Get ready to remix Poetry Month in your classroom! In this special episode of The Planning Period, we’re diving into creative, engaging, and totally doable ways to bring poetry to life for your students—no matter what grade or subject you teach.
Haiku Meets Media Challenge
We’re kicking things off with a poetry mini-unit your students will actually get excited about: multimedia haiku! Featuring inspiration from high school teacher Jeff Kass and our Read, Write, ROAR! series, you’ll see how haiku can spark conversations about nature, urban sprawl, and digital storytelling. And yes, there’s a raccoon named Carl.
Poetry + Project-Based Learning = Engagement Gold
Whether your students are writing about springtime gardens or remixing course content into minimalist verse, this episode gives you a step-by-step plan for turning simple haiku into powerful, student-created media projects using free tools like Adobe Express—complete with templates, tutorials, and an educator dashboard.
PD Segment: Why Recitation Still Matters
We’re also shining a light on the overlooked power of poetry recitation—and why it might just be the thing that helps unlock confidence, creativity, and classroom connection. Inspired by Michigan’s Poetry Out Loud finals and backed by brain science, this segment makes the case for bringing performance back into your instruction. From classic poems to slam-style delivery, we talk about how memorizing and reciting poetry can build empathy, improve language skills, and even boost students’ sense of hope.
Whether you’ve got shy students who need a reason to speak up, or big personalities who want to be heard—this is the kind of meaningful, low-cost classroom strategy that sticks.
🎬 Featured Resources – All linked in the episode!
Read, Write, ROAR! Poetry Segments
Jeff Kass breaks down poetic forms like haiku, odes, and found poems with clarity, heart, and real classroom energy. These short videos are packed with writing prompts and discussion ideas—perfect for grades 4 and up.
The Power of Poetry (Michigan Learning Channel)
This one-hour special explores how poetry shows up in Michigan communities—from classrooms to coffee shops—and includes an on-screen writing workshop from InsideOut Literary Arts in Detroit.
Poetry is Life (Extra Credit)
A youth-led deep dive into how young people across Michigan are making poetry part of their communities. From murals in Flint to a poetry laureate in Ypsilanti, this is the inspiration your students need.
Poetry in America (PBS)
Celebrities, poets, and leaders share the verses that shaped them. A perfect launchpad for your own classroom media challenge—ask students to find someone in their community and capture what poetry means to them.
📝 Watch now and share your students’ poems with us—we’d love to feature them!
