Poetry Learning Lab Launched!

I'm only a week behind, but just in case you haven't heard this great news either, here's a bit of the press release.

Poetry Foundation Launches Online Poetry Learning Lab
New educational, media-rich poetry experience for teachers and students

CHICAGO — The Poetry Foundation invites teachers and students to tap into its new online resource, the Poetry Learning Lab. Hosted on www.poetryfoundation.org, the Poetry Learning Lab is designed for anyone who wants to learn more about poetry.

A dynamic resource for teachers, students, and learners of every age, the Poetry Learning Lab has been developed by the Poetry Foundation in conjunction with a team of education experts—including writing and literature teachers, librarians, and poets—to provide an immersive educational experience with poetry. By allowing students to experiment with different ways of reading poems—as text, sound, and visual artifacts—the Learning Lab provides readers of all levels with the opportunity to practice close reading and listening skills and to think broadly and analytically about poetry and poetics.

I've spent some time exploring the Poetry Learning Lab and am thrilled with all it has to offer. The tag line under the title reads "Begin in Delight, End in Wisdom." Best of all, the descriptive summary reads "Developed for teachers, students, and learners of every age, this section of the site encourages readers of all levels to immerse themselves in poetry."

On the first page you'll find a column of links to such things as the term of the day (today it's textual criticism), poem talk podcasts, Poetry Out Loud, poem guides, poetic essays, and a discussion guide for POETRY magazine. The main body of the page contains featured poems and resources. There is much here to explore, so do take some time to check out this amazing new resource.

Thanks to KidsPoetLaureat (that would be Mary Ann Hoberman) for the tweet!