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The NEA is taking suggestions for the expansion of the POL anthology for 2026-27. Add your favorites at this link!

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Easily create surveys and polls to collect customer feedback, measure employee satisfaction, and organize team events.

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Historical Context Tips: from National History Day

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Historical Context Tips: from National History Day

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From our friends at National History Day--a resource on historical context for this year's anthology.

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NHD Quick Tip: What is Historical Context?

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Historic Poems Analysis Method: Decoding History

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Historic Poems Analysis Method: Decoding History

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Many of the poems in the new anthology don't have context about the author or historic theme. This resource is useful when you are approaching teaching any historic poem.

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Poetry is a great way to explore the sentiments and issues of a particular era, but as a history teacher it can be hard to know where to start! Not only can poems be intimidating to students and teachers alike, but studying a poem as a piece of history is different than studying it as a piece of literature.

That's why the analysis strategy used by the English teacher down the hall doesn't quite work for your learning objectives in U.S. History! Metaphors are fantastic elements of written expression, but your focus is different. Instead, you need students to analyze a poem as a historical primary source, one that adds richness by using artistic, emotional, and creative elements, and acting as a great contrast to the presidential speech they'll be examining the following day.

It took several tries to perfect the strategy I use to incorporate poems into my units, as well as settle on the best ones to use, and now that I have found a formula that works I want to share both with you!

Here are my best tips for how you can effectively teach poetry in your middle or high school U.S. History classroom, and a list of poems that are perfect to use!

Plus, scroll down to the bottom to download a FREE print-and-go analysis lesson of my most favorite one-Emma Lazarus's famous work, "The New Colossus." Or, click the button below to go straight this lesson download!

But before you dive into the DECODE process, you need to set yourself up for poetry success:

1. Pick the right poems

Not all the greats of American poetry qualify. Poems that have clear connections to larger historical issues are the ones you want.

They need to be relatively short and straightforward, so that your classroom dialogue can immediately focus on the author's historical references and perspectives, and not get sidetracked by comprehension challenges.

Also, be open to works that don't fit the standard definition of a poem. Try out some poem-like creative essays or song lyrics.

Scroll down to check out the list of 11 works fitting this description that I've curated for you!

2. Leave lots of white space.

This is why a brief poem or just a few stanzas works so well. Poetry can already be intimidating for a lot of students, so a whole bunch of it crammed on a page isn't going to help the situation. When printing your poem handouts, be sure to leave plenty of room for note taking and analysis.

3. Arm them with both highlighters and pencils.

Decide what is the most important thing (or two) you want students to be looking for as the poem relates to the historical topic. Maybe it's the author's real life personal experience; maybe it's a comparison he or she is trying to make. Have students color-code for that so it doesn't get lost among the rest of the annotations they make on their paper.

4. Identify the academic words ahead of time.

Pre-bold them on your handout. Define them as a class before the first read. Have your students verbally repeat any ones that are tricky to pronounce so that whoever is reading that line aloud (always, always read poems aloud!) will be equipped to do so successfully.

5. Give lots of context.

Introduce the author, his or her background, and point of view. Make it no surprise the angle he or she is going to take with the topic they are referencing before the poem is read. Poetry for historical sake shouldn't be a guessing game of what the poet is discussing, but rather a dive into their perspectives, insights, or influences on the topic.

Now this doesn't mean you've done all the thinking for your students. My favorite way to preface any primary source is with a leading question that follows this general formula: "Based on what you now know about this author, how do you think she/she felt?"or "Looking at the title he/she chose and thinking about their background, what do you think his/her perspective on this issue is?"

This allows your students to infer the poem's punch line instead of you giving it away. Then, they are empowered when their educated guess is proven right!
Now you're ready to use the DECODE strategy!
This has become my go-to for everything poetry in my history classroom. I love that the acronym references "cracking the code" of poetry to even further help demystify this rich type of primary source! Here's how it works:

Read the poem aloud either entirely yourself or at least the first stanza or two before handing it off to the students to read aloud.

Define: Even after you have defined certain words prior to the first reading, give students the time to identify any other words they individually need to clarify.

Read the poem a second time, either aloud by a new student, or have them read it silently, depending on its length, looking specifically for emotion.

Emotion: Help students label the emotion of specific stanzas or of the whole poem. More often than not, the emotion in a poem shifts, so really look at each stanza individually.

Read the poem a third time, now looking for any changes or comparisons happening. This requires looking at the poem now as a whole work. Every single poem has some sort of change and continuity or makes a comparison or contrast. That's what makes poetry powerful. Usually a poem has a few.

Change / Continuity / Contrast / Compare: Examine the stanzas now in how they fit into the poem as a whole to create its larger, thoughtful message.

Outside Information: When previewing the author's backstory and the larger historical issue, before reading the poem with students, simmer it all down into three key pieces of information for them to reference back to when analyzing. That way students can now reference back and make those connections.

Read the poem a fourth time, likely now as a quick skim, looking for distinct or powerful words.

Denotation / Connotation: Help students identify specific words or phrases that the author intentionally chose over others for the meaning they created. Whether it was because they created a crystal clear image or because they hold an extra or double meaning, the author chose each one on purpose. Encourage your students to make conclusions as to why he/she chose the words they did.

Encapsulate: Culminate the poem's meaning and impact on the historical era into a single sentence. It helps to give your students a sentence stem to get them going. For example, "After President Lincoln was shockingly assassinated, Walt Whitman processed his and the nation's grief by..."

Here are the poems that have made it onto my go-to list. Don't feel like you need to use all of them! I certainly don't in any given school year. If you are brand new to using poetry or want to see this strategy in action, I encourage you to sign up for access to my digital library of free resources, which includes a complete lesson that DECODEs Emma Lazarus's "The New Colossus."

11 Poems Perfect for Your U.S. History Students
"Paul Revere's Ride" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow "Defence of Fort M'Henry" (which later is designated as the "The Star Spangled Banner") by Francis Scott Key "I Hear America Singing" by Walt Whitman "O Captain! My Captain!" by Walt Whitman "The New Colossus" by Emma Lazarus "This Land Is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie "I, Too" by Langston Hughes (which is his direct response to Whitman's "I Hear America Singing") "Will V-Day Be Me-Day Too?" by Langston Hughes "Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou "A Letter to My Mother That She Will Never Read" by Ocean Vuong (this work is structured more like an essay, but still contains strong poetic elements) I hope these ideas and tips help you bring poetry into your U.S. History class!
Click below for FREE download!

Click below to get a complete print-and-go lesson plan that DECODE's EmmaLazarus's "The New Colossus."

Feature image photo credit: Nick Hillier

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Teaching Poetry in U.S. History (Plus 11 Great Poems to Get Started!)

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Poetry is a great way to explore the sentiments and issues of a particular era, but as a history teacher it can be hard to know where to start! Not only can poems be intimidating to students and teachers alike, but studying a poem as a piece of history is different than studying it as a piece of literature.

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Teach this Poem: The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus

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Teach this Poem: The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus

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While “The New Colossus” once welcomed immigrants into New York Harbor from its perch on the Statue of Liberty, this video excerpted from Poetry in America brings the discussion of poetry and immigration into our current moment. Host Elisa New rediscovers the freshness and the still-potent charge of Emma Lazarus’ iconic sonnet alongside singer-songwriter Regina Spektor, activist and founder of the United We Dream Foundation Cristina Jiménez, President of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten, financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein, and poet Duy Doan. This video contemplates the physical—and figurative—journeys charted by all immigrants. This resource is part of the Poetry in America Collection.
Find out more at the series’ website.

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Poetry in America gathers distinguished interpreters from all walks of life to explore and debate 12 unforgettable American poems. Athletes, poets, politicians, musicians, architects, scientists, actors, entrepreneurs, and citizens of all ages join together with host and Harvard professor Elisa New to experience and share the power of poetry.

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Poetry in America gathers distinguished interpreters from all walks of life to explore and debate 12 unforgettable American poems. Athletes, poets, politicians, musicians, architects, scientists, actors, entrepreneurs, and citizens of all ages join together with host and Harvard professor Elisa New to experience and share the power of poetry.
Additional educational resources are available at the series website.

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Teach this Poem: Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

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Teach this Poem: Song of Myself by Walt Whitman

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A lesson plan from the Academy of American Poets to teach Song of Myself poems (https://poetryoutloud.org/poets/walt-whitman/)

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The following activities and questions are designed to help your students use their noticing skills to move through the poem and develop their thinking skills so they understand its meaning with confidence, using what they've noticed as evidence for their interpretations. Read more about the framework upon which these activities are based.

1. Warm-up: ( freewrite) Write the next line after "I celebrate myself, and sing myself." Share your writing with a small group. What do you like about your line? How did it feel to respond?

2. Before Reading the Poem : Watch this short animated film by Sophie Koko Gate, featuring an excerpt from "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman. What stood out to you in the film? Why?

3. Reading the Poem : Silently read the poem " Song of Myself, 1 [I celebrate myself] " by Walt Whitman. What do you notice about the poem? Note any words or phrases that stand out to you or any questions you might have.

4. Listening to the Poem : Enlist two volunteers and listen as the poem is read aloud twice. Write down any additional words and phrases that stand out to you.

5. Small Group Discussion: Share what you noticed about the poem with a small group. How are your observations similar to or different from what you noticed earlier? What does it mean to sing a song of yourself? How does the speaker do this? How does this compare to the lines you wrote?

6. Whole Class Discussion: What imagery stands out to you in the poem? Why? What is the speaker's relationship to the natural world? What is your relationship to the natural world today?

7. Extension for Grades 7-8: Think back to the line that you wrote at the beginning of class. Using "I celebrate myself, and sing myself," continue writing a song of yourself. Share your writing with the class. Then, work together to create one long poem that includes everyone's song. As a group, decide which sections go best together and why. After, read the new poem in its entirety. How does this long poem celebrate you personally and your community?

8. Extension for Grades 9-12: Each day over the next week, read another section of " Song of Myself " and respond to anything that strikes you, questions that come up, or new ideas you have. At the end of the week, share your writing and/or discuss what this experience has taught you about yourself.

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Teach This Poem: "Song of Myself, 1 [I celebrate myself]" by Walt Whitman

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Teach This Poem: "Song of Myself, 1 [I celebrate myself]" by Walt Whitman - sign up for teach this poem

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Poetry Out Loud Video: Why Does Poetry Matter in Utah?

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Poetry Out Loud Video: Why Does Poetry Matter in Utah?

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Watch/listen to these bite-sized poetry recitations as you prepare to recite!

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Poetry Out Loud may be conducted in-person or virtually. The guidance below includes information on how to hold public Poetry Out Loud events. For guidance on how to run a virtual competition, please reference the How to Administer a Poetry Out Loud Virtual Competition and How to Film a POL Recitation for a Virtual Competition documents.

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Utah's Common Core Poetry Lessons from UEN

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Utah's Common Core Poetry Lessons from UEN

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K-12 Core Lesson Plans - Lesson plans by core area and grade level that are aligned to Utah’s Core Standards.

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Teacher Articles and Poetry Prompts/Activities from the Poetry Foundation

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Teacher Articles and Poetry Prompts/Activities from the Poetry Foundation

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Need an idea or a prompt for class? Check this out.

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Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.

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Utah's Secondary Common Core Standards Grades 11-12

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Utah's Secondary Common Core Standards Grades 11-12

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Utah's Secondary Common Core Standards Grades 9-10

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Utah's Secondary Common Core Standards Grades 9-10

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Teachers and Organizers: What other resources do you need to make a decision or hold a competition?

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Teachers and Organizers: What other resources do you need to make a decision or hold a competition?

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Welcome to our padlet! This is our teacher resource page. Please check it out and leave us a thought.

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Google Form to support the subscription list for email updates

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What is Poetry Out Loud? What is Poetry Ourselves? Why should I participate?

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Follow these steps to host a local competition at your school or organization

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Utah's Poet Laureate can visit your classroom (for free)

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Utah's Poet Laureate can visit your classroom (for free)

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Participate in Poetry Out Loud and/or Poetry Ourselves, and you can book the Utah Poet Laureate for free!

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Poet Laureate | Utah Division of Arts & Museums

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Born in Dover, Delaware, Lisa Bickmore , opens in a new tab grew up living all over the United States and in Japan. She is the author of three books of poems: Haste , opens in a new tab (Signature Books , opens in a new tab , 1994), flicker, , opens in a new tab which won the 2014 Antivenom Prize , opens in a new tab from Elixir Press, , opens in a new tab and Ephemerist (Red Mountain Press, , opens in a new tab June 2017).

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From the Poetry Out Loud Teacher Resources Page

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Leave a comment below for us with 1) the name of your school and 2) your best estimate of number of students participating. We need it to complete our Preliminary Report to the National Competition

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlpbvdCqkxE

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A Division of the Department of Cultural & Community Engagement

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Poetry Out Loud® lifts poetry off the page, creating community and connection. Since the program began in 2005, more than 4.5 million high school students have participated in this dynamic poetry recitation competition. Poetry Out Loud can help students improve public speaking skills, build confidence, and grow their appreciation for poetry.

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Use this map to find your region. Contacts for your regional coordinators to follow!