Close Reading of Poetry

Using Mike Schmoker's ideas for authentic literacy as a base, I created gradual release lessons for three poems: "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes, "Words Free as Confetti" by Pat Mora and "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus. I created an explicit gradual release lesson plan for each poem, a template for student use, and a clean copy of the poem you could use to project for your students. At the end, I put a blank template for your own lesson planning and a blank sheet you could use with other poems. Enjoy!