At the core of CoolSpeak is the belief that when students find their voice, everything changes: how they see themselves, how they engage in learning, and how they connect with the world around them.

That’s why our team is excited to highlight Stand Up & Be Heard, the latest work from acclaimed poet, educator, and CoolSpeaker Joaquín Zihuatanejo. More than just a book, Stand Up & Be Heard is an interactive experience, part poetry collection, part reflective journal, part guided workshop. It blends original poems with the stories behind them, then invites readers to step in and do the work themselves through intentional prompts and writing space. The result is a powerful tool that helps students move from reflection to expression, building both literacy skills and confidence along the way.

Designed for young poets of all ages, this book challenges readers to slow down, think deeply, and create boldly. It reminds us that writing isn’t just an academic skill; it’s a way to process, heal, and make meaning.

Before the book’s virtual launch party on April 30th, we sat down with Joaquín to talk about the inspiration behind the book, how it supports both literacy and social-emotional growth, and how educators can bring it to life in their classrooms.

What inspired you to create your new book, Stand Up & Be Heard, and what need were you seeing in classrooms? Was there a moment you knew this book needed to exist?

When I began my Dollars for Scholars workshop series years ago, a young scholar in Philadelphia, who couldn’t have been more than 16, challenged me to write a book as a companion piece to the series. I began writing the book that night. A while back, I found myself facilitating poetry workshops with middle school scholars in Aspen, only to do the same work with high school scholars in South Texas a few days later. In both instances, a scholar asked me if I had a book that young people could use as a resource to help them craft their poems. Those simple questions from middle- and high-school youth poets led to the creation of Stan Up & Be Heard.

I wanted young poets (of all ages) to have a resource within their reach to help them not only craft poems but also be reflective and realize the healing power that comes with reflection and journaling. I’m a father as well as a teacher and poet, and I’d be lying if I didn’t reveal that part of my motivation in writing Stand Up & Be Heard was to get young people to put their screens down and simply read and write. There is such a grounding sensation that comes with placing yourself in silence, reading, and then writing a response to what you’ve read. So, I knew the book had to be interactive. I knew it had to contain lined pages for the young poet to write in and craft this book with me. In a very real way, Stand Up & Be Heard is co-authored by me and the young poet who finds it in their hands.

Who did you write this book for, and why specifically them?

Originally, I set out to write a book that a sixth-grade youth poet and a 12th-grade youth poet would both find engaging and inspirational. I do a great deal of creative writing workshops with middle schools and high schools all over the country. You can imagine what a task it was to try to create an interactive collection of poems, parables, and prompts that both of those age groups would find enthralling while keeping them emotionally safe. It took me the better part of a year to craft this book for them, and I truly feel I have succeeded. But the further I got into the project and the more I talked about it with people, the more requests came from poets of all ages to include them in the release date so they could get their hands on the book.

So about halfway through the writing process, I began asking myself: Could a college student or an adult poet gain something by reading and working through Stand Up & Be Heard? And the answer I came to was yes. This inspired me to add the parenthetical note to the cover: Poems, Parables, & Prompts for Young Poets (of All Ages). While it began specifically for middle and high school students, I hope there is something for everyone in the book.

Did anything surprise you while writing your book?

think every time I write a book, there’s something that surprises me along the way. Perhaps if this isn’t the case, the book needs revision to create that surprise in the writer. After all, it was Frost who wrote, “No surprise for the writer, no surprise for the reader.” What surprised me when writing Stand Up & Be Heard was how much I thoroughly enjoyed the process of writing the companion essays for each poem. They act as an origin story in some instances. At other times, they act as a parable, hopefully revealing a lesson to be found in reading and crafting a poem of this particular form. At other times, the companion essay was a bit of memoir, a moment from my life that I found myself journeying through as this poem found its way into my life.

I hope that each poet who holds the book in their hands finds light and inspiration in the poems I’ve included in this collection. I also hope the poet who reads Stand Up & Be Heard learns something about my life and, in turn, perhaps learns something about themselves as they read and respond to the parables that follow the poems and precede the prompt.

How can teachers realistically use this book within their existing curriculum or schedule?

When I was a first-year teacher, I remember wishing I had a book I could fall back on with numerous practical applications or activities that actually work in teaching students the skills they will need to help them along their journey as readers, writers, and thinkers. Every year that I taught, the curriculum included a unit on poetry. It usually fell in the spring during April, which is National Poetry Month. Over time, I grew as a teacher, and I began to realize that any time of year is a fine time for poetry.

I truly hope that Stand Up & Be Heard finds its way into the hands of teachers. I feel there are prompts or activities in this book that can help them with the reluctant writer. The book offers strategies and techniques that make poetry accessible to even the most reluctant writers. I know these activities work because I have used them in classrooms all over the country for over 25 years. And there are some advanced writing challenges (that can be easily modified for writers of all capabilities) that our more advanced writers and thinkers can be challenged by.

I went so far as to include 100 bonus poetry prompts near the end of the book. In a very real way, there are enough poetry prompts in this book to last a teacher a very long while. With alteration by the teacher, each prompt can be tweaked or modified in some way to make the prompt their own.

The book is a guide. I think some of the most effective teaching happens when we take an idea for a lesson plan that we find in a guide and change it a bit to make it our own. Every teacher who uses Stand Up & Be Heard in their classroom has that right.

How does this book support both literacy skills and social-emotional growth?

I truly feel that Stand Up & Be Heard will help students press the pen down hard as they write, so as to leave an impression on things they were not intending to impress. I think they can learn skills, vocabulary, and techniques in my book that will make them more well-rounded thinkers, readers, and writers. Isn’t that the goal of any teacher? But I’m more than just an award-winning teacher and published author. I’m a father who cares about his two daughters greatly. And I realize that as a state-certified teacher, parents who send their children to my classroom expect me to keep them emotionally safe as well. I used to tell parents during our first teacher/parent conference together, “I want you to know my first job is to keep your child safe, my second job is to teach them about subordinate conjunctions and The Crucible.”

The socio-emotional growth and well-being of young people is something I’m incredibly passionate about. This is why I went out of my way to challenge student writers in the book to think about their own life force pyramid. To focus on the well-being of their bodies by eating right, finding a physical activity that they enjoy, and, most importantly, the benefits that come from a good night’s sleep. I even go so far as to instruct the student to put this book down if it is very late in the evening or early morning as they are reading it, and get some sleep. I also talk in the book about the restorative power of journaling. How it lightens our load. How we can use it as a tool for our own well-being.

Now more than ever, I wanted to write something that challenges young people to slow down. To stop. To breathe. To put their phones away for a moment. To reflect and write. Trust me when I say, nothing but good can come from it.

In a time when students often struggle not just with creativity but with where to begin, Stand Up & Be Heard offers a clear, guided pathway forward. It helps bridge the gap between ideas and expression while building confidence, reflection habits, and deeper engagement in learning.

Joaquín Zihuatanejo’s latest book is more than a literacy tool. It’s a culture-building resource that supports both academic growth and emotional well-being—something every classroom is looking for right now.

If you’re looking to go beyond a single assembly and create a lasting impact, Stand Up & Be Heard pairs powerfully with Joaquín’s workshops and keynote experiences.

• Equip students with a tool they can keep using long after the event
• Build confidence in writing, voice, and self-expression
• Support SEL and literacy goals at the same time
• Create meaningful moments of reflection and connection in your classrooms

Next Steps:

• Bring Joaquín to your campus for a live poetry + writing experience
• Attend the virtual launch party of Stand Up & Be Heard
• Stay connected with CoolSpeak for resources, workshops, and implementation support

Because when students learn to reflect, write, and share their voices, they don’t just complete assignments… They stand up. And they’re heard.