This session is aimed at educators of primary and secondary students. Attendees will learn how culturally relevant pedagogy (teaching students according to their lived experiences) is a beneficial approach for our schools, and is an approach made possible by poetry classes. In our testing times, students and their teachers orbit around a rigid, fixed curriculum, which forms the centre of their educational system. But what if this system was restructured? What if students were placed at the centre?

In this session, Rosen and Foley will provide practical examples of their student-centred poetry teaching, interspersing their conversation with performances. Attendees will learn how to approach teaching differently, and why it is essential to do so. Let us make the case for a space for poetry.