New York, NY (August 17, 2020)— As teachers and families prepare for remote, in-person, and hybrid learning models for the 2020-2021 school year, the Academy of American Poets has adapted its award-winning Teach This Poem series to help. Originally developed with an in-person classroom in mind, Teach This Poem, a free weekly email package, now includes tips and tools to accommodate each type of learning, in addition to new primary sources from the Library of Congress’ collection to provide contexts and prompt students’ inquiry.
To see the first newly adapted Teach This Poem of the school year, which was published and sent today, August 17, and features a poem by Kimiko Hahn, visit www.poets.org/lesson-plan/teach-poem-no-2-yellow-pencil-may-1-2020-kimiko-hahn.
As the nation’s leading poetry organization offering free educational resources, the Academy of American Poets looks forward to assisting educators working in all kinds of classrooms—remote, in-person, or blended—in bringing poetry and related resources into their lesson plans to enhance student learning.
“In times like these, poetry can open up important discussions in new and meaningful ways. Teach this Poem allows students to experience poems digitally from a variety of perspectives, to identify details, and to ask pertinent questions. These are critical skills for learning. We're pleased to assist teachers and families during what will likely be a complicated school year ahead,” said Dr. Madeleine Fuchs Holzer, the Academy of American Poets’ Educator in Residence.
Launched in 2015, Teach This Poem is a weekly publication that features one topical poem selected from the Poets.org collection accompanied by a primary source and related classroom activities. Produced under the guidance of Dr. Holzer, the digital series reaches 37,000+ K-12 teachers across the U.S. each Monday and is a key offering in the organization’s suite of free educational resources. It’s also archived in the Materials for Teachers section of Poets.org.
To receive Teach This Poem each week sign-up for free at www.poets.org/teach-poem.
To peruse other free poetry materials for the classroom, visit www.poets.org/materials-teachers.
About the Academy of American Poets
The Academy of American Poets is the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with supporters in all fifty states. Founded in 1934, the organization produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; 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; administers the American Poets Prizes; 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 our culture. Through its prize program, the organization annually awards more funds to individual poets than any other organization, giving a total of $1,250,000 to more than 200 poets at various stages of their careers. This year, in response to the global health crisis, the Academy joined six other national organizations to launch Artist Relief, a multidisciplinary coalition of arts grantmakers and a consortium of foundations working to provide resources and funding to the country’s individual poets, writers, and artists who are impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.