Reading and Writing Poetry

Enjoy selected ideas for exploring poetry from NCTE publications and from the ReadWriteThink Web site.

Varying Views of America (ReadWriteThink)
Employing collaborative groups and graphic organizers, students analyze three poems: Walt Whitman's “I Hear America Singing,” Langston Hughes' “I, Too, Sing America,” and Maya Angelou's “On the Pulse of the Morning.”

Finders Keepers: Owning the Reading They Do (Voices from the Middle)
The author has her students create "found poems" and use them in conjunction with the students' own Readers/Writers Logs to help them discover the power of effective language.

The Celebration Poem (Classroom Notes Plus)
In this activity based on Byrd Baylor’s book I’m in Charge of Celebrations, students write poems about special moments in their lives.

Poetry Models Expand and Inspire (Classroom Notes Plus)
The author uses creative exercises from Joseph Tsujimoto’s Teaching Poetry Writing to Adolescents to expand students‘ experience with poetry.

For additional poetry resources, visit the Poetry area of the NCTE Store (http://www.ncte.org/store/books/poetry)