Presents a teacher's journal entries for poetry classes she conducted for fourth and fifth graders at Anthony Chabot Elementary School in Oakland, California, located in a middle class neighborhood with an ethnic mix of students. Describes two poetry writing ideas: "What Matters" and "100 Words." (PA)

Explains the guidelines for an exercise based on the poem "The Little Mute Boy" by F. Garcia Lorca. States that students are to: discuss synesthesia, the substitution of senses; explore the surreal senses; think about life without a sense; create a net of surprises; write a poem; and read the poem aloud. (PA)

Outlines a night adventure--a poetry hike for a junior high class. Discusses the group poem they worked on and gives examples of poems students produced after listening to readings of several poets' ideas and expressions of "night." (PA)

Pupils need to express themselves in creative processes and products in the language arts curriculum. Too frequently, teachers require behavior which involves conformity on the part of learners. Specific objectives many times delimit pupils' opportunities to express original ideas that come from within the involved learners. Many activities can…

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

Rural school students need ample opportunities to engage in creative writing, particularly the writing of poetry. A student teacher and a cooperating teacher in a rural fifth-grade classroom (with 12 students) guided the students in the writing of limericks by starting out with couplets, then triplets, and then limericks. The teacher had clearly…

Presents a dialog among three English teachers concerning teaching performance poetry to ninth graders. (RS)

Pupils should participate in numerous forms and kinds of writing activities involving poetry and should hear, read, and write different forms and kinds of prose. Types of poetry that pupils can write include couplets, triplets, quatrains, limericks, free verse, haiku, and diamante. The ingredients that all types of poetry might have include…

Suggesting combining poetry and science learning, this collection of materials maintains that the natural intersection of science and poetry can be used to stimulate thinking, create interest, and explore new possibilities. The collection includes: (1) the South Carolina Basic Skills Assessment Program's Objectives Reading/Science Match; (2)…

Describes a technique in which students describe themselves through metaphors or similes and asks them to explain the comparisons they made. Discuses additions and extensions to the basic activity. Discusses a similar exercise in which students sought out poems that had a speaker that the student thought was like him/herself, and then wrote poems…

Presents diary excerpts that emerged from two separate teaching experiences with fifth and second graders. Reflects on the author's efforts to communicate the wonder of language and imagination to students. Concludes that by taking account of his own lessons as well as the students' responses to the exercises, the author discovered in a new light…

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)

Presents a social studies writing assignment which encouraged students to offer their personal reflections on the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving. (MG)

Observing that basal readers and standardized testing lead teachers to focus on facts when dealing with novels or poetry in class, this monograph discusses research on response to literature. The monograph also presents classroom activities designed to allow students to explore the forms, the language, and the imagery of fiction, poetry, and…