Poetry Unit Wrap-Up Activity 8: Sharing with an Audience

Students could share their poetry with a variety of audiences by:

• Visiting a school or class of younger students and reading poems to the kids there.


• Taking a field trip to a retirement home and presenting poems to the residents.


• Taking a field trip to the children's ward of a hospital and acting out poems for the patients.


• Having a poetry slam that includes several classes or several schools in the area.

Think about your individual community and what is possible. Think about who might benefit from the poetry readings (in addition to your students, of course). Brainstorm audience ideas with your classes.

If there is a community service component to the school's curriculum, groups of students could visit different locations in the community, based on their interest.

Poetry Unit Wrap-Up Activity 1: Coffee House

Have a class coffee house (or even better a school-wide coffee house) where students can read out poems written by themselves or by others.

Parents and the community could be invited to participate as audience members.