National Poetry Month April is National Poetry Month, 30 days of celebrating the joy, expressiveness, and pure delight of poetry. Learn more about the National Poetry Month, get to know some of our most well-loved children's poets in our video interview series, browse the many online resources listed here, and visit your local library or bookstore to discover wonderful new books and anthologies. Poets on poetry Listen in as acclaimed children's writers like Marilyn Singer, Ashley Bryan, Jack Prelutsky, Mary Ann Hoberman, Nikki Grimes, and Janet Wong talk about reading poetry aloud and writing poetry. National Poetry Month resources National Poetry Month is a month-long, national celebration of poetry established by the Academy of American Poets. Bloggers in the kidlitosphere Kidlit bloggers are sharing poetry and poets in exciting new ways during National Poetry Month. 30 Poets/30 DaysThe GottaBook hosts the annual 30 Poets/30 Days project.
Barbaric Yawp in the 21st Century: Using Tech to Engage Budding Poets What if Dead Poets Society were set in modern times? Would Mr. Keating (Robin Williams' character) tweet Walt Whitman? I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. #significantquote #carpediem Would the students have created a Facebook group rather than sneak off to a cave? In the movie, students shouted quotes to music blasted from a record player while on the soccer field. We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We teach poetry because "it is language distilled to its most effective level. However, given our students' inclination to use technology, consider the potential if we leveraged that desire to help them better identify with poetry. Uncovering Poetry in Primary Sources Much like I inadvertently destroyed a number of great literary works with bad book projects, I will also confess to assigning a handful of brutally dry poetry assignments. Lauren also incorporated the audio recording features of Explain Everything into the process.
30 Ideas for Teaching Writing Summary: Few sources available today offer writing teachers such succinct, practice-based help—which is one reason why 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing was the winner of the Association of Education Publishers 2005 Distinguished Achievement Award for Instructional Materials. The National Writing Project's 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing offers successful strategies contributed by experienced Writing Project teachers. Since NWP does not promote a single approach to teaching writing, readers will benefit from a variety of eclectic, classroom-tested techniques. These ideas originated as full-length articles in NWP publications (a link to the full article accompanies each idea below). Table of Contents: 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing 1. Debbie Rotkow, a co-director of the Coastal Georgia Writing Project, makes use of the real-life circumstances of her first grade students to help them compose writing that, in Frank Smith's words, is "natural and purposeful." ROTKOW, DEBBIE. 2003. Back to top 2. 3. 4.
(Re)Creating Poets: How to Teach Poetry in the Classroom The wonderful poet Naomi Shihab Nye first introduced me to William Stafford's idea that no one becomes a poet. She says that we are all born poets, and it's just that some of us choose to keep up the habit. At times, all of us inevitably get stuck viewing ourselves in static and limiting ways. When I tell students that we will be studying poetry there are always some students who mutter, "I can't write poems." A poetry unit and Poetry Month are opportunities for encouraging students to write in new, creative and different ways. Bill Moyers reminds us, "Fooling with words is the play of poetry." When studying poetry, the first thing I ask students to do is define poetry. As we discuss and debate what should be considered poetry, my goal is to challenge students to think broadly about poetry and creativity. As the unit continues, here are four strategies and a number of resources that I've found helpful. 1. I intentionally use poems about poetry early in the unit. 2. 3. 4.
Learning Resources | Shel Silverstein “My beard grows to my toes, I never wear no clothes, I wraps my hair Around my bare, And down the road I goes.” – “My Beard” Where the Sidewalk Ends “Needles and pins, Needles and pins, Sew me a sail To catch me the wind.” – from “Needles and Pins” Falling Up “Millie McDeevit screamed a scream So loud it made her eyebrows steam.” – from “Screamin’ Millie” Falling Up “I will not play at tug o’ war. I’d rather play at hug o’ war” – from “Hug O’ War” Where the Sidewalk Ends “If you are a dreamer, come in.” – from “Invitation” Where the Sidewalk Ends “Anything can happen, child, ANYTHING can be.” – from “Listen to the Mustn’ts" Where the Sidewalk Ends “Balancing my ABCs Takes from noon to half past three. I don’t have time to grab a T Or even stop to take a P.” – “Alphabalance” Falling Up “Last night I had a crazy dream That I was teachin’ school.
Using poems to develop productive skills This is a great motivator. Poems are often rich in cultural references, and they present a wide range of learning opportunities. For me, the aim is to teach English through poetry, not to teach the poetry itself, so you don't need to be a literature expert. Most of the tried and tested activities used regularly by language teachers can be adapted easily to bring poetry into the classroom. Communicative speaking activities Working on pronunciation Writing activities Some pros and cons Conclusion Communicative speaking activities Before doing any productive work, I like to give my students plenty of pre-reading activities so that they are adequately prepared. As a way in to a poem, I might play some background music to create the atmosphere, show some pictures to introduce the topic, and then get students to think about their personal knowledge or experience which relates to this topic. Working on pronunciation It can be fun to get students to rehearse and perform a poem.
Results on ReadWriteThink Home › Results from ReadWriteThink 1-8 of 8 Results from ReadWriteThink Sort by: Classroom Resources | Grades K – 12 | Student Interactive | Writing Poetry Acrostic Poems This online tool enables students to learn about and write acrostic poems. Elements of the writing process are also included. The art of the metaphor - Jane Hirshfield To explore metaphors more fully on your own, there are three directions you can go. The first is simply to start noticing whenever you meet one. Jane Hirshfield slipped metaphors into many of the things she said in this lesson. You might listen to it again and make a list of some of the metaphors she used along the way, without pointing out that they were metaphors. Then go to any random web blog or newspaper or magazine article and just start reading until you’ve found a half dozen metaphors. A second direction to explore metaphors further is to practice inventing metaphors yourself. A third way to learn more about metaphor is to read about it directly. A few specific resources: Almost every modern textbook or handbook about poetry has a chapter on metaphor. BBC Radio ran a terrific 45 minute program on metaphor (with a good “recommended books” list on the program’s web page). Metaphors We Live By, by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson (IL: University of Chicago Press, 1980)
Ideas poets.org | Academy of American Poets Poetry Magnets Using poems, quotations and proverbs The activities below are ways for students to enjoy the music of English. Poems Choose short simple poems that are close to students' lives. These poems are not for heavy analysis. Give pairs a poem to read together. Learning things by heart is very much a part of school systems and it gives students a sense of achievement to know a poem in English. Recommended poems and poets to try are:; Michael Rosen, Roger McGough or John Hegley . Quotations from Literature Another popular form of learning by heart and reading aloud are the famous sayings from our own literature or the work of philosophers, historians and politicians. They can spark interest in a theme, a person or a writer They are a good basis for discussion They carry universal messages across cultural boundaries They can be learned and recited for their music and beauty They are a common feature of language studies Students feel a sense of achievement in learning them well and you can do a 'quote of the week' throughout the year