With National Poetry Month just around the corner in April, this contest from the Pulitzer Center offers relevance and the opportunity for an authentic audience for student poetry. The contest is open to students in K-12 around the world, though it appears that the judging categories are not separated by age group. Entries must be submitted by May 15, 2022, and can be multilingual, (judges will primarily be fluent in English and/or Spanish). The intriguing part of this contest is the constraint that each poem must include at least one line from a story on the Pulitzer site. Suggested stories for grades 3 and up are linked, and you can also access teaching resources that include slide presentations and activities to guide students through the process of writing their poems.
This would be a great opportunity for your students to try the Parallel Poetry technique that I describe here. This was one of the few lessons that I repeated annually (I usually get bored doing something over and over) because it was so incredible to see the uniquely personal poems my students would produce. I often have a difficult time teaching creative writing, but this particular process seemed far less “bumpy” and far more rewarding to all of us than my typical writing lessons.
I’ll be adding this link to my collection of Poetry lessons, which includes links to: a TED Ed List of animated classic poems, poetry writing ideas for Kindergarten, blackout poetry lessons, and more. I also have an Amanda Gorman Wakelet, and an April Holidays one — both of which you can find here along with my other public collections.
