Goose bumps dancing down your spine. The subtle chill from hearing well spoken poetry. Students plucking up their courage and reading their own poetry out to the class. Inclusion of all ideas and voices.

This trimester some of the English Nine teachers are covering Poetry Out Loud in their curriculum. When English teachers Jennifer Brinkmeyer and Maureen Hill attended a conference they fell in love with the idea of adding competition to their poetry unit, and so Poetry Out Loud came to City High.

Students chose a poem to memorize and perform. However, this unit goes beyond poetry.

“Poetry Out Loud offers students the opportunity to live with a poem that’s meaningful to them for an extended period of time while getting to know the amazing poems chosen by their peers. Not only do they get to know their poem well, they get to face down a challenge (reciting in front of the class) together,” said Brinkmeyer. “Students are so proud of themselves at the end of this unit. Poetry Out Loud builds community, confidence, and critical reading.”

The Poetry Out Loud unit teaches real life skills. It’s not just about reading, reciting, and writing poetry.

“Knowing how to manipulate words is such a huge life skill,” Mandy Sotillo, English teacher, said. “I hope it’s something that will transfer into other student writings, especially when kids are applying for colleges and universities.”

Even students who don’t particularly like poetry feel as if this unit has its positive sides.

“I’m not really a fan of poetry,” said Caroline Carter ‘20. “But it can be really fun.”

This unit will allow students to express themselves in ways they don’t often get to. Poetry Out Loud will give students a voice that they may have very little experience using.

“I really like this unit,” said Ayah Filali ‘20. “Poetry expresses who I am.”

On December 20th, students will perform their poem in front of their class and one will be chosen to then move onto the school wide competition that will be at the end of January.