Poetry Lesson Plan

The following poetry lesson plan is geared toward upper elementary or middle school reading students, but may be altered for another level. The purpose of the lesson is to help students have a better understanding of poetry. Students will learn how to read and analyze a poem as well as how to write poetry.

Introduction to Poetry Lesson:

Read a short poem to the class.

Explain that poems are written in verse form instead of paragraph form like prose writing. Explain to the class that this is one reason poems can be harder to understand.

Poetry Activity One:

Have students read a pre-selected poem. Ask them to raise their hand if they understand the meaning of the poem. Most likely, not all of the students will completely understand.

Show the same poem written out in prose form. Have a student read the paragraph aloud to the class. Ask them to raise their hand if they understand. Most likely, more students will have a clearer grasp of the meaning.

Poetry Activity Two:

Pass out a poem to the class. Have each student copy the poem in prose form. Tell them to write it out like a paragraph.

After they write the poem in paragraph form, have them write a brief description in their own words of what the poem is about.

Have them go back and read the poem in verse form now that they have a better understanding.

***Keep in mind, not all poetry can be easily transferred into paragraph form since many poets don't use proper punctuation. More advanced students may be able to figure out where the punctuation should go, but average students may not. Unless you have advanced students, choose poetry that will be easy to write in paragraph form.

Poetry Activity Three:

Have students write a paragraph about a specific topic (winter).

Have them take the paragraph they wrote and write it out in verse form to make a poem. This may take some extra thought. It will not be as easy as taking an existing poem and turning it into a paragraph. Remind them that not all poetry has to rhyme. You may need to help them figure out how to divide the lines.

This activity will show students that writing poetry isn't as difficult as they once thought.