Poetry Activities for Personification (w/ 'A Sonnet to the Moon')

Dive deep into the enticing world of poetry with our in-depth analysis resource, honing in on the riveting use of personification in Charles Best's poetic masterpiece, "A Sonnet to the Moon." This package intricately blends guided annotation, diverse literary analysis tasks (including short answers and essay work), and an exciting activity that invites students to compose their own poems.

This resource is truly a chameleon, adapting effortlessly to your needs. Need bite-sized tasks for bell ringers, brief writing assignments, or stand-in teaching plans? Simply partition this resource into its individual components. If you're looking to craft a complete, layered poetry lesson for a 1-2 week period, you can effortlessly meld all three activities to thoroughly immerse your students in the captivating use of personification in literature.

Implementing this resource is a breeze! Initiate your lesson by introducing and discussing the poem, complemented by the included poem analysis activity that serves excellently as a bell ringer. Proceed by allocating time for students to tackle the guided annotation activity and to respond to the corresponding analysis question (and rest easy - we've included an answer key!). Students then get the chance to pen their own poem, applying the concepts previously analyzed. To wrap things up, you'll be able to evaluate your students' grasp of the poem and its thematic elements through a literary analysis essay. For your convenience, the essay assignment includes a prompt, helpful writing tips, a system for peer review, and a rubric that aligns with the Common Core standards.

Your TeachSimple download includes:

• A POEM ANALYSIS ACTIVITY: Give students the opportunity to read Charles Best's "A Sonnet to the Moon” (text included) and analyze the poem via an annotation activity and accompanying analysis questions (answer key included). Ideal for a bell ringer!

• A CREATIVE WRITING ASSIGNMENT: Provide students the opportunity to further develop their understanding of personification with a creative poem writing assignment (tied to one Common Core Writing Standard). Ideal for sub plans!

• A LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY: This essay assignment builds on students' thematic understanding of personification and Best's "A Sonnet to the Moon” The assignment handout includes essay guidelines, analysis prompt, literary analysis writing tips, and a peer review checklist. The included rubric is tied to 4 Common Core ELA Standards and includes a link to an editable rubric that allows for grading customization and seamless integration into Google Classroom and many other Learning Management Systems (LMS's)

Although this resource can be fitted for any secondary Language Arts classroom, it has been carefully designed to work best in grades 9 through 12. The included rubric is subtly but specifically tied to Common Core ELA Standards for Language (1 and 2) and Writing (2 and 4). This resource is provided in print-ready, bookmarked, and adjustable PDF files and PowerPoint Show files.

This resource contains 5 pages and 1 Google Sheet.