"What Makes a Poem... a Poem?" TED-Ed Early Poetry Unit Activity

Zero prep, full of critical thinking and inquiry, perfect for distance learning! Great to begin your poetry unit, or at any point during the unit!

Two activity options in one- promote student choice, pick your favorite, or require both! Each activity on its own will take students around 30-45 minutes.

Students watch an excellent TED-Ed video about characteristics of poetry and then practice argument/ opinion writing and/ or search for poetry examples. This is a great way to introduce middle and high school students to your poetry unit because it challenges preconceived notions students might hold about poetry and helps to open their minds before diving in.

Included is:

• a link to the TED-Ed video
• two activity options
• extra suggestions for increasing collaboration using each activity

This activity is completely ready to use- just delete the terms of service & teacher directions slides and post the video link with the slides to your online learning platform of choice! (The directions say Google Classroom, so you may need to edit those!)

Like this product? Check out these other great poetry resources:

• Digital Poetry Reference Book
• Poetry Analysis Sketch Notes