Voices from the Middle, Volume 10 Number 2 December 2002
Poetry (Theme)
Voices from the Middle, Volume 5 Number 1 February 1998
Poetry (Theme)
Voices from the Middle, Volume 4 Number 1 February 1997
Teaching and Writing Poetry (Theme)
English Journal, Volume 91 Number 3 January 2002
Additional articles from NCTE journals
Browse the NCTE Catalog of Books
Accent on Meter: A Handbook for Readers of Poetry
Author(s): Joseph Powell, Mark Halperin. Accent on Meter: A Handbook for Readers of Poetry offers practical ways of teaching students about the close connections between the meaning, rhythm, and meter in poetry. The major assumption of the book is that a close reading of a poem—one that explores the nuances of structure—can increase one’s appreciation and enjoyment of poetry.
While more detailed than introductory texts, Accent on Meter does not assume prior knowledge; it is designed to supplement anthologies and texts used in introduction to poetry and creative writing classes. Teachers will find this introduction to meter user-friendly because the book offers a sequence of cases, examples, and strategies for teaching scansion in easy-to-read prose that acknowledges the ambiguity and difficulty of many poetic concepts and the fact that some lines can be scanned in more than one way.
167 pp. 2004. Grades 9–College. ISBN 0-8141-3146-8
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Getting the Knack: 20 Poetry Writing Exercises
Author(s): Dunning, Stephen; Stafford, William
Dunning and Stafford, both widely- known poets and educators, offer this delightful manual of exercises for beginning poets. The 20 exercises, each covering different types or phases of poetry writing, as well as the authors' humor and nonacademic style, will appeal to experienced and novice poets of all ages.
203pp. 1992. ISBN 0-8141-1848-8. No. 18488. Secondary.
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Risking Intensity: Reading and Writing Poetry with High School Students
Author(s): Michaels, Judith Rowe.
Risking Intensity is a book about drawing on the self -- to study poetry, to write it, and to share it. Judith Michaels approaches the subject at both the personal and practical levels, opening the world of poetry to her classes through carefully planned strategies. Poems by students and teacher illustrate each topic. We also hear the cadences of published poets -- of Keats, Wordsworth, Clifton, Thomas, Komunyakaa, Basho, and others.
188pp. 1999. ISBN 0-8141-4171-4. No. 41714. Secondary.
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Teaching Poetry in High School
Author(s): Somers, Albert B.
If you were teaching poetry in high school, which poems would you select? Those you studied in first-year English because they were "classics"? Would you teach form and technique? What about rap? Albert Somers answers these and other questions, offering the teacher a vast compendium of resources in a highly accessible format. The book also offers: over 40 complete poems; a discussion of assessment issues; poetry across the curriculum; poetry on the Internet. A comprehensive resource for teachers, this book presents practical ideas and myriad ways for teachers and students to discover the joys of poetry.
234pp. 1999. ISBN 0-8141-5289-9. No. 52899. Secondary.
Responding to Student Poems
Author(s): Bizzaro, Patrick.
Responding to Student Poems urges writing teachers to “better understand themselves as writers and readers.” For Bizzaro this means questioning our own preconceived critical biases and expanding the range of responses offered to the student-writer. To this end, Bizzaro presents a thoughtful study of himself in the process of evaluating student poetry through the lenses of four different contemporary critical theories: New Criticism, reader-response criticism, deconstruction, and feminist criticism. What we learn is that “some poems demand certain types of readings,” and teachers should be able both to offer those readings and to show student-writers how to make such readings of each other’s poems. Ultimately, “the writing teacher must become a reading teacher” as well. 236pp. 1993. ISBN 0-8141-4088-2. No. 40882. College.
All NCTE Poetry Books
NCTE Awards
NCTE Award for Poetry for Children
Resources from Classroom Notes Plus
Inkblots Spark Original Poetry
Listening for "Sizzling Pickles"
Teaching Ideas from NCTE Affiliate Journals
Writing Poems about Writing Poems: Why (Not)?
This article is reprinted from FOCUS: Teaching English Language Arts (Spring/Summer 2000), a publication of the Southeastern Ohio Council of Teachers of English.
Making Poems Come Alive
This article was originally published in Statement (Fall 1997), the journal of the Colorado Language Arts Society.
Reclaiming the Body: Teaching Modern Poetry
This article was reprinted from California English (Summer 1997), the journal of the California Association of Teachers of English (CATE).
Expand Your Search
Look for more poetry lesson plans at ReadWriteThink.org, the Marco Polo language arts project in partnership with NCTE and the International Reading Association.
Academy of American Poets - the largest organization in the country dedicated to the art of poetry. The site includes poet biographies, poems, and links to other resources.
Ten National Poetry Month Activities - From Traci's Lists of Ten, here are activities you can do in your classroom in April or any month.
American Verse Project - an electronic archive of volumes of American poetry prior to 1920 in full text.
PoetryTeachers.com - ideas and activities for encouraging a love of poetry in your students.
Outta Ray's Head: The Poetry Page - lesson plans for teaching poetry.
Semantic Rhyming Dictionary - Type in a word to find its rhymes, synonyms, definitions, and more.
