Presents a reflection on the processes that led to the writing and reading one of the poems from a work-in-progress, "Crossing the Border." Connects the author's writing experience to his teaching practice, supposedly with an underlying belief that there must be a nexus. Concludes that above all, he seeks to stimulate, even provoke, students into…

Presents a three-part exercise that deals with poetic excess: heightened exaggeration of deliberately conflicting ideas. States that part 1 deals with hyperbole, part 2 with paradox, and part 3 with combining hyperbole and paradox in a single poem. Gives examples of students' poems using the technique. (PA)

Analysis of the quantitative metrical verse of French Renaissance poet Jean-Antoine de Baif finds that the metrics, often seen as unscannable and using an incomprehensible phonetic orthography, derive largely from a system that is accentual, with the orthography permitting the poet to encode quantitative distinctions that coincide with the meter.…

The River of Words contest encourages students and teachers to explore their local watershed environments, then produce student poetry and artwork that is judged in grade categories. The contest teaching guide promotes this interdisciplinary approach, and includes excerpts from longer books on watershed ecology, essays, classroom activities, an…

Recounts the experiences of two different night hikes by junior high students in central Ohio which focused on writing a group poem and exploring the mysteries of the "unlit" world. Discusses imagery and features excerpts from "night" poetry, both that written by the students and readings from published poets. (PA)

Describes a group activity for writing and evaluating poetry on "pi." Notes that the activity worked well in a high-school geometry class and that the students in the class had fun with it. (RS)

Presents a poem written to reassure parents that they make an impact on their children's mathematical awareness through everyday activities. (Author)

Considers how to involve students more in discussing poetry. Describes a class activity involving creating a low-risk poetry porthole: the list poem. Talks about learning how to discuss the poetry of others. Presents ideas for making the transition to the discussion of "school" poetry. (SG)

Notes that a difficulty with the multigenre paper assignment is that educators assume that students are familiar enough with the various genres to write skillfully in the genres they select. Suggests that multigenre assignments can be improved by changing forms and format; changing perspectives; and changing boundaries. Concludes that multigenre…

Considers the arguments for seeing work rather than response as key to the poetic experience. Explains the development of such experience in the classroom. Notes that this is worth exploring not only in terms of literacy curriculum, but with respect to curriculum as a whole, since poetry is often invoked as an important resource for the…

Presents journal entries over one semester of the author's experiences teaching poetry to "SIE VII" special education students at PS 162M in Harlem. Notes that "SIE VII" is a New York City Board of Education classification for children who "display severe emotional disturbances, such as infantile behaviors, lack of self control, and withdrawn or…

Argues that, although Matthew Arnold was instrumental in launching English literature in Britain as a proper school subject, he purposively limited the extent of literature's educational value. (MG)

Describes three poetry-writing exercises that encourage students to break from linear, normal thinking patterns: answering questions that have no answers; describing impossible objects; and contemplating infinity. (MM)

Describes several exercises to help students change their perspectives when writing poetry. (MM)

A teacher at Chicago Vocational High School describes how he interested a group of urban high school students in American poetry. Emphasizes anticipating the reasons for student resistance and drawing on students' likes and interests. (FMW)