Teacher Review for Power Poetry

Fun,social way to engage students in poetry

Scott C.
Classroom teacher
South Carolina
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My Grades 9, 10, 11, 12
My Subjects English Language Arts
My Rating
Learning Scores
Setup Time 5-15 minutes
Great for Creation
How I Use It
I use it mostly to look at thematically similar poems using the Take Action tab on the home page. We look at a certain topic and how different poets work on a similar theme. The poems are less complex than those done by professionals, so the students understand them better. Also, it helps with understanding of theme because many of the poems are produced by their peer group. The poets tend to use similar language and sentence structure as they do. I offer extra credit if they submit one to whatever theme we looked at.
My Take
Since the website is online, students can share their poems and get comments from peers from all of the world. I use the posted poems as a teaching resource and then have my students write poems based on the Power Poetry themes we explore. The sharing aspect is very popular with some of my students who are looking to have their work evaluated by their peers rather than academically. The website does require them to sign-up so they have to get permission from home before they can post. Anyone can view the poems without signing up.