Academy Pushes Out Mobile Poetry

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 03/19/08

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The next time a student is asked to stand and recite a poem to the class for National Poetry Month in April, will he or she get credit for whipping out an iPhone and reading a little something off Poets.org? That may be the question teachers ask now that the official Web site of the Academy of American Poets has made its collection of 2,500 poems and audio clips of 150 poems freely available for most mobile devices.

The poems can be browsed by author, title, occasion, or form and searched by keyword. The site also offers biographies of poets and essays about their work.

Secondary school educators can tap into a curriculum section, created by teachers in New York and Colorado. Each unit was developed over the course of an academic year and was tested in the classroom. For example, a unit on "voice," introduces ninth and 10th graders to poetry from a diverse group of poets and explores poetry as social commentary. The unit, which covers 13 class periods, also includes an anthology of student work.

The academy is also promoting April 17 as "Poem in Your Pocket Day," in which it encourages students to select a poem and share it by means that include posting it to a blog or social networking page, projecting it on a wall or texting it to friends.

EduHound's Poetry Resources

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About the author: Dian Schaffhauser is a writer who covers technology and business for a number of publications. Contact her at [email protected].

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