As soon as spring arrives, the warm breezes and sunshine work their magic on students. Teens are energized; they exude confidence about the possibilities. Every April I try to capitalize on that vibe by creating Poetry Month challenges in the library. This year, I introduced three simple ones. Running each contest for about a week, I present the winners with gift cards to Barnes & Noble. My poetry activities don’t turn students into instant poetry lovers, but they send the message that we’re all poets at heart.
Challenge #1: Billy Joel Haiku Contest
Being residents of Long Island, my students have a connection to the musician who remains loyal to his roots here. I’ve often found that song lyrics are great segues into poetry. To start them off, I share a Google Doc with 10 choices of musical phrases taken from various Billy Joel songs. They must choose one to incorporate into their poem. For adolescents, the simpler, the better. Haiku form, known for its ability to do more with less, seems manageable. Students, knowing there is a syllabic structure of 5-7-5, embrace these concrete rules. This makes the challenge even less daunting. Before they know it, they’ve created poetry.
Poetry Challenge #2: Photo Poetry Contest
There are few teens who don’t have photos on their cell phones. The first half of this challenge is easy for them: choose one. Rhyming, too, is something everyone is familiar with. From nursery rhymes and classic romantic poets like Wordsworth to modern hip hop lyrics, students have been exposed to rhyme schemes in many forms. By giving them pictures as their foundations, they’re halfway there. All they need to do is write a few rhyming lines that express their feelings about the photos, and they’ve composed poems.
Poetry Challenge #3: Blackout Poetry Challenge
Modern poetry includes experimental forms and this playful poetic exercise is one that gets students thinking. Often, students complain that they don’t know where to begin. With blackout poetry, they can choose a text that is already written and go from there. Many of them enjoy crossing words out instead of having to think of ones to include. This puzzle-like activity is one that wakes their minds up.
Poetry, as with all types of creative writing, is a way for teenagers to make sense of their complex emotions. With short activities like these, they can take some time away from their academic assignments to express themselves. As Ryan Tahmaseb says in edutopia, “with a little encouragement, what they discover beneath the surface often becomes the heart of the poem they’re trying to write” (2019). April is designated as Poetry Month but in reality, every day of the year is a time to celebrate poems.
References
Tahmaseb, Ryan. 2019. “6 Tips for Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens.” Edutopia. Accessed April 28, 2025.
https://www.edutopia.org/article/6-tips-teaching-poetry-writing-teens.
Recent Comments