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Word Scramble Poem
Today’s prompt is inspired by Angelo Geter, AKA EyeAmBic, the Poet Laureate Emeritus of Rock Hill, SC. Before we dive in to the lesson, I want to share a couple of my favorite poems of his. In his collection More God Than Dead, he chronicles his journey into widowhood after tragically losing his wife, and deals with themes of grief,…
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“Do Us Good” by Amanda Gorman, a poem inspired by Wicked
You know me — when a new Amanda Gorman poem drops, I get excited! With the premier of the Wicked movie starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, Gorman unveiled her newest masterpiece inspired by the film, “Do Us Good.” Your students do not need to have seen the movie to be able to appreciate Gorman’s poem. This poem speaks to…
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Poetry paint swatches
This post is written by fellow LNC teacher Jessie Locke, who teaches 8th grade ELA. She is a graduate of Miami University (Oxford, Ohio), is in her 18th year of teaching, and is a National Board Certified Teacher. She taught elementary school for 8 years, and has been in 8th grade since 2014. I can’t wait for my own children…
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NEW! March Madness Poetry Bracket 2024
I love using students’ interests in one thing (March Madness) to get them excited about another thing (poetry). Lessons like this visual reading lesson inspired by the the Super Bowl LVI half-time show is one of my most visited #TeachLivingPoets posts. My March Madness poetry bracket last year was a huge success, but I wanted to make an updated one…
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Shoe Design as Poetry Analysis
When I get an out-of-the box idea for a poetry analysis lesson, chances are it’s inspired by my son, like this basketball-NASCAR mash-up with a Hanif Abdurraqib poem. The other day, my son asked for a pair of “nice shoes” for his birthday, and we got to talking about what he would want them to look like. Two things came…
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Poetry in the Makerspace
This post is written by Jenny Bruesewitz, a high school turned middle school English teacher in Bay Village, Ohio. Jenny presented about ELA and the Makerspace at NCTE 2023 and OCTELA 2024 (Ohio Council of Teachers of English Language Arts). The #teachlivingpoets tone bottle activity changed my classroom. The creation process resulted in great discussion and a visible representation of…
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Poetry Portfolios: Teaching Poetry “From the Inside Out”
This post is written by Zach Czaia, a poet and high school English teacher working in Minneapolis, MN. His second poetry collection, Knucklehead, was published in 2021 with Nodin Press. Check out his Substack, “Teacher / Poet” here. The longer I teach English literature, the more convinced I am that to do justice both to the subject I teach and the…
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How Food Invokes Poetry – the miracle of abundance
By Kashiana Singh This post is written by Kashiana Singh. When Singh is not writing, she lives to embody her TEDx talk theme of Work as Worship into her every day. Her chapbook Crushed Anthills by Yavanika Press is a loco poetic journey through 10 cities. Her second full-length collection, Woman by the Door was released in 2022 with Apprentice…
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Beat the Winter Blahs with Holiday Lipogram Poetry
Created by Betsy Potash of Spark Creativity This guest post is written by Betsy Potash of Spark Creativity. Looking for a fun holiday pop-up poetry workshop you can try this December? How about challenging students with the hilarious, fun intricacies of a lipogram?! Melissa (you know, the founder of this site!) first shared this idea with me last year and…
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Exploring structure in Hanif Abdurraqib’s poem “It Is Maybe Time to Admit That Michael Jordan Definitely Pushed Off”
This lesson will get your students up and moving! Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. His poetry has been published in Muzzle, Vinyl, PEN American, and various other journals. His essays and music criticism have been published in The FADER, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and The New York Times. His first full length poetry…
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Poetry Analysis Using Color
This activity can be used with any poem and at any grade level — high school, middle school, even elementary school. To get students in the right headspace for this kind of analysis, we brainstorm the connections between colors and feelings, we consider our personal associations with certain colors, and we discuss how color can be used to tell a…
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Tribute Poem: “SESTINA” by Porsha Olayiwola
Anytime I can find ways to combine poetry and basketball, I jump on it. Today’s lesson uses a poem by Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola read at a ceremony honoring the late Bill Russell at the Celtics opening of the 2022-23 season against the 76ers. Skills of focus for the lesson: Sample slides: This lesson is appropriate for middle and…
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3 Poems by U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón
“We find it hard to settle our brains down, and poetry offers us that silence, that quiet space, and allows us to reconnect with ourselves, with an idea, or with an emotion.” Ada Limón Ada Limón is the 24th U.S. Poet Laureate and the 1st Latina to hold the position. Her work has also won the National Books Critics Circle Award and…
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Reading visual texts with “The Call,” the Super Bowl halftime show trailer
Okay, so I know this isn’t exactly poetry, but isn’t it? What even is poetry? Can a visual or a commercial be considered a poem? Whether you think so or not, this lesson offers students an opportunity to practice the skills of close-reading and formulating insights and analysis using a highly engaging and currently relevant visual text: the Super Bowl…
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Color poem: pop-up poetry to get students thinking like a poet
My personal education goal this year is to incorporate more creative writing opportunities into my core English classes. In American Literature, my juniors had just learned about the symbolism of the green light so the timing was perfect to pause for a moment of creative expression. This activity can be done with ANY color and with any book that uses…
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Teaching “White Lies” by Tara Betts
This lesson was created by Brian Hannon, who is the Director of Education at LMSvoice, and teaches at Hayfield Secondary School in Alexandria, Virginia. Tara Betts is the author of Break the Habit (Trio House Press, 2016) and the chapbook 7 x 7: kwansabas (Backbone Press, 2015). She is the Poetry Editor at The Langston Hughes Review and Founder of WhirlwindCenter. Betts is Poet…
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Teaching Citizen Illegal by José Olivarez
I am so excited to share this COMPLETE UNIT for José Olivarez’s Citizen Illegal (Haymarket Books, 2018) created by my colleagues Tiffany Cavicchia and Melissa Scire. Click on the image to access a Google Slides that will guide you and your students through the book, with links to videos, assignments, and more! Unit preview More unit plans and ideas for…
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Amanda Gorman Inauguration Poem Lessons
On January 20, 2021, President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris were sworn into office. At the Inauguration ceremony, U.S. Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman made history in being the youngest Inaugural poet. Here are several lessons, all shared with their creators’ permission, to help you teach Amanda Gorman’s poem and inauguration poetry with your students. Thank you Carrie Mattern,…
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Hyperdoc for Rudy Francisco
Today’s post comes from guest author Kelly Lawlor. Kelly is a high school English teacher with 10 years experience teaching grades 7-12. She started her career in Pennsylvania where she graduated from college. Currently, she lives in Massachusetts with her family and 75lb. boxer. Kelly does her best to support, encourage, and challenge students through different hands-on learning opportunities. She…
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Order the #TeachLivingPoets book
ORDER NOW! Teach Living Poets opens up the flourishing world of contemporary poetry to secondary teachers, giving advice on discovering new poets and reading contemporary poetry, as well as sharing sample lessons, writing prompts, and ways to become an engaged member of a professional learning community. This approach offers rich opportunities for students to improve critical reading and writing, opportunities for…
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Burning the Old Year with Naomi Shihab Nye
Today’s post is by guest author Jessica Salfia. Jessica is the Co-Director of WVCTE and a teacher, writer, and activist. Her writing has appeared in the Charleston-Gazette Mail, West Virginia Living Magazine’s Blog, the WVCTE Best Practices Blog, and multiple volumes of the Anthology of Appalachian Writers. She was the winner of 2016 and 2019 West Virginia Fiction Competition and…
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Name Poem – writing prompt using mentor text poems by living poets
Family names, nicknames, going by your middle name, common names, cherished names, meaning of names, unique names–these were all up for consideration as students drafted a poem about their name. Pre-writing Students wrote their full legal name at the top of a blank sheet of paper and spent a couple minutes making a list of all the names they are…
