Describes the preconceived ideas that adolescents have regarding the reading and writing of poetry. Explains the author's nontraditional high school classroom and its methodology. States that the class is run like a reading and writing workshop. Emphasizes the importance of students' ownership of their ideas. Concludes that adolescents can be…

Relates one experience of teaching poetry in a rural high school in Jamaica. Recounts the teacher's reflections on her observations of the teaching of the same poem (Michael Smith's "Mi C-YaaN beLieVe iT" written in Jamaican Creole) taught in a poetry class in rural Jamaica and a British classroom. (RS)

Asks the reader to try to make sense out of one student's response to Adrien Stoutenberg's poem "Reel One." Presents the student's reading and an analysis of the student's reading. (HB)

Describes a method of teaching a creative writing course that culminates in the preparation and publication of chapbooks of student poetry. Details six steps by which English teachers can carry out such student publications. (HB)

Maintains that inquiry-based approaches to instruction may lead all students toward their gifts. Discusses I-Search papers in this light, including their use with poetry and with technology. (SR)

Uses two poems by William Carlos Williams and John Mitton to point out how students' knowledge of "speech genres" (in this case, the apology) can be drawn upon to show them how much they already know about poetic genres as well as what they can learn from what the poets have done with those speech genres. (SR)

Offers a review of the book "Important Words: A Book for Poets and Writers" (by Bill Brown and Malcolm Glass), a book which teaches the art of poetry through a program of assignments, and serves teachers equally as well as a reference for ideas or a program of instruction. (SR)

The initial phase of Porta's mature poetry, composed between 1801 and 1805, is discussed in the context of dialect translation and parody of famous literary texts. (Author/LB)

Describes the techniques and strategies suggested by practicing poets for teaching poetry. Discusses specifically what teachers should not do when studying poetry with students. Advocates teaching contemporary American poets, and provides a list of some of the best. (HB)

Shows how one teacher incorporated poetry more broadly into the English curriculum. Gives 12 practical suggestions for getting students more involved in poetry. (HB)

Describes the effect of first-year directing students using short, abstract poems rather than scenes from classic plays as the basis of their productions. Notes that the images in these poems speak loudly and intensely to the audience, in contrast to the usual "talking heads" result of producing scenes from classics. (RS)

Provides an account of how one teacher taught poetry by first focusing on what students knew about a poem and then moving to what they were surprised by and, thus, to what they did not know. Outlines how such a method was carried out in the classroom with Marge Piercy's poem, "Councils." (HB)

Presents an interview with poet and teacher Barbara Juster Esbensen, 1994 recipient of the NCTE Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. (SR)

Describes the way one teacher connected young adult novels with poetry. Provides extensive suggestions for teachers interested in such connections. Includes a listing of possible titles to be connected. (HB)

Discusses the 10 elements of the author's personal writing curriculum: solitude, experience, faith, need, tension, pattern, voice, ease, productivity, and readers. (RS)