This activity is inspired by by "The Pocket Instructor, Literature: 101 Exercises for the College Classroom" edited by Diana Fuss and William A. Gleason. In this lesson, students listen to multiple readings of Elizabeth Bishop's, "One Art." As a whole class, we conduct a line-by-line analysis of the poem in order to introduce and understand poetry analysis skills. The lesson culminates with a whole-class and individual reflection. An optional written analysis extension task is also provided.

In this lesson, students work in groups of 3-4 students to analyze their paired novella in order to deepen their understanding of the text. Each student takes on a specific role - leader, skeptic, or scribe in order to form an assertion, support that assertion with evidence, and refine their assertion in order to craft a clear, specific argument. In addition to providing a collaborative, multi-modal analysis experience, this lesson also incorporates movement and reflection and is easily adaptable to any paired text or close-reading skill.

This lesson remixes an original lesson created by Susan Ketcham entitled "The Poetry of Maya Angelou." In this lesson, students expand on a classroom activity (discussion question number 4) from the original source lesson and will use that as a foundation for learning and preparing for their own oral recitation of a poem. In order to successfully complete this task, students will need to explore one poem for both literal and figurative meaning and then determine how that poem would sound if spoken aloud. This last step requires students to critically explore how oral techniques such as tone, pauses, shifts, etc. help develop meaning.

This lesson uses Panic at the Disco's song, "Hey Look Ma, I Made It" to explore specific literary elements: metaphor, inversion, irony, and tone in order to consider how these devices help shape meaning. Students will work in pairs to employ close-reading skills for specific analytical tasks. They will reflect on their learning continuously throughout the lesson. The lesson will culminate with a brief analytical paragraph that asks them to consider how the figurative devices employed by the songwriters shapes meaning. Finally, they will reflect on the process of close-reading to consider how this process informed their understanding of the text and how they can transfer this skill to other analytical tasks.

This lesson uses Panic at the Disco's song, "Hey Look Ma, I Made It" to explore specific literary elements: metaphor, inversion, irony, and tone in order to consider how these devices help shape meaning. Students will work in pairs to employ close-reading skills for specific analytical tasks. They will reflect on their learning continuously throughout the lesson. The lesson will culminate with a brief analytical paragraph that asks them to consider how the figurative devices employed by the songwriters shapes meaning. Finally, they will reflect on the process of close-reading to consider how this process informed their understanding of the text and how they can transfer this skill to other analytical tasks.