Promoting Emotional Well-Being in the University Classroom through Poetry

ABSTRACT

Though traditionally confined to the literature classroom, poetry is finding its way into courses of all disciplines in K-12 and higher education. Poetry and expressive writing are useful for encouraging critical thinking, serving as a way for students to synthesize course content, and building classroom rapport. It can also positively impact students' emotional well-being, which is especially important in light of high rates of student anxiety on university campuses, which are being further exacerbated by the public health crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this article, the authors explore the benefits of using poetry in the higher education classroom in terms of promoting students' emotional well-being and developing "soft" skills such as creativity and critical thinking while reaching course learning outcomes. They offer three specific examples of how to integrate poetry into coursework and provide recommendations based on their experience to professors for implementing poetry in their courses.