Even though it was composed more than 2,700 years ago, The Odyssey never gets old. This summer it will be brought to the big screen by Christopher Nolan in a much-anticipated film starring Matt Damon, Zendaya, Tom Holland, and Anne Hathaway.

Emily Wilson, a professor of Classical Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, says film adaptations of the epic poem always generate interest in the classic work and could provide a good excuse to introduce the epic into the classroom.

Wilson knows of what she speaks.

Nolan consulted her much-heralded 2018 translation for his film version. Wilson’s translation is also the first complete translation by a woman, and in it, she hoped to convey the rhythm of the original.

“Most of the available modern English translations before and after mine, use free verse or prose, rather than metrical, rhythmical verse,” she says.

Wilson recently shared some of the strategies she uses when teaching The Odyssey, and other works by Homer and myths, to her undergraduate students.

Teaching The Odyssey: Take A Detour From The Hero’s Journey

The Odyssey is frequently taught through Joseph Campbell’s framework of the “hero’s journey,” but Wilson thinks that approach can be too limited.

“[It] invites students to see The Odyssey as a kind of template for all other quest narratives, and to focus exclusively on the perspective of the protagonist,” she says. This can overshadow how Odysseus interacts with many other characters, “including those who do not have either a quest or a journey home.”

She adds, “When I teach undergraduates who have read The Odyssey in high school, I often invite them to reflect on both the appeal of this universalizing approach and to consider what it leaves out, including the historical specificity of the poem's concerns, which echo the particular preoccupations of the archaic Greek world, a world of large-scale Greek migration and colonization.”

Don’t Shy Away From The Alien Nature of The Book

“The Odyssey, like other works of ancient literature, is fascinating largely because it is both extremely familiar in its concerns and themes and also extraordinarily alien,” Wilson says. “The deities, for example, may seem like narrative conveniences, and in a sense they are, and yet The Odyssey was also created by and for people who worshipped and sacrificed to Athena, Zeus, and Poseidon.”

She finds that examining the conflict between the familiar themes and alien ones can lead to deep discussions with students. “The first four books are about the small-scale journeys of Telemachus, Odysseus' son, to visit his father's old comrades. The theme of a lost, anxious young person exploring his own identity through visiting alternative homes, is entirely relatable for any young reader.”

But at the same time there are limits to how far that relatability goes. “The terms in which the poem defines adult masculinity may be quite alien and even disturbing,” Wilson says. “Telemachus demonstrates a divinely inspired confidence by telling his mother to be quiet, and later takes a new step to manhood by murdering the thirteen enslaved people claimed by his mother's suitors to reclaim the honor of the household.”

Examine Gender Roles

Many students today take issue with gendered inequality seen in the poem.

“Those feelings can be an excellent opportunity for discussion and reflection,” Wilson says. She adds, it’s also “an opportunity to consider whether these feelings are invited by the poem itself, or the result of a gap in values between The Odyssey and modern values.”

Wilson’s students are often “outraged by the fact that Odysseus spends eight years in sexual relationships with two goddesses, at least partly voluntarily, and yet he seems to suffer no repercussions in his marriage to his eternally faithful wife.”

She adds, “There is an interesting and teachable mismatch between the modern idea of ‘adultery’—a gender-neutral disapproval of extramarital sex—and the ancient idea of moicheia, which refers only to sexual relationships between a man and another man's wife.”

This disconnect is more complex than students might realize. “The affair of Paris and Helen, or that of Aegisthus and Clytemnestra, threatens the integrity of the household and the male lineage, whereas Odysseus's affairs abroad are of no relevance for the household,” she says.

This is all an example of how, in Wilson’s words, “There are many opportunities for discussion of the relationship between modern norms of gender and sexuality and those of the poem.”

Use Visuals and Share Technological Breakthroughs

“When I teach myth, including The Odyssey, I often juxtapose it with ancient art; students who struggle with literary analysis often flourish in response to visual representations,” Wilson says. “There's a lot to say about, for instance, how Athenian vases depict the blinding of Polyphemus, and how this might compare or contrast with the poem's version of the same scene.”

Modern technology is also playing a role in the ongoing story of ancient texts. High-profile AI-assisted translations of damaged text have recently been released, but that’s only the beginning of what technology can do, Wilson says.

“One of the most exciting developments to me is not AI but digital imaging combined with radiocarbon analysis, which has enabled the decipherment of papyri that would otherwise be unrecoverable,” Wilson says. “It's exciting for everyone, including students, to learn that we're still discovering ‘new’ ancient literature.”

Talk About Translation

Wilson is, of course, interested in the differences between various translations of Homer’s work, but stresses that there are many excellent translations beyond hers, and students should be invited to compare and contrast the differences.

“As a way of teaching the value of close reading and the fact that every word matters, there's no better exercise than asking students to look closely at maybe two to three lines of The Odyssey in several different translations," she says. "I love this exercise, and I find it wakes students up to the fact that literature isn't just, and in fact, isn't primarily, about meaning; it's about specific words in a specific order, and every choice matters.”

Wilson's new book Crossing the Wine Dark Sea, which will be released in September, ends with a long essay about what Wilson calls the “minutiae of choices involved in translating just a few lines of The Odyssey and comparing multiple different translations of the same lines.”

This essay is a great introduction for educators looking to explore the role of translations in The Odyssey.

Remember: Teaching The Odyssey Shouldn't Be An Epic Challenge

Wilson says sometimes teachers shy away from teaching The Odyssey because they think it will be daunting.

“In many ways, Homer, especially in a reasonably user-friendly modern translation, is far less daunting than Shakespeare, whom I hope people also teach,” she says.

She adds, “The debate about teaching great books or the canon is sometimes framed as if teaching canonical or ancient texts were antithetical to the project of inviting students to be aware of themselves, their own culture, and their own world, but to me, nothing could be further from the truth. We learn about ourselves by discovering who we aren't, and who we almost are, and how we relate to others. There's no more generative text than The Odyssey for exploring those questions.”

Since 1996, Americans have celebrated National Poetry Month throughout the month of April. Reading, writing, and reciting poetry is a great way to inspire kids' interest in words and wordplay, rhyme and rhythm, meter and metaphor.

The lessons and activities below are sorted roughly according to grade level. However, several of these resources overlap grade categories, so be sure to take a look at all them.

With these top free poetry teaching tools, April need not be the cruelest month in your classroom.

Best Poetry Lessons and Activities

All grades

Favorite Poem Project Lesson Plans
A fine collection of poetry PDF lesson plans, organized by grade and themes. Each complete lesson contains poetry video links, learning objectives, questions, homework ideas, and extensions. Founded by U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky, the Favorite Poem Project has been encouraging, supporting, and recording Americans from every walk of life discussing their favorite poetry since 1998.

The Children’s Poetry Archive
A truly wonderful site for kids to explore and learn to love poetry. The Children’s Poetry Archive is geared toward kids ages 4 through 16 years, and includes a searchable database of recorded poems, sorted by themes, poet, age, and glossary. Resources for teachers consist of listening, learning about, writing, and performing poetry. Be sure to check out simple ideas to make your classroom a poetry-friendly place.

Magnetic Poetry Online Fun
Creative wordplay doesn’t get any easier than this. Simply open the magnetic poetry site and arrange the digital word “magnets” via the drag-and-drop interface. Don’t like the word bank? No problem, just click “load more words.” Save your poem as a link or share via Facebook. Looking for a wider range of words? Choose from Nature, Geek, Love, Poet, and Mustache (yes, really). This type of poetry writing allows everyone—including kids who aren't natural writers—to express themselves with language.

Rhyme Zone
More than just a rhyming dictionary, RhymeZone lets users quickly and easily find words, phrases, synonyms, antonyms, definitions, lyrics, homophones, and much more, to make their poems shine like a serpentine skyline. Need to go deeper? Try the advanced search, which provides details on meter, parts of speech, and rare words. A remarkably simple and free tool that will be invaluable to poets and songsters everywhere.

Readworks.org Poetry Resources
Research-based lessons and activities for K-12 students. Full free access to educators with registration. The teachers’ guide furnishes step-by-step methods to use the site’s activities wisely.

National Poetry Month with Poets.org
Extensive, up-to-date poetry teaching resources include: how to celebrate National Poetry Month in the virtual classroom; Dear Poet, a multimedia education project; and more.

Elementary

Edutopia: Using Poetry to Refine Students’ Collaboration Skills
Teaching kids poems?
Start not with The Odyssey
Try haiku instead

To be a master of haiku is rare. But almost anyone, including kids (and this lowly scribe), can write their own haiku, making it an excellent choice for an elementary grade poetry lesson. In response to his students’ desire to improve their collaboration skills, educator, and published poet Matthew James Friday developed this rewarding eight-step lesson plan based on the haiku form of poetry.

Poetry4kids.com
Author and former Children’s Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt’s multimedia poetry site offers not only a diverse selection of searchable poetry for kids, but also lessons in poetry writing, a rhyming dictionary, videos, podcasts, free “Streamable Learning” online events, virtual author visits, and much more. Check out Nesbitt’s YouTube channel too!

Shel Silverstein Learning Resources
Lessons, activities, and a Common Core-aligned teaching guide to the works and world of beloved children’s poet and author Shel Silverstein.

GiggleVerse
Home of "the funniest children’s poems in the universe," this site encourages children to read by providing them with new funny poems every weekday, both on the website and by email. Categories range from animals and holidays to "gross" and "cautionary tales" (tragic stories with amusing morals).

Middle School

PBS Learning Media Dogs That Changed the World Poetry
A complete standards-aligned one-hour lesson for grades 5-8 that leverages the human attachment to our canine companions. Students watch video segments featuring various aspects of human-dog relationship through the lens of history, culture, and society, then write and illustrate “list” poetry reflecting the different perspectives. Includes videos, handouts, rubrics and an assessment. Note that the link to “examples of list poems” under Part II: Assessment should be corrected to List Poem.

Emily Dickinson Museum Educator Resources
Browse lesson ideas, read the brief Emily Dickinson biography, and learn about her themes, style, form, meter, rhyme, and syntax. Six lessons explore a broad range of features in Dickinson's poems, from vocabulary to imagery to the role of location and provide a suggested list of “starter” poems. Note that the correct link for lesson ideas is here.

Poetry Foundation
The independent nonprofit Poetry Foundation provides a wealth of free online poetry and poetry teaching resources. Explore poems, both text and audio, by topic, author, or audience (such as children, teens, or adults). The educator’s section provides articles and guides illuminating selected texts, helping teachers home in on key teaching points. Resources for teaching poetry online add to the value of this poetry site.

Dear Poet 2026
A multimedia education project, Dear Poet calls on learners in grades 5-12 to write letters to award-winning poets. Students first select one of six poems, view the video of the author reading his or her poetry, then write a response. Each poet will respond personally to five student letters, which will be published as a PDF this summer. All students will receive a general response to their letters, as well as a certificate of recognition for their work. Submissions for Dear Poet 2026 will close on May 15, 2026, at 12 am ET.

High School

28 Ways to Teach and Learn About Poetry With The New York Times
A wealth of imaginative ideas to celebrate poetry in the classroom. Whether you ask them to keep track of their metaphors, create micropoetry, match a poem with an image, compare poetry with rap music, or learn a poem by heart (how quaint!) students are sure to be engaged and enthusiastic. As part of The New York Times Learning Network, this article and all linked articles within it are free, with no account required.

Edutopia: A Poetry-Writing Exercise to Support English Learners
Written by an English language learner educator, this article will serve as a guide to teaching poetry to ELL students. Includes each step of the process, downloadable PDFs, and a clear explanation of how kids will benefit from this type of lesson.

Video Collection: The Art of Poetry
Library of short lectures and conversations from The Art of Poetry, Robert Pinsky’s Massive Open Online Course. Filter by topics, poets, and poems. A good, quick way to look at themes such as “What is Great?” and “Freedom and Meaning.”

Poets.org Materials for Teachers
Explore a diverse collection of lesson plans, essays, reading guides, and questions for class discussion. Your teenage students will benefit from Poetry for Teens, a collection arranged by themes including love and relationships, politics and social justice, mental health, and other topics that speak directly to young people.

Poetry Out Loud
Try this fun and dynamic way to introduce students to poetry through the thrill of the spoken word and competition. Everything teachers need to implement the Poetry Out Loud program is provided at no cost, from lesson plans to making your program accessible.

Edutopia Teaching Poetry With Student Exemplars
Excellent article by author and high school English teacher Elizabeth Jorgensen in which she shares ideas and examples for teaching poetry to high school students, and inspiring them in the process.

Living Poets Digital Library
From the creators of TeachLivingPoets, this digital library provides an easy-to-navigate database of selected living poets, their spoken and written work, and links to their websites.

Zooniverse

Real research powered by volunteers makes classroom content relevant 

Pros: Students make a difference by contributing to actual investigations.

Cons: Research tasks usually involve more classifying than higher-order thinking.

Bottom Line: Engage in meaningful, relevant research with citizen scientists from around the world. 

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed byCommon Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

LitPick

Tweens' reviews of YA literature great for classroom use 

Pros: The site's relaxed feel makes reviewing fun; students learn all kinds of skills at the same time.

Cons: Navigation can be tricky, and there's a limited number of books to choose from.

Bottom Line: LitPick is a safe, fun environment for YA lovers to read their favorite books while learning how to discuss literature. 

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

EDSITEment

Extensive humanities resource offers deep well of great content

Pros: In-depth lesson plans give teachers plenty to choose from.

Cons: It's not the most exciting site in the world, especially for kids.

Bottom Line: The National Endowment for the Humanities has put together an outstanding place for art, history, language, and literature.

Read more here.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

October 29th is National Frankenstein Day! Written when she was only nineteen years old, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein continues to influence movies and literature to this day. Read about the characters and their motivations in this fascinating site.

Courtesy of Knovation

[Novel Ideas for Writing Instruction]

WordWhile: Casual Literary Fun

Clever fill-in-the-blank game playfully promotes literature

Pros: Easy-to-learn, with material for a variety of ages.

Cons: Could use some more accessibility features.

Bottom Line: A different spin on reading the classics can engage students in the short term, but teachers should find ways to extend learning.

[Vocabulary App Teaches Words From the Ground Up]

Read more.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

Google Lit Trips

Free virtual sightseeing tours let kids explore literary settings

[10 Great Movies for the STEM Classroom]

Pros: Cool Google Earth-based tours let kids explore literature in the real world.

Cons: Using tours effectively takes some legwork and technical know-how; some of these user-generated tours are much richer than others.

Bottom Line: A good starting point for extending students' engagement with the classroom’s most-used literary texts.

Read more.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly.

By Common Sense Education

The District of Columbia Public School System (DCPS) today announced it has launched a citywide reading initiative challenging the DCPS community to read more. “Read Across the City: The Three Million Minute Challenge” starts this month and includes all 115 public schools, encouraging kids, teachers, staff, and parents to read every day, giving them online tools to track books read and the time spent reading them. The goal is to hit three million minutes by April 2018.

While the challenge is district-wide, each school library has its own individual website where students can track their reading. DCPS is using Beanstack, software that gives libraries tools to facilitate reading programs and makes it easy for users to track how much they’ve read on any computer or mobile device.

In addition to the “Read Across the City” challenge, schools can use the software to design their own reading initiatives.

The three-month program will also support DCPS’s recently unveiled strategic plan, “A Capital Commitment,” which calls for all district students to read at or above grade level by grade 3.

Thirty challenge winners will receive a 50-new book kit filled the industry’s best books from Junior Library Guild (JLG) from Media Source, Inc. In addition, each school will be awarded a one-year subscription to JLG—a $1200 value—and can choose from over 75 categories of PreK-12 grade fiction and nonfiction books for their schools.

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. Walden, a game was named a Best EdTech Tool of 2017.

Walden, a game

Thoughtfully designed game illuminates Thoreau's writing, philosophy

Pros: Elegantly embeds deep philosophical questions in the act of play.

Cons: It's possible for players to get stuck on certain in-game tasks or miss important letters and events.

Bottom Line: It's rare to be so moved and permanently transformed by a work of art; that this game manages to (re)create these experiences is a triumph.

Read more here.

By Common Sense Education

iPoe - The Interactive and Illustrated Edgar Allen Poe Collection

An amusing way to introduce kids to the master of suspense 

Pros: Animations and sound effects add to the eerie feel of Poe's stories; Spanish and French translations are a plus.
Cons: Reading supports are lacking, such as a glossary or audio options.
Bottom Line: This illustrated app is a fun way to introduce students to Poe, but it lacks reading supports or opportunities for critical thinking and reflection.

Read more here. 

App of the Day picks are selected from the top edtech tools reviewed by Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. 

By Common Sense Education

SuperScholar shows just how relevant Shakespeare is today. Do students want better vocabularies? Read Shakespeare; he added more than 1500 words to our language which have become common in our vocabularies. His characters were so compellingly drawn that their names are now synonymous with character types. And since movies draw the attentions of students more often than plays, just point out through this graphic how many movies are based on Shakespeare plots. Then you might ask students if they can think of any other movies that Shakespeare influenced. Once students see how Shakespeare lives in modern language and thought, they may be quick to point out examples they find as they read his plays.

courtesy of Knovation