by students. (45 minutes)
o Historic poet: Emily Bronte
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/emily-bronte
https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/emily-bront%C3%AB. We will go
over some brief facts about her life and style of poetry from the websites
above, and read/look at the poem, “Remembrance.” I will play this poem
out loud for students to listen to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yuJZ1cgVSE
o 20th Century poet: Maya Angelou. We will go over some brief facts about
her life and style of poetry, and read/look at the poem, “Still I Rise.” I will
play this poem out loud for students to listen to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qviM_GnJbOM
o 21st century poet: Chance the Rapper. We will go over some brief facts
about his life and style of poetry, and read/look at the lyrics in the song,
“Blessings.” I will play this song out loud for students to listen to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeqmbhyoFZQ
o Historic poet: William Shakespeare. We will go over some brief facts
about his life and style of poetry, and read/look at the poem, “All the
world’s a stage.” I will play this poem out loud for students to listen to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5hcaYEcAp0
o 20th Century poet: Gwendolyn Brooks
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/28112/we-real-
 cool. We will go over some brief facts about her life and style of poetry,
and read/look at the poem, “We Real Cool.” I will play this poem out loud
for students to listen to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBpxJb24O8A
o 21st Century Poet: Eavan Boland. We will go over some brief facts about
her life and style of poetry, and read/look at the poem, “Mother Ireland.” I
will read this poem out loud for students to listen to.

Closure (5 minutes):
 Ask students to answer the question, ‘What is poetry?’ now that we have had an
introductory lesson on it. Students can write their answer on a sticky note I give
them, and place it on the board before they leave class. If we have time, I will
read off a few examples to the class.

Independent Practice

Go online to https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ and check out some examples of a

historic poet, a 20th century poet, and a 21st century poet.

Assessment

The objective listed in this lesson helps students answer the essential question because it
is geared towards understanding that poetry is anything but narrow; rather, it is a broad
spectrum that encompasses many important elements of life and features multiple
examples of people and situations that can be extremely relatable. Exploring multiple
examples of poetry will hopefully help students see that poetry comes in all different
shapes and sizes.

Materials
 Laptop
 Scratch paper
 Sticky notes
 Pens and pencils
 Dry erase marker
 KWL example chart
 Chrome books

Duration
120 minutes total. Approximated time estimates listed next to each activity.