Teachers: How to Join Poetry Out Loud

Join the thousands of teachers who have become inspired, had fun and surprising success “making poetry matter” for students!

Joining Poetry Out Loud: National Recitation Contest is a great way to teach poetry and help students with written and oral communication skills. Poetry Out Loud is the only national poetry contest for high school students, and was designed so that teachers may easily implement this “poetry bee” contest in the classroom. Poetry Out Loud awards more than $100,000 in prizes to students and schools at the state and national levels.

Teachers love the program because it...

• fits well into their literature curriculum,
• creates an entry point for students to appreciate poetry,
• strengthens community in the classroom,
• reaches students whom they’ve never thought would take to poetry and take to the stage.

Poetry Out Loud satisfies most of the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) English Language Arts Standards. In addition to memorizing and performing great poems, students will have theopportunity to discuss poetry and—if the teacher wishes to use the supplemental lesson plans—to write poetry of their own.

Get Started

For an overview of the program, classroom tools, and model recitations visit www.poetryoutloud.org.

Get Connected

Contact your regional coordinator to officially sign up your school to become part of the
National Poetry Out Loud competition. Teachers packets, which include teachers guides, the Poetry Out Loud anthology, and an audio CD of famous poets and actors reading poetry are available at no cost to participating schools.

Get Out Your Calendar

Poetry Out Loud classroom contests and district/regional contests typically happen throughout winter and the state competition happens on March 2009, culminating in the National Finals in the nation’s capitol in April.