This 20-minute videotape program presents poet and Columbia University professor Kenneth Koch conducting a poetry workshop with a small group of fourth and fifth graders. The program's notes explain that Koch believes that students should be allowed to write poetry in the same way that they are allowed to dance and sing--with freedom,…

Describes the author's Web site, which is devoted to the Japanese poet-painter Yosa Buson (1716-1784) and contains articles on Buson, bibliographic resources, and a pictorial catalog of haiku and paintings. This paper covers project purpose and background, subject area and materials, contexts of the development, structure of the Web site,…

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…

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)

Outlines how poetry, especially the Moderns, can enhance problem-solving skills. Presents George Steiner's four problem categories: contingent, modal, tactical, and ontological. Discusses the application of these categories to obtuse poetry. (KM)

Careful scrutiny of the literature and actions of Paul Laurence Dunbar reveals that he was more a part of the African-American protest tradition than scholars have been led to believe. He cannot be grouped with the plantation school of writers because of his opposition to slavery and white paternalism. (SLD)

The history of black women's social reform work remains unrecognized in the academy and the general culture. The contributions of courageous black feminist authors such as bell hooks, Nikki Giovanni, and Audre Lorde are important for all students. Hooks works with educators to denounce sexist and racist stereotypes, Giovanni stresses the concept…

Focuses on using poetry to stimulate children's emergent literacy. Contends that poetry stimulates many areas of development and inspires children's desire to understand how words are spoken, written, and read. Advises teachers on how to bring poetry to the classroom through daily activities such as snack time, field trips, and routine…

In this essay, the authors suggest that there is another, different and more ancient way of looking at the moral and social role of the teacher and the processes of education in which she is involved. This alternative perspective draws on older, more imaginative and complex sources of meaning than the latest Gallup poll or the latest adjusted…

Romanticism's valuing of love and the life of the imagination, combined with its belief in human potential taken heroically to and beyond its limits, provides a way of addressing differently and fruitfully certain issues to do with pedagogy in schools, making in particular better sense of what it means to be an effective teacher and a productive…

In this first issue of a children's literature annual, 10 articles on poetry for young people are presented. The articles and their authors are as follows: "There Is No Net To Catch A Poem" (Jane Yolen); "Poetry and the Self" (Myra Cohn Livingston); "The World Outside My Skin" (Eve Merriam); "American Poetry for…

A product of Hawaii's Poets-in-the-Schools program, this second volume of a compilation of essays and poems addresses diverse artistic and educational concerns about poetry writing and is divided into two sections. Section I consists of essays by three of the poets who were involved in the program: (1) "Evaluating Student Poems" by Tim…

The booklet contains brief information on nine January events celebrated by Puerto Ricans: New Year; Epiphany; and the birthdays of Betsy Ross, Eugenio Maria de Hostos, Dr. Martin Luther King, Benjamin Franklin, Edgar Allan Poe, William McKinley, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Designed as a teacher resource, the booklet includes brief biographical…

The problem of understanding oral poetics, or oral traditional poetry, is examined in this survey of contemporary Homeric scholarship in England. The Homeric problem, as it is reflected in both the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey", is considered in four key areas, including: (1) the poetic text, (2) comparative methodology, (3) the…

A poetry unit on the theme of death is described.