The Zoom meetings are totally optional, but I highly encourage educators to come to these important collaborative meetings to ask questions, receive support, and connect with other educators. If you are receiving the Certificate of Completion for professional development hours, you can add the time spent on Zoom to the total hours collected.

Built with busy working educators in mind, the training includes five self-paced training modules. Each module features short video lessons, writing exercises, and downloadable lesson plans for a total of just under two hours of video instruction. You will want to allow extra time to complete the practice writing exercises in each module, running another 2-3 hours total. We believe the best way to prepare to teach this curriculum is to practice the writing exercises yourself. Your own writing examples are a great way to motivate your students and to participate in the sharing of life-themed prompts that enhance empathy, and social-emotional learning. If you are receiving a Certificate of Completion, you will need to complete the reflection writing for each module per the instructions provided in the module, adding an additional 1-2 hours.

We take our teacher community into account in setting our pricing. We want you to use this curriculum without breaking the bank. We believe the price is a great value. However, we understand everyone has different budgets, therefore we do offer substantial early bird discounts as well as occasional promotional discounts. Sign up for our mailing list on the home page by clicking “Learn More” and entering your email address. You’ll get access to our free video introduction to the five voices, and you’ll be alerted when we are offering a discount.

Yes, we have a private Facebook Group just for educators who have purchased the course. You can find it here

While we encourage you to tell your colleagues about our amazing e-course, sharing the actual curriculum or any of the PDFs with them is forbidden. This is a copyrighted e-course that we invested a tremendous amount of time and energy to develop. We appreciate your integrity! We do periodically monitor the platform for password sharing and anyone caught doing so will have their access revoked without refund.

Yes! We offer two options:

1. We offer a live half-day professional development training (4.5 hrs). Jennie will personally train educators on the Social Emotional Learning benefits of the Poetry Toolbox and guide teachers through the first 5 classroom lessons in the poetry unit (the foundational 5 voices of poetry) with lesson plans they can implement right away. The final 2 classroom lessons and the 15 extra writing prompts will be available through the full online training offered to participating teachers at a discounted rate.

2. Want to try before you buy? Jennie offers a 75-minute introductory live professional development session through Zoom or in person. Educators receive an overview of the Poetry Toolbox curriculum and are guided through a sample lesson plan incorporating all five foundational voices of The Poetry Toolbox.

Contact Jennie Linthorst at thepoetrytoolbox@gmail.com to find out more.

Yes! Please reach out to thepoetrytoolbox@gmail.com for information on these discounted bundles, so we can build you a custom quote.

For those interested in receiving a certificate of completion for professional development hours, after purchasing the course, please pay the administrative fee of $20 US Dollars HERE and follow the instructions below to receive 7 hours of professional development (including all videos and writing time), plus additional hours for any monthly Zoom meetings that you attend.

Please follow these instructions:

After you watch each classroom lesson video, complete the practice writing exercise, and then write one paragraph of reflection on how this tool could enhance your writing instruction in your community. After the final video outlining next steps, please write a paragraph reflection on how the entire e-course including extra writing prompts has inspired your ideas for teaching poetry, writing, and social-emotional learning. After you complete the entire training, compile all your writings and your reflections into one document with your name and email address, and include dates of any Zoom meetings that you attended. Email your document to Jennie at this email address: thepoetrytoolbox@gmail.com

Please double-check that you have included all writing exercises for each classroom lesson, a reflection paragraph for each, your final reflection paragraph, your name, email address, and dates of meetings you attended.

Jennie will review your document and will email you a certificate of completion.