Poetry Unit for Grades 6–8: Twelve Public-Domain Poems and Six Skill Lessons
A poetry unit for Grades 6–8 built on twelve short poems
Seven poems by Emily Dickinson and five by Robert Louis Stevenson, a reading studio for each one, and six lessons on speaker, sound, image, line breaks, comparison and writing.
See the unitIn short: Poetry: Read, Think, Create pairs twelve short public-domain poems with six skill lessons: speaker and author, sound and rhythm, image and figurative language, line breaks and turns, compare with a purpose, and write and revise. Every poem has a reading studio where students build and test an interpretation. The teacher guide has reading notes for each poem, answers for the six lessons and an assessment key. A learning check and a writing project close the unit.
The poems
Why twelve short poems work better than a long one
Poetry lessons tend to stall when students meet one long poem and have nothing to compare it with. Twelve short poems give you a different pattern. Students read often, in small amounts, and each poem becomes a chance to try one move: name the speaker, hear the rhythm, find the image, notice where the poem turns.
Seven poems are by Emily Dickinson: Faith is a fine invention, A word is dead, In this short Life, Love, Fame is a bee, The pedigree of honey and Luck is not chance. Five are by Robert Louis Stevenson: Happy Thought, Rain, Time to Rise, A Thought and Auntie's Skirts. All twelve are in the public domain. Many classes find the Stevenson poems an easier way in and the Dickinson poems a harder test of the same skills, so you can pair them to suit your readers.
Lessons 1 and 2
Speaker and sound
Lesson 1 is Speaker and author. The most common error in poetry writing at this age is to say "the poet feels" when the poem has a speaker who may be a different person altogether. Ask students to describe the speaker of one poem in three words and to point to the line that gave them the idea. The lesson gives them a way to separate the voice in the poem from the person who wrote it.
Lesson 2 covers sound and rhythm. Read a poem aloud twice, once flat and once with the beat, and let students say what changed. Short poems such as Rain suit this well, because the sound is easy to hear and the lines are quick to mark. Students need to do more than say a poem has rhythm. They should say what the rhythm does to the feeling of a line.
Lessons 3 and 4
Image, figurative language, line breaks and turns
Lesson 3, Image and figurative language, asks students to say what a comparison lets them see that a plain statement would not. Fame is a bee is a good test, since the whole poem rests on one comparison and students can try to extend it. Push beyond naming the device. A sentence that starts with "this comparison makes me notice" produces better thinking than a label.
Lesson 4 is Line breaks and turns. Students look at where a line ends and where the poem changes direction. A quick activity is to rewrite a short poem as a single line of prose and compare it with the original. Most students can see what the breaks were doing once the breaks are gone. A poem like A word is dead is short enough to try this in a few minutes.
Reading studios
Build and test an interpretation
Each poem has its own reading studio, a page where students build an interpretation and then test it against the text. The testing step matters. A student writes a first reading, then looks for a line that supports it and a line that complicates it, and adjusts the reading if needed. This makes the habit of using evidence visible, and it gives you a short piece of writing to respond to.
The reading notes in the teacher guide, one for each of the twelve poems, give you a picture of reasonable readings before you mark. That helps most with the Dickinson poems, where students will offer several answers and you need to know which are supported. A reading that differs from the notes is not wrong if the student can point to the line.
Lessons 5 and 6
Compare with a purpose, then write and revise
Lesson 5 is Compare with a purpose. Comparison fails when students list similarities and differences without a point. Give a question first, such as how two poems treat the same idea, and let the comparison answer it. Because the twelve poems come from two poets, you can compare within one poet or across them.
Lesson 6, Write and revise, moves students from reading to making. They draft a poem or a piece about a poem and revise it with the moves they have practiced. A learning check and a project (brief, record and a reflection page) finish the unit. Two vocabulary pages support the terms. The unit sits closest to the Common Core reading standards on figurative language and structure for Grades 6 to 8, with no claim of alignment.
Pacing
A planning guide for six lessons and twelve poems
The material gives no timings, so this is a suggestion rather than a fixed schedule. Allow about one period per lesson and a short reading studio on most other days. The poem suggestions below are examples, not assignments from the unit.
| Lesson | Skill | Suggested poem for modeling |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Speaker and author | Separate the voice in the poem from the writer | Happy Thought |
| 2 Sound and rhythm | Say what the rhythm does | Rain |
| 3 Image and figurative language | Explain what a comparison shows | Fame is a bee |
| 4 Line breaks and turns | Find where the poem changes direction | A word is dead |
| 5 Compare with a purpose | Answer a question using two poems | One Dickinson poem and one Stevenson poem |
| 6 Write and revise | Draft, revise and reflect | Student choice, then the learning check and project |
Resources
The poetry unit and what goes with it
The poetry unit comes first. The Middle School ELA Bundle adds two novel studies and an argument writing unit, and the complete curriculum covers all of Grades 6–8.
Poetry: Read, Think, Create | 6 Lessons, 12 Poems & Reading Studios | Grades 6–8
Middle School ELA Bundle | The Call of the Wild, Treasure Island, Argument & Research and Poetry | 4 Units | Grades 6–8
English Language Arts Complete – Ready-to-Use Curriculum for Middle School ELA
Grade 6 ELA Pack | Grammar, Writing Prompts, Word Study & Reading
The Call of the Wild | 9 Lessons, Chapter Guides & Naturalism | Grade 7
Argument and Research | 8 Lessons, 3 Text Sets & Citation | Grade 7
What you get
What is inside the unit
- Twelve short public-domain poems, seven by Dickinson and five by Stevenson
- A reading studio for every poem, where students build and test an interpretation
- Six skill lessons, each with an explanation, a practice page and a case card
- Reading notes for all twelve poems and answers for the six lessons in the teacher guide
- Two vocabulary pages, a learning check and a writing project
- Editable DOCX text editions and a 17-slide presentation
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Questions teachers ask
Frequently asked questions
Which grades is the unit written for?
It is written for Grades 6–8. In the UK and Australia it covers roughly Years 7–9, since Year = US grade + 1.
Are the poems included?
Yes. The unit contains twelve short public-domain poems, seven by Emily Dickinson and five by Robert Louis Stevenson, with a reading studio for each.
Are answers included?
Yes. The separate teacher guide has reading notes for each poem, answers for the six lessons and an assessment key.
How long does the unit take?
The material gives no timings, so plan by lesson. Allow about one period per lesson, plus short sessions for the reading studios and time for the project.
Can I edit the student pages?
Yes. The unit includes editable DOCX text editions of the classroom material and the teacher guide. The PDF is the print reference.
Is the unit endorsed by a state or exam board?
No. TeachLessons is an independent publisher. The unit is written with Common Core reading expectations for Grades 6 to 8 in mind, and it is not approved, endorsed or certified by any state, district, department, ministry or exam board.
Add novels and argument writing to the year
The Middle School ELA Bundle holds Poetry: Read, Think, Create, The Call of the Wild, Treasure Island and Argument and Research for $74.99, compared with $109.96 for the four units bought separately.
See the ELA bundle