Middle School Poetry Unit, 4 Weeks of Engaging PowerPoints and Activities

Middle school teachers, I feel your pain. Teaching energetic students with short attention spans is no easy feat, but this engaging multimedia unit makes teaching a whole lot easier.

Students learn poetry concepts through hip-hop, commercials, television shows, movies, and other pop culture mediums, all at the click of your PowerPoint button. All audio and video files are embedded within the slides, meaning no more clicking on links that take you away from your PowerPoint (it all plays within the slides!)

These 19 entertaining PowerPoints also come with brain warm-ups, cheesy jokes, sound effects, teacher guides, worksheets and/or computer activities, and surplus materials if there’s some time left in class. The poetry unit ends with a Kahoot review and a unit exam.

Colleagues, this is a hefty, powerful unit comprising 903 MB, 314 slides, 20 teacher guides, 26 worksheets/poem templates, and a final unit exam with review! And it is so easy to teach!

Contents:

Types of Rhyme- Students learn single, double, and triple rhyme as well as internal and external rhyme with audio provided by Eminem. Students then complete a worksheet.

Alliteration and Assonance- Shel Silverstein, LL Cool J, Tupac Shakur, and Run DMC provide examples of alliteration and assonance. Students complete a worksheet and write a poem, and also review and reapply their previous learning of types of rhyme.

Rhyme Scheme- Students learn rhyme scheme with various simple poems, and then annotate rhyme scheme in Run DMC’s You Be Illin’. They also review and reapply the previous lessons’ concepts with audio provided by Biggie Smalls. Students write limericks or partner couplet poems.

Onomatopoeia- Batman, Rice Krispies, Mel Torme, Aretha Franklin, The Roots, Will Ferrell, Garfield, Snoopy, and Superman all teach onomatopoeia. Students create an onomatopoeia acrostic and an onomatopoeia comic strip (through a free online program or on paper).

Rhythm- Students use Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax to practice reading with rhythm and to review the previous lessons’ concepts of sound in poetry. Students see an allusion in The Boondocks and get the chance to auto-tune their best rhythm into a rap song with a free phone app.

Form and Imagery- Students learn form through types of cars. They watch a heavy slam poetry session, analyze e.e. cummings and William Carlos Williams, and then complete a concrete poem with imagery.

Legend of Robert Johnson- Students learn the crazy legend of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the Devil with cool pictures, audio clips, and a movie allusion. Students write their own blues poem in the form of a 12-bar blues song.

Haiku- Students learn the basics of haiku and watch a haiku battle from The Last Air Bender. Students then use inspirational nature images and music to inspire their own haiku writing.

Erasure Poetry- Students look at many different types of erasure poems as well as previous student examples. Students create their own erasure poem.

Simile- William Wordsworth, Mos Def, Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J, Biggie Smalls, Shrek, and bears all teach students similes. Students then complete a practice worksheet and write a simile poem.

Metaphor- Ice Cube teaches metaphor with a rap song that is an extended metaphor comparing baseball to prison. Students then write a metaphor poem comparing themselves to the types of food they like to eat.

Personification- Students learn personification through a Kool Aid commercial, Family Guy, a Sylvia Plath poem, Spongebob Squarepants, and a Common song. Students then complete a personification practice worksheet and write a personification poem.

Hyperbole- Students view hyperbole through jokes, tall tales, a Muhammad Ali press conference, common expressions, famous movies, hip-hop poetry, and classic writers. Students then practice hyperbole with a worksheet and write a hyperbole poem.

Writer’s Stance- Students listen to and analyze “Juicy” by Biggie Smalls for meaning and writer’s stance. They confer with a Socratic seminar and then annotate poetry concepts taught in previous lessons.

Meaning- Students analyze “Me Against the World” by Tupac Shakur, confer with a Socratic seminar, and then write a meaning poem.

Tone and Mood- Emojis, short passages, sound effects, and song help your students learn tone and mood. Students apply their knowledge to a Venn diagram analysis of a De La Soul song and an Anne Sexton poem.

Review and Final Exam- Students review unit concepts with a 17-question Kahoot. They then take the unit exam, which comprises 20 questions and one passage.