Now in its seventh year, the Folger's Poetry-in-Schools program is the only such program serving Washington, DC, public school students at the high school level. Poetry-In-Schools strives to introduce students to poetry, encourage new voices, and provide high school students with a college level writing workshop.
The program is available at no cost to participating schools. It has so far been offered at Anacostia High School, Eastern High School, Banneker High School, The IDEA Charter School, SEED Public Charter School, Thurgood Marshall Academy, and Wilson High School.
Still growing, the program currently serves four schools a year and hopes to expand to reach all DC public high schools on a biennial basis.
In each DC public high school, we work with a selected English teacher to provide a series of five in-class weekly workshops on reading, writing, and listening to poetry, led by a Folger Poetry Educator. Each Folger Poetry Educator is a local published poet or scholar.
At the end of the workshop series, the class receives a visit by one of the nationally acclaimed poets reading in the Folger Poetry Series. Each student receives a copy of a book by the visiting poet, courtesy of Barnes & Noble.
The students also compile a book of their own poetry, which we bind and print.
