For National Poetry Month 2019, we presented Dear Poet, a multimedia education project inviting young people in grades five through twelve to write letters in response to poems written and read by some of the award-winning poets who serve on the Academy of American Poets Board of Chancellors. We also worked with a curriculum specialist to design a related lesson plan aligned with the Common Core.

Students participated in this year’s Dear Poet project by watching the videos below of Chancellors reading and discussing one of their poems. Then, students wrote letters in response and sent them by post or email to the Academy of American Poets. We considered all letters for publication on Poets.org in 2019, and our Chancellors replied to select letters of their choosing.