Describes the author's journey in the expressive arts, including dance, poetry, healing, and interdisciplinary expressive arts. Offers poems that illustrate how she grapples with professional identity, deeply personal life issues, and early formative memories. Shows how she is beginning to experience the arts as a place of acceptance and grace.…

Describes assignments that link Gary Soto's novel "Taking Sides" to a collection of Latino poetry. Notes that the students' final presentations were successful, as indicated by their enthusiasm and engagement throughout. (RS)

Discusses: poetry as a prereading activity; collaborative invention of poems; poet as gatherer of ideas; considering the poetic memory; remembering people through poetic memory; communication and creation; form and meaning; and engaging all students. (RS)

Explores and describes from a crosslinguistic perspective, some of the major structural irregularities that characterize poetry in Italian Sign Language and distinguish poetic from nonpoetic texts. Reviews findings of previous studies of signed language poetry, and points out issues that need to be clarified to provide a more accurate description…

This paper explores the use of poetic documents in narrative therapy practice. It considers the ways in which feminist and poststructuralist ideas inform these practices and speculates about the extent to which a "poetic-mindedness" might sustain the practice of double- (or multiple-) listening. The author illustrates these explorations…

This article builds upon the concept of hybridity to affirm the relevance of poetry, music, and other forms of popular culture in the lives of urban youth. Its focus examines the blending of seemingly disparate forms to understand how young people, in particular young people of color, negotiate their multilayered social worlds. One of these worlds…

The author of this article revisits Simon Ortiz's poem, "From Sand Creek," in which the latter can in so few words convey both the horrific tragedy of conquest and colonization, while at the same time find a space for possibility, a means for recovery that is never about forgetting but always occurs as a kind of recuperative remembering. Ortiz…

Steven Z. Athanases, a high school English teacher, describes a unit of studying poems through performance where students spend their time looking deeply into a single, chosen poem. The processes of reflection and preparation often result in increased understanding of the poem's meaning.

The ways in which James Welch's poetry and prose are used to overcome stereotypes of Native Americans are discussed. He was a great writer who developed unforgettable characters and scenes that enriched reader's experience.

An author and a poet Nikki Grimes uses her art to reach across differences such as race and culture, and show the commonality of human experience. She uses the power of her poetry to break down racial barriers, shatter cultural stereotypes, and forge community.

In this case study the author explored a teacher's beliefs about creativity and giftedness and investigated the classroom practices of this teacher of gifted students for 20 years. Seven semi-structured and 2 open observations were carried out in her classroom, and 2 prefigured interviews were conducted with her. She believed that creative…

Losing friendships are significant events for people throughout their life span. In spite of the importance of friendships to psychosocial health, studies of friendships loss are not found in the literature. This article begins to address this gap through a qualitative study utilizing autobiographical poetry as data. This study exemplifies…

Peirce was a thinker who claimed that his mind had been thoroughly formed by his rigorous training in the natural sciences. But he was also the author who proclaimed that nothing is truer than true poetry. In making the case for Peirce's relevance to issues of education, then, it is necessary to do justice to the multifaceted character of his…

Today childhood takes place within a multimedia context where education, marketing and entertainment operate together in one big melting pot. Childhood is commodified, a situation not everybody seems happy with. Due to increasing exposure with violence and sexual activities, for example in children's games, children seem to lose the chance to be…

This column cites five poets (Pat Mora, Jane Yolen, Lilian Moore, Gary Soto, and J. Patrick Lewis) that will be highlighted in the January to May 2006 issues. This information can be used to begin a Poet's Fan Club in the classroom. Groups of students can select a poet in order to prepare for a forthcoming Poet of the Month display. Another idea…