High School Classroom Connections for Poetry Instruction
April is National Poetry Month, which was established by the Academy of American Poets in 1996. To celebrate, we're highlighting a few recently published poetry titles, as well as novels in verse, which can be used in classroom instruction as well as independent reading for your students.
Read:
Ain’t Burned All the Bright
by Jason Reynolds; illustrated by Jason Griffin
A smash up of art and text that viscerally captures what it means to not be able to breathe, and how the people and things you love most are actually the oxygen you most need.
To Get Students' Juices Flowing...
Art is a great starting point for writing poetry. Here are two titles and ideas that can spark students' imaginations.
I Can Make You Feel Good
by Tyler Mitchell I Can Make You Feel Good, is a 206-page celebration of photographer and filmmaker Tyler Mitchell's distinctive vision of a Black utopia. The book unifies and expands upon Mitchell's body of photography and film from his first US solo exhibition at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in New York.
Kehinde Wiley: A New Republic
edited by Eugenie Tsai
Filled with reproductions of Kehinde Wiley's bold, colorful, and monumental work, this book encompasses the artist's various series of paintings as well as his sculptural work—which boldly explore ideas about race, power, and tradition. Accompanying the illustrations are essays that introduce readers to the arc of Wiley's career, its critical reception, and ongoing evolution.
See Art in Person
The Studio Museum of Harlem’s series of collaborative initiatives, inHarlem, features The Distance Within (2021), a sculpture of a young Black man looking down at his cell phone on exhibit at Marcus Garvey Park until October. If you are able to visit, please reach out to the Harlem Library to book a class visit in conjunction with your trip!
The Museum of the City of New York’s current exhibit, Raise Your Voice is an immersive installation by Brooklyn-based artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya. The project mixes selections from the public art campaign “We Are More,” which depicts the resiliency of New York’s Asian American and Pacific Islander community, with original artwork of activists and allies Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X.
Culture Pass - Explore New York City’s museums and attractions. If you have a library card, you can get free admission to dozens of cultural institutions. Save money and discover more about your city!
Read:
And We Rise: The Civil Rights Movement in Poems
by Erica Martin
This debut poetry collection walks readers through the civil rights movement, introducing lesser-known figures and moments just as crucial to the movement and our nation’s centuries-long fight for justice and equality.
To Get Students' Juices Flowing...
Have students explore The New York Public Library’s Digital Collections for inspiration.
- Keyword search ‘Civil Rights’
Using Biography In Context, have students look up the people Erica Martin writes about. This exercise will help students begin basic research and help them dive deeper into the content they read.
- Martin Luther King Jr.
- Rosa Parks
- Claudette Colvin
- Emmett Till
- Elizabeth Eckford
- James Farmer
- John Lewis
- Malcolm X
- James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner
- Stokely Carmichael
- Fred Hampton
- Echol Cole and Robert Walker
Using Newpapers.com, have students look up events that Erica Martin writes about.
This exercise is great to introduce primary resources to students. This database is extremely easy and fun! Students will get to see actual newspapers which have been digitized. Having conversations about these events, along with all the others Martin highlights will help to bring history to life.
- Little Rock Nine
- Murder of Matthew Johnson
- Black Panthers
- Brown vs. Board of Education
- Emmett Till
- Negro Boys Industrial School
Have students take what they learn from researching and write companion or conversational poems to Martin's.
Read:
Augusta Savage: The Shape of a Sculptor's Life
by Marilyn Nelson
A powerful biography in poems about Augusta Savage, the trailblazing artist and a pillar of the Harlem Renaissance.
Get Students' Juices Flowing...
Schedule a class visit to the Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures to see a maquette of Augusta Savage’s Lift Every Voice and Sing (The Harp) as well as a piece by Norman Lewis who was one of Savage’s students.
Have students take notes on what treasures they gravitate towards and have them write a poem on what they explored.
Read:
Respect the Mic: Celebrating 20 Years of Poetry From a Chicagoland High School
edited by Hanif Abdurraqib, Franny Choi, Peter Kahn, and Dan "Sully" Sullivan
Curated by award-winning and bestselling poets, this wide-ranging poetry anthology represents twenty years of poetry from the students and alumni of Chicago's Oak Park River Forest High School Spoken Word Club.
Get Students' Juices Flowing...
- Schedule a class visit to the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library's recording studio!
- The Tremont Library also has a recording studio
Recommended Novels In Verse
If I Tell You the Truth
by Jasmin Kaur
In a world that intentionally silences the voices of its most marginalized communities, what does it take to be heard? Kiran leaves her home in Punjab for a new start in Canada after a sexual assault leaves her pregnant. But overstaying her visa and living undocumented brings its own perils for both her and her daughter, Sahaara. Sahaara would do anything to protect her mother. When she learns the truth about Kiran's past, she feels compelled to seek justice—even if it means challenging a powerful and dangerous man.
Me (Moth)
by Amber McBride
Moth, who lost her family in an accident, and Sani, who is battling ongoing depression, take a road trip that has them chasing ghosts and searching for ancestors, which helps them move forward in surprising, powerful and unforgettable ways.
Rima's Rebellion: Courage in a Time of Tyranny
by Margarita Engle
In 1920s Cuba, Rima is bullied and shunned for her illegitimacy, but finds solace in riding her horse and forges unexpected friendships with others who share her dreams of freedom and suffrage. Includes historical notes
When We Make It
by Elisabet Velasquez
Sarai uses verse to navigate the strain of family traumas and the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn, questioning the society around her, her Boricua identity, and the life she lives.
Additional Resources
Columbia Granger's World of Poetry - This Library resource features 250,000 full text poems with commentaries and criticisms. (NYPL library card needed)
National Youth Poet Laureate - Learn more about this award-winning youth poetry program.
Poetry Foundation - Find poems, prose, guides, podcasts and more.
Poets.org - Find poems, poets, and activities to celebrate National Poetry Month. Also features a poem of the day to listen to or read.
Check out our Events page and use the keyword 'Poetry' to find out what's being offered for adults, children and teens throughout Manhattan, Bronx and Staten Island!
Book summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.