Holt Library: English: Poetry: Teaching Poetry

Teaching (and Learning) Poetry

Learning from primary sources
Dear Poet Project: write to historical poets and formal letters to the Academy of American Poets
Welcome to the classroom component of the 2020 National Poetry Month’s education project, Dear Poet. The following unit incorporates multimedia and classroom activities to encourage students to explore and interact with poetry by first writing letters to important historical poets as practice for writing letters to the Academy of American Poets Board of Chancellors and Poets Laureate Fellows, a group that represents poetry in America at its best. The activities are designed to reach diverse learners through multiple entry points and can be modified.

Poets.org: materials for teachers: Lesson Plans by Theme
Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman innovated a uniquely American poetry. In celebration of the bicentennial of his birth on May 31, 2019, explore this selection of his poems, prose, and ephemera; essays about his life and work; lesson plans and other educator resources; and poems in dialogue with his legacy.
Celebrate Maya Angelou:Take a moment to introduce your students to this legendary writer and activist
Who Is Maya Angelou to You?
Ask five people who Maya Angelou was, and you’re apt to get five different answers. Over the 86 years of her life, she pushed the world toward a more equitable future through her work as a poet, civil rights activist, essayist, director, editor, playwright, dancer, singer, actor, composer and historian.

In April of 2018, Angelou would have celebrated her 90th birthday. What better time to introduce your students to a woman who overcame tremendous obstacles to become a leader in the fight against injustice and inequity?
"The poem makes me feel stronger than I am right now. It also makes me feel that I can do more than I can right now."
— Elementary Student
Playlist: Dear Poet Teaching Guides
Dear Poet is helping teachers bring contemporary poetry to their students. Assign your students to participate in Dear Poet from home. A group of teachers from across the country has created this playlist of video guides to help students relate and respond.

Poetry's Place in the History of Banned Books
For as long as there have been writers, there have been texts that have been challenged, censored, burned, and banned. The stories of banned literature do not just belong in the history books; even today, some of the most influential texts in our bookstores and libraries are currently being challenged or have been challenged at some point before. Here we take a look at fifteen significant poems, poetry collections, and poets that have been censored and banned throughout history. [poets.org]