New York, NY (April 1, 2021)— With this week marking the start of the 25th anniversary of National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world, the Academy of American Poets is experiencing the highest engagement with its K–12 Education Program in its history, with tens of thousands of educators across the U.S. accessing free poetry resources offered by the organization each week.
Teach This Poem—the Academy’s award-winning weekly resource that features a timely poem, a primary source from the Library of Congress, a lesson plan, and related resources—now has close to 40,000 subscribers, with an increase of more than 5,000 teachers in the last twelve months.
From February 1, 2020 to February 1, 2021, the Teach This Poem landing page on Poets.org had nearly 243,000 page views over 153,700 in the same date range the previous year, which is a 58.08% increase, with the majority of the growth beginning in March 2020, which the Academy attributes to the pandemic and a pivot to remote learning, and then again at the end of January, which the Academy attributes to Amanda Gorman’s Inaugural reading. The lesson plan on Poets.org featuring Gorman’s poem was visited 6,829 times in 2021 compared to 549 last year, which is an increase of 1,143.90%.
The Dear Poet project, the Academy’s multimedia project and special educational offering for National Poetry Month that invites young people in grades 5–12 to write letters in response to poems read by award-winning poets, had 42,492 views in 2020 compared to 11,233 times in 2019—a 400% increase. The Dear Poet landing page had a 32% increase in views last year, with 41,431 visits. More than 3,035 students sent in letters in response to the poems they heard, a 100% increase since 2019. The Dear Poet project for 2021 has just launched, and teachers and families can learn more here.
The Academy of American Poets looks forward to continuing to offer these and other free poetry activities, initiatives, and resources, which have been adapted to assist teachers in the virtual classroom, throughout the month of April and beyond. This includes a free downloadable PDF of curated #PocketPoems for Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 29, and the official 2021 National Poetry Month poster, which was designed by twelfth grader Bao Lu from Brooklyn, New York and features lines by U.S Poet Laureate and Academy Chancellor Joy Harjo. Copies of the full-size poster are available through Poets.org while supplies last. In partnership with the American Booksellers Association, the American Library Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English, the Academy will distribute 100,000 National Poetry Month posters to teachers, students, families, and individuals throughout the United States.
For more information about the programs and resources the Academy of American Poets is offering for the 25th anniversary celebration of National Poetry Month, visit: https://poets.org/national-poetry-month
About the Academy of American Poets
Founded in 1934, the Academy of American Poets is the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with supporters in all fifty states. The Academy annually awards more funds to individual poets than any other organization through its prize program, giving a total of $1.25 million to more than 200 poets at various stages of their careers. The Academy also produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly-funded website for poets and poetry; originated and organizes National Poetry Month; publishes the popular Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides award-winning resources to K–12 educators, including the Teach This Poem series; hosts an annual series of poetry readings and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition working together to promote the value poets bring to the country’s culture.