Over the last few years, YOUTH SPEAKS after-school poetry workshops have helped turn hundreds of student writers into poets. Intended to be a resource for teachers who wish to transform their poetry lessons into a dynamic learning environment, this book focuses on some of the secrets of the success of YOUTH SPEAKS. Utilizing student examples from…

Uses examples of children's poetry to illustrate both the power of metaphor and the possibilities of poetry in the development of metaphor. Traces children's development in creation of metaphor from kindergarten through eighth grade. Looks at early demonstration of metaphor use and the expanded use of metaphor to describe complex concepts and…

Describes a project that introduced eighth graders to a wide range of classics (including Aesop, Confucius, Ovid, and Jean de La Fontaine). Shows how the author used these works to inspire the kids to write their own poems and stories. (SR)

Explored relationships between middle school students' writing processes and their written products. Results suggest that students need to engage in a variety of writing tasks; teachers must be aware of the complexity involved in composing to assess progress; editing must be kept in its proper perspective; and teachers should recognize that…

The Flind Middle Schools Writing Inservice Project grew out of the conviction that improving students' writing was a matter not of increased emphasis on sentence structure, grammar, or form, but rather of a change in the thinking about how writing should be taught. The project grew from a brief conference to a two-year commitment on the part of…