Newcomers in middle and high school may need additional support to acquire their L2, as a student’s second language. Some students may be identified as students with limited or interrupted formal education, and some may have intellectual disabilities. Thus, it’s crucial to keep culturally responsive teaching in mind and include poetry with topics that connect to all students. As such, students must practice reading poetry daily at home to their families or younger siblings.
Students can also underline literary devices and use a digital dictionary to look up unfamiliar words. Most middle and high school students have academic journals with unknown words or vocabulary lists. Thus, this practice can work in tandem with poetry reading for homework. Technology can be integrated as, at this age, most students are technology literate, so they can read poetry with their peers online and create videos of themselves reading poetry. Students can locate a song in a ballad or rap format related to the poem the teacher assigns weekly or monthly to complete a compare-and-contrast homework assignments to share with the class or their group. As middle and high school students usually have in-school intervention and tutoring time in their literacy or humanities block, reading poetry during this time may be integrated.