Poetry of Identity Project Using the Living Poets Virtual Library

You want to use the Teach Living Poets Virtual Library with your students, but not sure how? Or maybe you don’t have time to devote to making a new assignment? No worries! Guest author and teacher Leigh Connole shares her incredible work here to use with the Virtual Library.

Assignment description:

Mrs. Connole, along with her colleague and friend, Ms. Carla Kurt, created the#teachlivingpoets Poetry of Identity assignment for students enrolled in Honors English 10. This assignment was created thanks to the work of educators Scott Bayer and Melissa Smith. 

In this unit, students read several poems written by living poets, noting what they said about the topic of identity and analyzing the kinds of techniques they used to create their meaning. Using their works as mentor texts, students wrote four poems that explored ideas related to identity – either their own identity and/or what that concept meant to students in general.

View the project directions

Link to Living Poets Library

To edit the directions on the assignment, open the link, go to File –> Make a Copy. That will give you your own copy to edit to suit the needs of your students. (Note: If you use this assignment, or any part of it, please credit its creator, Leigh Connole.)

The two students whose work is showcased here took individualized approaches to their creative processes, and truly embraced the assignment, learning a little about themselves along the way. I am incredibly proud of their work.

Student 2 cover, draft, and final product

Today’s post is by guest author Leigh Connole, who has been an English Language Arts educator for 15 years. For the past 8 years, she’s taught grades 10-12 at Canton High School located in Canton, Connecticut. Her teaching focuses on equity in literacy while celebrating inclusion and representation across diverse populations. Mrs. Connole is advisor to the Collins Chapter of the National Honor Society and co-advisor to the club We Speak.  She is also Canton Public Schools 2020 Teacher of the Year.