Teaching of Poems: 4 Solutions for High School

When my kids come in to AP® Literature as seniors, they often tell me that they hate poetry. And yet, poetry is a big part of the course. According to the the AP® Literature and Composition Course and Exam Description, the teaching of poems should be about a third of the course. So here are some great ways to teach poetry analysis for high school.

4 Ways to Teach Poetry Analysis in the Teaching of Poems. Especially for AP Literature and Composition.

What is Poetry Analysis for High School?

When we teach poetry analysis in high school, we are asking kids to look at the language and the structure of the text. Structure is the key way that poetry differs from prose, so it is important to get kids thinking about the use of lines, line breaks, rhythm and rhyme. However, poetry analysis also includes crossover skills from prose like character and setting analysis as well as language analysis of figurative language and imagery.

Teaching of Poems in High School

There are a number of ways we can go about teaching poetry analysis for high school starting with direct instruction; however there are also some really fun ways to sneak it in. So here are some of the ways that I include poetry analysis instruction in my AP® Literature Course and other courses.

Direct Instruction

Sometimes students are so unfamiliar with a topic that they just need a little direct instruction. This is the method that I use when teaching students about sonnets. The sonnet form is so specific that a quick mini lesson on what a sonnet is, the patterns in rhythm and rhyme and the types of sonnets. Sometime I have students read and take notes from the chapter “If it’s Square, it’s a Sonnet” from the first edition of How to Read Literature Like a Professor (or from How to Read Poetry Like a Professor).

Once students have a basic understanding of the sonnet form, we then read and annotate together under the document camera, which is followed by a group annotation project and individual practice. I have a full sonnet mini unit here. And I write all about teaching the sonnet form here.

Teaching Poetry: 4 Ways to Teach Poetry Analysis in high school English Classes.

Teaching of Poems through Daily Practice: Poem of the Week Bell Ringers

One of my favorite ways to sneak poetry instruction in is through Poem of the Week bell ringers. I initially got this idea from Jim Burke. He posted about it on the English Companion Ning. He started Poem of the Week to make sure his students were bringing their books to class each day. And when I started, this was one of my goals too; however, I soon decided that I wanted to give students poems that they could write on, so I moved into a model where students picked up a copy of their Poem of the Week on Monday and put it into their notebooks in a section we set aside for Poem of the Week.

How I Structure Poem of the Week

On Mondays, students get a copy of a new poem. They add it to their notebook and read and annotate for meaning. We discuss the poem fairly quickly, but I usually let the discussion run its natural course which means I don’t try to stretch (I know we will look at the poem several more times), but I also let it keep going if they have things they want to talk about.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I have slides prepared with specific focus questions. I ask them to read and annotate for a specific idea or technique. Those prompts include looking at characterization of the speaker, the figurative language, allusions, shifts and structure.

On Friday, I give them a AP® Poetry Essay-style prompt for which they write only a thesis.

I have just started alternating Poem of the Week with Passage of the Week which allows us to focus on close reading in both areas. If you are looking for no-prep Poem of the Week, check out these. Get the first lesson free.

4 Ways to Teach Poems in high school English classes.

Teaching of Poems with a Poetry Slam

The first time I threw a poetry slam, I had literally been teaching less than a month. As a result of some red tape, a veteran English teacher (Jerry Egger, who I knew from my days as a per diem substitute) had to work for the first three weeks of school so that he could make it to his retirement age birthday. But they already hired me to replace him. The result: I have my own personal mentor teacher for three weeks.

He introduced me to the poetry slam and helped me set one up. We started first with poems from the text book, then students wrote their own poems and we did two bracket-style competitions. To this day, I still have the brackets templates in Jerry’s hand in my filing cabinet. I just can’t bear to part with them even though I haven’t used them in literally decades.

I abandoned the practice of the poetry slam because I felt like there was not enough analysis happening. That is until I attended a summer PD with Kelly Gallagher. He showed us how you could use a poetry slam AND include analysis. So I revived the poetry slam for the teaching poems in my AP® Class. We did a British Poets vs. American Poets Poetry Slam. I selected eight representative poems/poets from each country spanning the times from the 1600s, 1700s, early 1800s, late 1800s and early 1900s. Then we had a show down to see who came out the winner.

Two Ways to Do Analysis During a Poetry Slam

You can incorporate analysis in two ways during a poetry slam. And I imagine you can mix and match although, I used the group method the first year and the digital whiteboard method the second year due to hybrid instruction which had half my students in-person and half at home on any given class day. Which ever method you choose, students should have access to paper or personal copies of the poems that they can continue to annotate as the poems move through the competition.

Small groups

Put students into groups they will be in for the whole poetry slam. Students then annotate and discuss the two poems in contention. They must note the aesthetics and the author’s moves, in other words, the author’s craft. Come to consensus and submit one vote for the group with rationale. Discuss the results as a full class.

Individual (or pairs)

Have students work individually and then use a digital platform that allows students to anonymously post responses to the poems. I used NearPod, but if your school doesn’t use that platform, you could also use a combination of Jamboard and Forms. Post prompts that ask students first what they find aesthetically appealing about the poem and then a second prompt that asks them about the author’s moves. Each student gets an opportunity to weigh in.

I like NearPod for the fact that students can post anonymously while I know who is writing what. In the individual method, I rehash what the students’ comments and observations. Since I know who wrote what but the students don’t (and don’t necessarily know that I know), I can boost up students who are timid or unsure. I sometime choose a statement and ask students to defend it or comment further. Then use the NearPod platform or slides to allow students to vote.

My preference

I actually think I like the version that uses the digital platforms. I might try a combination of the two methods which has the students discuss in groups first and then is followed up by individual comments on the digital platform with digital voting. This of course is easier to do if you are a 1:1 district.

Get your ready made British Poets vs. American Poets here.

Update: For more on hosting a poetry slam, be sure to check out this post: 5 Topics for Poetry Slams.

Teaching Poetry and Poems in High School English classes. 4 Ways to focus students on style, structure and poetic devices.

Student Curated Poetry Anthologies

This idea is a combination of something I saw on the English Companion Ning and a project in Jim Burke’s book What’s the Big Idea? (2010). I actually use this as my research assignment for AP® Lit. Students choose a theme or topic that interests them, then they find 12-15 poems that are related to the topic (by authors of literary merit) which they compile in an anthology.

The thing I love most about this project is the sheer volume of poetry the students must read. However, it is also great because there is so much choice involved. Students get to pick their topic and the poems they will include. Poetry analysis comes in through a variety of doors. They must choose the order of the poems and explain it through the introduction and then students must choose two poems to write about more formally in the Appendix.

The Story of the Appendix in the Student Curated Poetry Anthologies

Some years, I use Google Forms to have my students evaluate the course. There is no rhyme or reason to the years I choose to do this, but one year, with a particularly great group of kids, one of the girls told me that she liked the poetry anthology project but didn’t actually think it served a strong enough purpose toward the goals of the course. As I evaluated, I agreed with her, so I added to the project by asking kids to select two poems from their collections on which to do a a formal analysis. These essays go into an appendix which includes the two essays and annotations of all the poems included in the anthology.

Find the Student Curated Poetry Anthology here.

Teaching Poetry Analysis for High School

These are just some of the methods I use for teaching of poems and poetry analysis in my AP® Literature classes. I have use some of these same methods with my English 11 classes and they work well there too. I would love to know what works for you when teaching poetry analysis in high school. Leave your experiences and ideas in the comments below.