“It can’t be paraphrased. It can’t be translated.
The great poetry I love holds the mystery of being alive. ”
—Marie Howe, Academy of American Poets Chancellor
It's National Poetry Month!
Why Teaching Poetry Is So Important: The oft-neglected literary form can help students learn in ways that prose can't. Article from
The Atlantic.
Here are some great resources to introduce or deepen your students' appreciation and love of poetry.
Please add your own links to resources you have found useful in the comments below!
Resources from Scholastic
Poetry Out Loud
Poetry Foundation: Source for poems online and educator resources (click on
Learn)
MassLEAP: Massachusetts Literary Education and Performance Collective. Platform for young people, artist-educators and organizers to foster positive youth development through spoken word poetry forums.
Poetry 180: A Poem a Day for American High Schools, Hosted by Billy Collins, U.S. Poet Laureate, 2001-2003
Louder Than a Bomb: Originally started in Chicago, it is the largest poetry slam festival in the world, with over 120 schools and 1000 young people participating over the course of several weeks every year. Boston Slam April 7-28!
Button Poetry: Videos of poetry performances (warning: some not appropriate for school viewing)
Mass Poetry: Resources for Readers, Writers, and Teachers of Poetry, with tons of links to additional sources, including Tools and Tips for Teaching Poetry, Poetry Programs in MA, and Publications, Programs, and Contests for high school students.
Poetry in the Classroom Calendar
Poets.org: Poem-a-day, Resources for Educators
Tweetspeak: The Best in Poetry and Poetic Things, including Cut ‘n Color Poets for Take your Favorite Poet to School Week, Coloring Page Poems, Poetry Writing Prompts, Teaching Tools
5 Ways to Celebrate Poetry: During National Poetry Month and all year long, try these fun exercises with students of all ages to encourage a love of poetry.
In an interview on the podcast "On Being with Krista Tippett," poet Naomi Shihab Nye says this about poetry:
"People used to ask me a lot, when I was younger, “Why do you write about common things, normal, regular, little things?” And I said, “Well, what do you have in your life? I’m not living in Star Trek. I have common things in my life. What else do I have?” But I don’t think that the things are, themselves, common. I think it’s a miracle that anything works. I still — thinking about Flint, Michigan a lot these days, I think about the miracle of plumbing a lot and all the mysteries we don’t see under the soil — the pipes, the wires, the wireless connections now — just thinking about everything that’s going on, kind of like when you’re a child, fascinated by all the stuff that’s going on inside your body, and you didn’t have to tell it to do that. Like I used to think, “My stomach is — I’m digesting right now. I didn’t have to tell it to do that. It just did it. That’s incredible.” Or the heart beating, or the blood rolling through the veins, and you think, wow, all this stuff goes on. That’s not commonplace to me. That’s miraculous. It’s amazing. And so writing is a way that we’re continually — continuously restored to that. And reading other people’s work, being restored to that, how could you ever feel too old or too dull in a world like that?"
