Provides the transcript of an extemporaneous speech by the poet Kenneth Koch at the "Educating the Imagination II" conference sponsored by the Teachers and Writers Collaborative. Comments on issues of creative writing, the imagination, and poetry. Provides autobiographical material about Koch's development as a poet. (HB)

Describes how one teacher got elementary students excited about writing poetry by providing them with simple rules and structures and encouraging them to take chances. Strategies included having each child contribute one line to a poem, discouraging rhyming (which is difficult and blocks creativity), encouraging them to write freely, and having…

Looks closely at the words of Whitman's "Song of Myself" to get a closer look at the mystery of poetry. Discusses how Whitman's work can be used with students to inspire their writing. (MG)

Offers excerpts from Kenneth Koch's classic book in which he tells how he and Kate Farrell taught poetry writing to elderly people in a nursing home. Describes four poetry writing classes, first giving students' poems, then Koch's commentary. (PA)

This collection of some of the critical works of a lauded contemporary poet, Kenneth Koch, gathers together poems, articles and interviews which are about poetry--Koch's critical work has mainly taken the form of poems about poetry (including parodies) and books about teaching the writing of poetry to schoolchildren. Focused on the practical…

This book describes the group instruction of poetry writing in a nursing home and contains poems, written individually and collectively, resulting from that workshop and others like it. During each workshop session, the author presented subjects or ideas to be used in poems, recorded individual and group responses, and read back the finished…

Encourages teachers to read poetry on their own and in discussion groups. Reassures teachers who have doubts about teaching poetry, and encourages them to teach so that children will have positive experiences and learn to like poetry. Shares revision methods to help make revising as inspiring as writing the first draft of a poem. (MG)

Looks at the similarities and differences among children learning to write poetry in United States, Haiti, France, Italy, and China through the author's experiences teaching in these countries. Notes that the differences in how these different children wrote were less obvious than the similarities. (MG)