Middle School Getting to Know You Where I'm From Poem I am From Poem High School

This Where I"m From Poem activity is a perfect way to build community with your middle school or high school ela students during the back to school season or to introduce an Identity Unit any time of the year. This EDITABLE, NO PREP, GOOGLE SLIDES close reading activity invites students to work collaboratively to annotate the text, analyze the author's choices with figurative language, and consider what it really means to "from" a place. The activity ends with a fun creative writing activity your students will love: writing their OWN Where I'm From poems!

Please note: I pay the author a small fee for permission to include her poem in its entirety for your convenience - simply click & print (or link & share!). Thank you for choosing to support teacher-authors who learn, respect, and follow copyright laws & etiquette.

NO PREP - This resource includes a line-by-line analysis of the poem - PLUS - answer keys for the analysis questions.

This activity includes both DIGITAL and PRINTABLE formats.

What is included in this resource?

• A detailed lesson plan with step-by-step directions for teachers facilitating this activity
• Student-friendly directions to guide students through the activity
• A 100% editable slideshow to make implementing this activity simple & easy
• "Where I'm From" pre-reading activity to activate prior knowledge and build student interest in the poem
• "Where I'm From" annotation guide to support reading comprehension & engagement
• "Where I'm From" close reading analysis questions to help students make connections to larger themes from the poem, author's purpose, figurative language, and more!
• "Where I'm From" post-reading activity invites students to plan and write their own version of the poem as they explore: What does it really mean to be "from" a place?
• Scaffolds, templates, and multiple versions for easy differentiation
  • 3 versions of the post-reading "write-your-own-poem" assignment
  • 2 versions of a pre-writing brainstorm

100% Editable in Google Slides - students can complete their work digitally or on paper.

Activity Duration:

This activity will take about 2 hours, depending on student reading levels and how teachers choose to conduct the discussion activity.

Final Notes and Details:

Please note, this activity is created in GOOGLE SLIDES and is EDITABLE so you can meet the unique needs of your students.

**This resource is a PDF with links to Google Slides documents. However, the documents can also be downloaded from Google Slides as POWERPOINT files or PDF files if you prefer (file, download as, choose your format)

Other Products You May be Interested In:

• Back to School Activity Bundle
• End of the Year MEGA Bundle
• Introduction to Shakespeare and Shakespeare's Language Bundle
• Amanda Gorman: The Hill we Climb (and other poems) Poetry Unit

Terms of Use:

This work is copyright. Your single-user license which allows you to use this resource with YOUR students only. If you'd like to share this resource with a teacher-friend, please provide them with a link to my store, so they can download their own. Thank you for being part of the Teachers Pay Teachers community and for supporting a fellow teacher!

Cover Credit: Thank you to Aneta Designs for the watercolor strokes in the product cover!