January 9, 2025

By: Ylaiza Perez

Using writing and poetry to interact with my students became a cornerstone of my teaching practice. It inspired my love for writing and how, through admiration and exposure, students can also find joy in expressing themselves through writing. As educators, we all know the difficulties of engaging students in activities they initially resist. Especially with writing, they resist writing about themselves or sharing their personal thoughts. However, when students find ways to put their thoughts into words, it can transform their communication skills and their sense of self. Through exploring writing, I have found my purpose in the classroom– to empower students to foster an inclusive learning community that allows students to lead, persevere, and create positive change.

Through writing, self-awareness is instilled, and a mindset shift is possible through the consistency of exposure. Empowering students to find their voice is our top responsibility as educators. Whether you are a math teacher incorporating poetry or a history teacher exploring primary sources, we all aim to foster an environment for students to feel seen and valued. Incorporating writing helps create that connection in any subject classroom. When I was in high school, a long time ago, we had a homeroom as a space to get exposed to different peers and learn life skills transferable in other spaces; now, homeroom is called advisory. Advisory periods are often dedicated to social and emotional learning (SEL), but this can extend into subject-specific classrooms to help students enhance their skills to build relationships, growth mindset, and communication skills. I understand time is always a factor—between preparing lessons, grading, and everything else on our plates. But weaving creative writing into existing lessons doesn’t have to be time-consuming. Simple activities, like poetry with content vocabulary, can be powerful without adding extra prep time.

For example, in my math class, I found a way to incorporate SEL through a poetry activity focused on expressions and equations. I introduced an assignment where students created poems using key math vocabulary. This task empowered students to explore how terms like “variable,” “expression,” “constant,” “solution,” or “distributive” can connect to their life experiences. We started brainstorming on how students could discuss what the vocabulary words meant to them while applying beyond math through poetry. For example, one group used the word “variable” to talk about changes in their life and “solutions” to overcome problems and challenges.

Next, students wrote free-verse poems incorporating at least two vocabulary words that connect their personal stories or thoughts to the math concept. I provided sentence starters for those students who needed them, such as:

“Seeking solutions to a problem, _______, a variable in my life changed ___”
“Constant reminders of ______, values what I need _____”

Student lines in poems:

“Mathematics, I hate it but loved it with so much strength; I found a solution to my hate, practicing with constant reminders and not forgetting that the main variable between math and my learning is me.”
“My expression, feeling the pain, seeking solutions that keep running away”

I’ll admit—I was nervous about asking my math students to write poems. I braced for the outright refusals. But instead, they surprised me.. However, they were so excited to write, which made me feel confident in my choices for what helps them. A student, let’s name him John, does not participate verbally but was empowered to write a poem about balancing expressions in their life with their friends and family and moving to a different country. Another student started discussing how math felt impossible to reach, but now they understand how, through distributing time constantly, they see how much they view math differently.

We concluded the activity with a class share-out, and students could do a gallery walk in the classroom or read their work to the class. Students appreciated the choice, the ownership of their learning, and the opportunity to display their learning with different methods. This activity reinforced math vocabulary, gave students vocabulary and pride in their creativity and changes, and fostered a sense of belonging.

As educators, incorporating parts of ourselves into our teaching creates brave spaces where students can thrive. Building on the ideas in my previous post, “Poetry and Its Power to Heal,” I’ve continued to reflect on how poetry can create inclusive learning environments that empower students to express themselves and connect with peers. Here are some tools to consider implementing in the classrooms— sentence starters to lower the barrier for hesitant writers, integrating content-specific vocabulary into creative writing activities to strengthen understanding, wait time, group tasks, and reflection questions—can create opportunities for students to persevere, explore, and become change agents in the world.

What are your thoughts?

How can we incorporate poetry into various subjects and its impact on students’ growth mindsets and resilience?

This article was crafted by Ylaiza Perez, an independent contributor engaged by CheckIT Labs, Inc. to provide insights on this topic.

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