22 Teacher Favorites: Poems for Social Justice

Through poetry and song, many important movements have been carried through the power of the artistic spoken word. As we work to bring critical thinking and social justice into our classrooms, we not only are providing a powerful content area for skill building but also actively working to support the social and emotional learning of our students as they attempt to figure out the complicated world in which they live.

Poetry is one of my favorite vehicles to have these critical thinking discussions about social justice. The voices in poetry are so raw, real, and products of the moments from which they came. This list of 22 came from talking to teachers online about their favorites to use in the classroom, as well as my own experience teaching poetry and creative writing.

If you’re not sure what do to with a poem, I can help you sort that out:

IDEAS FOR A THEMATIC GROUPING OF POEMS:

• Study a group of poems under the same Essential Question and work on building their literary analysis skills using The Big Six

• Use this list to update or supplement your poems for Poetry March Madness

• Use these poems to supplement an already existing novel unit as a missing voice, a voice to add complexity, or to mirror a character in the novel

• Use these poems to create a Digital Poetry Choice Board

• Use these poems for imitation: read, discuss, then attempt to recreate a style, a turn, a particular poetic device, etc.

And if you’re ready for an even deeper dive into the power of poetry, I’d love to have you join us in the Teaching Poetry & Creative Writing Workshop! It’s completely virtual and asynchronous, so come in anytime and gain dozens of new ideas and insights into your own practice.

And now, on to the list! Be sure to leave a comment below with additional suggestions and your own experience teaching these poems — your work is so inspiring!

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1. “The Hill we climb” by Amanda Gorman

This poem was hot in the spotlight for the Presidential Inauguration of 2021, but it’s power has not lessened since then. I love the versatility of this poem: study it as a poem in isolation or look at it as an argument with a rhetorical analysis angle! If you need a lesson plan for analysis, I’ve got you covered:

2. A Wreath for Emmett Till

Picture books can be an amazing way to engage students in a lesson, and several teachers have reported that this one if a brilliant overlap between poetry and social justice.

3. “This is America” from childish gambino

This one is not recommended for younger students, but if you have some older students ready to dig into both the poetry of this song and the visual experience of the music video, you’ll have one of the most engaging, important lessons of your career.

4. “LET AMERICA BE AMERICA AGAIN” BY LANGSTON HUGHES

Of all Hughes’ poems, this one was always the one that most resonated and moved my students. It’s rich with imagery and allusion and I recommend taking your time with this one — it’s not a single class period lesson.

5. “IF WE MUST DIE” BY CLAUDE MCKAY

This poem is haunting and a beautiful study in tone and theme. I especially enjoy Kevin Young’s discussion of the poem and his beautiful performance, too.

6. “CITIZEN ILLEGAL” BY JOSE OLIVAREZ

I’ve had the true pleasure of meeting Jose Olivarez back in my days of working with Young Chicago Authors and Louder Than a Bomb, and I can say for certain, this work resonates with students. It’s certainly powerful for me, but whenever I put his work in front of students, something magical truly happens.

In this stunning debut, poet José Olivarez explores the stories, contradictions, joys, and sorrows that embody life in the spaces between Mexico and America. He paints vivid portraits of good kids, bad kids, families clinging to hope, life after the steel mills, gentrifying barrios, and everything in between. Drawing on the rich traditions of Latinx and Chicago writers like Sandra Cisneros and Gwendolyn Brooks, Olivarez creates a home out of life in the in-between. Combining wry humor with potent emotional force, Olivarez takes on complex issues of race, ethnicity, gender, class, and immigration using an everyday language that invites the reader in. Olivarez has a unique voice that makes him a poet to watch.

7. “NOT AN ELEGY FOR MIKE BROWN” BY DANEZ SMITH

This is a beautiful and gut-wrenching piece about the disproportionate attention paid to the death of Black Americans. It’s very short and would work nicely in a choice board where students could tackle it independently.

8. “ODE TO THE ONLY BLACK KID IN THE CLASS” BY CLINT SMITH

This and so many more from Smith’s anthology Counting Descent deserve a spot on this list and in your curriculum. In fact, Clint Smith’s name should be on the tip of every ELA teacher’s tongue when recommending poetry about the Black American experience.

Smith explores the cognitive dissonance that results from belonging to a community that unapologetically celebrates black humanity while living in a world that often renders blackness a caricature of fear. His poems move fluidly across personal and political histories, all the while reflecting on the social construction of our lived experiences. Smith brings the reader on a powerful journey forcing us to reflect on all that we learn growing up, and all that we seek to unlearn moving forward.

9. “NATIVE TONGUE” BY MICHA BOURNES

This poem is a fascinating look at the colonization of language and othering that’s been done to Black speech.

10. “ORAL TRADITION” BY WILLIAM NU’UTUPU GILES & TRAVIS T.

William Nu’utupu Giles is an afrakasi Samoan writer, and this poem focuses on the passing down of stories and traditions through spoken word for thousands of years.

11. “SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA” FROM BRAVE NEW VOICES

In this moving poem about censorship and government control, the speakers critique the contrasting experiences of America’s youth from the books they are allowed to read in school to the histories that are not taught.

12. “BLACK GIRL MAGIC” BY MAHOGANY BROWN

In this poem about belonging and experiencing othering, Brown examines what “Black Girl Magic” looks like through her eyes.

13. “ ELEPHANT” BY JOAQUIN ZIHUATANEJO

This poem focuses on the Rwandan Genocide of the 1990’s and compares the experience of a mother losing her child to that of an elephant holding her lifeless calf. This poem is packed with emotional language surrounding a lesser taught historical tragedy,

14. “SECOND ATTEMPT CROSSING” BY JAVIER ZAMORA

In this emotional poem, Zamora depicts the immense fear, uncertainty, and loss one feels when crossing over the US border illegally.

15. “GLORY” BY COMMON

From the movie Selma, this anthem speaks of an undying hope felt by those fighting for equality during the Civil Rights Movement despite great violence and discrimination against them.

16. “BULLET POINTS” BY JERICHO BROWN

In this poem, Brown explores hate crimes in America and the violence against Black people at the hands of law enforcement.

17. “TO THIS DAY” BY SHANE KOYCZAN

Shane Koyczan, a powerful spoken word poet, delivers a close look at the lasting effects of bullying in one’s childhood.

18. “WHAT CAN A POEM DO?” BY DARIUS V. DAUGHTRY

In this poem by Darius V. Daughtry, he explores the extent to which words, and more specifically poetry, have the power to cross borders and save lives. This poem is rich with figurative language and beautiful metaphors.

19. “CHINESE 101” BY SUN LUU

Luu describes his poem with this beautiful introduction:

“An ode to my mother, to my mother tongue, and all who've given me the opportunity to exist today. This is for all those who've tried to ostracize my people, who've tried to diminish the Chinese language, and have silenced and made caricatures of Asians in America. Here, I take back my language. I take back my culture. And find the voice to speak.”

20. “MISS AMERICA” BY RAMYA RAMANA

This poem is a response to racist comments and remarks after the announcement of Nina Davuluri, an Indian American woman, as the winner of Miss America in 2014.

21. “BROWN BOY, WHITE HOUSE” BY AMIR SAFI

Safi tells the story of living in post-9/11 America and dealing with the racial stereotyping and profiling he experienced.

22. “Passive Voice” by Laura Da

In this short but powerful poem, Da draws attention to the use of passive voice when describing the history of Native American culture.

EVEN MORE RESOURCES

Three Myths about Close Reading

Three Myths about Close Reading (Busted!)

Wait, what? Close reading? That thing in Common Core everyone says they do but can never actually explain? If these sound like your thoughts, you’re not alone. And here’s why: 

Close reading is often confused or made synonymous with things it most definitely is not, making it seem too scary to even approach. Maybe you’ve tried it, hit a wall of frustration, and abandoned-ship.

Well, it’s time to replace frustration, uncertainty and fear with the truth, and bust three common myths of close reading. 

Three offenders. 

Three stories that have run amok doing what myths do best – attempt to explain what we don’t understand.

But the thing is, close reading CAN be explained and understood, and there is a close reading reality. Let's talk THAT reality, so you can see the power this instructional strategy has to transform both your teaching of reading and your students’ growth and confidence. 

MYTH #1: Close Reading = Reading an Entire Text 

If the thought of figuring out how to teach a close read of an entire short story, or 

an entire chapter OR

an entire article OR

an entire scene

gives you hives, well, that’s fair. It should! 

If telling your classes to “do” a close read of X story results eye rolls, audible groans, and no sense of whether students are actually practicing reading skills –  also fair. 

This idea that close reading means scrutinizing an ENTIRE text is a complete and total, well, MYTH! It is also a recipe for overwhelm for both teachers and students, with little to no benefit for students’ growth as readers. Reading an entire text is just that – reading. And while there is nothing wrong with “just reading” that is not the purpose of close reading. 

HERE’S THE REALITY: Close Reading = Reading a Passage

Close reading is re-reading with intention, with the purpose of practicing skills, learning patterns and deepening understanding. So instead of an entire text, choose passages no more than a page long, maybe going onto the back, for your lessons. 

Begin by having students read a longer chunk: a chapter or chapters, an act, a short story – either for homework or independently during class – of which the passage is part. When the kids come to the close reading lesson, it will be at least their second encounter with said passage.

Pffft, you might be saying. My students aren’t going to read that longer chunk independently. 

That might be true. But they can still do the lesson. 

Close reading lessons are always in-class, skill-focused, teacher-directed experiences. Keeping the passage short allows students to do the lesson whether or not they completed all of the prior reading. The passage is read, and often re-read, in class, so you know, at the very least, even if students read nothing else for an entire unit, they have read those close reading passages and practiced skills. 

Length is critical, and to keep passages short, it is not only ok but necessary to eliminate content that does not help students practice the skill. Consider what is most important and what is necessary for student practice. Then decide how much to include before and after. Context can always be provided by you for the kids in the lesson directions.

MYTH #2: Close Reading Prioritizes Reading the Whole Text 

Your reading curriculum contains four core novels and a Shakespearean play. The best way for students to grow as readers, writers, and thinkers is to make the text central to learning. They must read every page and every word of every novel and the play in order to make progress. Frequent comprehension quizzes are the way to keep them accountable. 

Close reading is reading EVERYTHING – page one to page end. 

Um, no. Just NO. To ALL of that. 

HERE’S THE REALITY: Close Reading Prioritizes Skills 

Close reading DOES NOT – like, to infinity DOES NOT – center the text.

Close reading centers SKILLS. 

The text is the vehicle through which skills are taught. Don’t get me wrong, the text is important, but students are not being assessed on whether or not they “know” the whole text. They will be assessed on the skills you taught and that they practiced during your close reading lessons. 

Skills can run the gamut – from rhetorical situation to recurring symbols, to use of imagery – depending on the type of text, your essential question (more info on this here), and your summative assessment. The skills determine the annotation focus(es). Remember, though, not to get carried away in asking students to annotate for all the things. Less is more.

Make it super clear in your directions what you want them to annotate for. Without this, students end up randomly highlighting and labeling with no sense of how or why it all fits together. Instead of wild goose chase annotation, send students on a purposeful, scaffolded path toward analysis.

MYTH #3: Close Reading Answers A Set of (Text-Dependent) Questions 

You are at the photocopier and find a handout titled, “Close Reading Questions.” You look through it and consider that maybe this is close reading. 

Nope. Not even kind of. 

HERE’S THE REALITY: Close Reading Works with Essential & Analysis Questions

A list of teacher-created questions for students to answer as they read a text – or after they read it – could maybe be considered “guided” reading. But it is not close reading.

Close reading does involve questions, but they are of the essential and analytical variety. And you come up with them before students close read anything. These are the questions that drive your unit and skill focus. They are the questions that inform your backwards planning: what it is you want students to know or do by the end of that unit?

Your close reading lesson passages should all connect to your unit essential question (more on EQs here), so that they build on each other, which results in students building their learning – comprehension, pattern recognition, deep thinking – over time. 

And within each lesson, you create an analysis question for students to work with at the end. When planning a close reading lesson, come up with this question first. Consider what you would look for in the passage to answer it. This will help you come up with student annotation guidelines. Having kids draft a skills-focused analytical paragraph to answer a question using their close reading annotations helps prepare them not only for a summative task, but makes them derive meaning, instead of searching for a “correct” answer.  

So, yes, questions, BUT questions that require students to make meaning using the skills they practiced in that close reading lesson for that particular passage, not to hunt and peck through an entire text to find “the answer.” 

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS…

Close reading is not its mythology! It is not reading an entire text, it is not whole-text centered or answering a set of text-dependent questions. Close reading reality decenters the text, prioritizes skills, and uses essential and analysis questions to drive learning. This instructional strategy has the potential to move mountains for your students as readers, writers and thinkers and for YOU as a teacher of reading. 

If you haven’t tried close reading before in your classroom or if you’d like to revisit it after a less than positive experience, grab this free video where I go into more depth about the what, why and how of close reading. What has been your experience with close reading? What questions do you have?  

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LET’S GO SHOPPING…