Encourages students to attempt to capture the voice of established poets in parodies. Notes that this close interaction with literature allows the students to gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of literary styles. Presents two student parodies of William Wordsworth's "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud." (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)

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)

Describes five poetry assignments and presents examples of students' poetry written in response to the assignments. (RS)

Develops a college-level writing assignment using Adrienne Kennedy's autobiography, a multisectioned list poem. Discusses why the personal list poem is appealing and how lists--a simple but generative form--work well for students. States that students wrote a succession of paragraphs about people in their lives who had influenced them. Gives…

Argues that any curriculum of peace must have at its core the teaching (not preaching) of empathy. Recommends ecphrastic poetry (poetic response to works of art) as a teaching tool for empathy, and discusses how the author uses one particular poem written in response to a World War II photograph to stimulate student writing response and…

Relates how the author teaches elementary and secondary school students to write nexus poems--poems that use a nexus, or bridge, to persuade the reader, or to show the reader the link between where something originates and where people use it. (SR)

Discusses the experiences of a poetry writing teacher who teaches poetry to second-grade through high school physically challenged children using art as inspiration. Includes numerous examples of students' poetry, which demonstrate the depth, variety, complexity, and originality that art can bring out. (RS)

Describes how a teacher uses Stanley Kunitz's poem "The Portrait" to help students write poems full of concrete, sensory images about deeply private experiences. Presents examples of student poems. (RS)

Relates a poet's experiences in graduate school, and the poetry he wrote in the 1970s. Discusses methods and techniques for poetry writing in the classroom. Suggests topics for a series of poetry exercises: moebius strip, poetry sights, shadow poems, poetry chair, chopstick quatrains, poetry shirt, poem wrapping the school, word beads, and a haiku…

Describes a successful unit of study on poetry in a fifth grade class that ended with students each writing a sonnet as a final project. (SR)

Describes the use of alternative types of poetry and affirmations to encourage self-esteem and break down barriers to learning in an adult basic skills reading class. (SR)

Suggests that discussions on approaching poetry must begin with addressing the role of the classroom teachers and the attitudes about poetry that they bring to the classroom. Discusses a few general suggestions as to how poetry may be approached in the classroom. Discusses a poetry writing sequence which helps students explore images and…

Presents a case study of poetry writing in a fifth grade classroom. Shows not only how writing and reading come together but also how children come together with each other and with published poets. (RS)

Many freshmen come to English courses thinking that they generally dislike poetry and that in particular they dislike writing critical essays about poetry. Two strategies which are effective in helping students overcome their own negative perceptions are to allow students to: (1) engage in transactional reader response; and (2) explore poetry…