Education Technology


NCTE: Exploring Allusions

Activity Overview

Students, after learning the term allusion, will read a poem and write a brief response to it prior to discussing the allusions. An allusion of a poem will be explained and examined for its effects on the teacher and also on others.

Before the Activity

See the attached Activity PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity.

Print the appropriate pages from the Activity for your class.

Install the LearningCheck(tm) and NoteFolio(tm) Apps on the students' graphing calculators following the attached instructions.

Define for students the word allusion (a direct or indirect reference to a person, place, event, and so forth, that an audience will likely recognize and which adds an emotional charge to writing.) Go over lesson objectives.

During the Activity

  • Distribute the appropriate pages from the Activity to your class
  • Distribute the LearningCheck(tm) file(s) to your class using TI Connect(tm) and the appropriate TI Connectivity cable
  • Follow the procedures outlined in the Activity


  • Students will:
  • Respond to a poem.
  • Identify, explain, and discuss allusions.
  • Examine effect of allusions on response.
  • Create currently relevant allusions.
  • Compose a poem that incorporates five allusions.
  • Identify and explain allusions in a poem.
  • Create alternate allusions and explain their intended effects.
  • After the Activity

    Have students share their responses. Discuss the effects of allusion.