The starting point for hosting a March Madness Poetry Tournament is picking out the poems. You can go with classic or contemporary, you can pair poems by the same poet or based on themes or topics, you can choose the poems or let students submit recommendations, you could even throw in song lyrics! There's no one right way to make your picks, but here is how I've decided on the poems I use.
1. The poems are relatively short in length.
I like to be able to print out the poem match ups with two poems to a page held landscape so I opt for poems that are on the shorter side. Keeping them shorter in length also keeps our tournament moving quickly each class period.
2. The poems are middle school appropriate.
I teach sixth grade so I choose poems with language and content that are appropriate for the age and maturity of my students. It is always a bummer when I'm reading a great poem and then come across a swear word.
3. The poems pair well with other poems.
At the start of the tournament, I like to pair up poems that touch on a similar topic so students can see how two different poets can touch on the same idea in different ways. After voting is done on the initial pairings, poems end up matched up with a poem on a different topic at random, but the contrasts in structure and language continue.
4. The poems offer something unique or different.
Because I’m only choosing 8, 16, 32, or 64 poems for students to examine, I like to make them as varied as possible. Each poem brings something unique to the mix whether it is the author’s background, the experiences described, the structure or form, the language or word choice, or other poetic devices present.
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