Every semester, hundreds of K-12 teachers from across the United States and around the world enroll in Poetry in America courses at the Harvard Division of Continuing Education. In addition to earning professional development hours or graduate credit, they leave with a firm grasp on content area knowledge, teaching strategies and resources to bring into their own classrooms, and they join a warm and supportive global community of fellow educators.
Two of our Poetry in America courses were designed specifically with K-12 teachers in mind:
Poetry in America for Teachers courses feature content relevant to the Common Core English Language Arts (ELA) standards in grades 6-12, but teachers from any grade level or subject area are welcome–and encouraged!–to enroll. We’ve enjoyed working with a number of science, art, and drama teachers over the years, as well as school librarians and administrators. By watching course videos–including a number of videos filmed in K-12 classrooms–and by engaging in weekly discussions with the course community, Poetry in America for Teachers enrollees will master advanced strategies for teaching students how to close read complex texts, and, relatedly, for facilitating productive classroom discussion centered on those texts.
NOTE: Enrollees in Poetry in America for Teachers courses are eligible to receive 90 Professional Development hours from the Harvard Graduate School of Education if they choose the non-credit option when enrolling. Poetry in America is an approved CTLE provider for teachers in New York State.
Our other for-credit courses take learners on a journey through the history of American poetry. These include:
These three courses are also quite popular with teachers of English, history, social studies, and general humanities–as well as with librarians, undergraduate and graduate students in education, and others. Although they do not include all the pedagogical scaffolding of our two Poetry in America for Teachers courses, they feature all of the other elements students value in Poetry in America courses: rich archival materials, one-on-one and roundtable interpretive discussions, and field trips around the nation.
We offer these courses on a rotating basis. There is no prerequisite for enrollment, so feel free to take them in any order that works for you!
Enrollees in our chronological sequence of courses can take the course for undergraduate or graduate credit, or they can choose the non-credit option. Non-credit students will receive a certificate of completion from Poetry in America.
Visit the course catalog to view our upcoming offerings:
Click the button below to learn more about our curricular resources, as well as our Poetry in America for High School program, which allows high-school students to earn undergraduate credit by taking a Poetry in America course online.
The Harvard Division of Continuing Education offers open-enrollment courses, degrees and certificates, and professional development programs.
For nearly 100 years, the Harvard Graduate School of Education has prepared smart and passionate individuals to become transformative leaders in education.
Driven by the goals and values of its flagship project, Poetry in America, Verse Video Education develops video and accompanying curricular materials in the arts and humanities and beyond, creating a body of educational content capable of reaching a very broad community of learners: formal and informal, online and residential, young and old, American and international. By producing its own projects and creating thoughtfully-constructed and thought-provoking multimedia content for other organizations, Verse Video Education aims to enhance educational experiences, both within and outside of the classroom.
