Rurality is rarely considered or oftentimes completely neglected in conversations about culturally relevant pedagogy. Yet, without a relevant curriculum, students both in and out of rural communities are left with dominant and deficiently positioned narratives about rural people. School librarians must provide counter and critical narratives for…

This article describes an instructional lesson the author developed to help students use parody to read and write original poetry. The author begins this article with an introduction to parody and a rationale for using it as an instructional strategy. Then, he describes materials and procedures he used and he shares samples of student writing. He…

If we listen to them, the words of our students can provide a road map for instructional responses that meet their diverse literacy needs. In this article, Cara Gutzmer, a middle school literacy coach, and Phil Wilder, a teacher collaborator at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, discuss how a responsive teaching framework guided their…

Describes an activity in which students in a creative writing class write and revise poems, and then bake pastries, offering both to an audience of around 50 which assembles to enjoy the event. (SR)

Notes that some students invent their own styles of poetry, and regularly use them in their writing. Recommends that teachers encourage this. Presents several examples of students' styles. (RS)

Describes how a group of adults with autism, mental retardation, and other disabilities has accessed a means of communication and formed a bridge to the community through poetry. (SR)

Describes using self-reflective synesthetic writing exercises (which prompt students to think metaphorically about crossed senses--taste of clouds, smell of anger, etc.) in creative writing with high school students. Notes how such writing allows a reader/teacher insights into students' lives and personalities. Includes student sample poems. (SR)

Describes how the emotions surrounding death created a communion between a teacher and her class. Presents four poems, one written by the teacher, concerning the death of family members. (RS)

Argues that through poetry students can give voices to people whose voices usually do not find their ways into their classrooms or textbooks. Discusses poetry and literature, poetry in history, and personalizing poetry. (RS)

Describes how the author, when teaching dream poems and poem writing to older kids, uses Margaret Atwood's "Dreams of the Animals" to extend the discussion about dreaming and have the children think about dreams that have little to do with their own. Includes examples of students' poems about animal dreams. (SR)

Describes the author's experience teaching poetry to a fourth-grade class, and how an inspired moment from one student (improvising a poem about an imagined hairstyle of poet Federico Garcia Lorca) led the entire class on a journey of inspiration. Looks at the route to that place of "inspired rightness." (SR)

Describes activities of college students in a "Poets in Schools" program that brings college students together with students in elementary and secondary schools. Describes how the students devised poetry teaching exercises, and describes three of those exercises (a multimedia approach, using photos and postcards, and poems like trees).…

Describes how a teacher and her grades one through three children made poetry come alive and serve as an authentic part of their lives. Describes the factors underlying authentic classroom instruction, and notes how poetry moved out from lessons and even school time to become something that will continue to be with many of these children…

Describes events in the author's journey toward living her life as a poet. Includes reminiscences of her childhood, and interactions with other teachers, friends, relatives. Includes samples of poetry written by children. (RS)

Discusses a form of poetry written for two voices--two side-by-side columns, each read by a different voice. Mentions precedents of this form in art, music, and poetry. Presents examples of fourth grade, high school, and university students' poems written in this form. (RS)