Discusses the importance of introducing young adult readers to the poetry of African-American women. Topics addressed include reading and listening to recordings of poems; issues of access, including the reader's ability to comprehend works outside his or her own cultural context; and the concept of voice. (Contains 12 references.) (LRW)

Examines the rhymes and linguistic tricks used by children, focusing on the rhyme, syllable structure, word boundaries, rhythm, meaning, and social uses of school children's poetry and rhymes. Examples are provided of various past and current poems and rhymes. (Contains 10 references.) (MDM)

Draws on Gerald Graff's work on conflicts over canonicity, pedagogy, and academic institutional structures to investigate ways of handling teacher-student tension over the use of popular songs in the classroom. Discusses two versions of a writing assignment dealing with such tension and what each assignment implies about the course's underlying…

Gives an account of how one teacher taught poems from an anthology of black British poetry entitled "News for Babylon." Reviews actual lesson plans and approaches to specific poems. (TB)

Investigates whether teacher modeling improves fifth-grade students' attitudes toward poetry. Finds that students exposed to modeling had a greater enthusiasm/appreciation of poetry. Acknowledges that appreciation of literature, including poetry, must be developed over a long period of time through a variety of means. (RS)

Poetry writing is recommended in working with adolescent students both with and without emotional/behavioral disorders. Poetry writing is seen as having value in preventing emotional problems and in reaching depressed adolescents with language deficits. Examples are given from poems written by seventh graders. (DB)

Attitude surveys of 91 boys and 76 girls were completed in their second (age 7) and fourth (age 9) years of primary school in Britain. Girls became significantly more negative toward mathematics, boys toward writing poems. However, attitudes between the sexes were not significantly different for 63% of school activities. (SK)

Describes the "Private Eye Project" developed by Seattle artist and writer Kerry Ruef and piloted by the Seattle Public Schools. Program materials include a loupe (a jeweler's magnifying glass) and a kit of specimens. Transformed by the loupe, the most ordinary objects present new, analogous worlds leading to poetic and artistic…

Describes the use of the creative arts as therapeutic techniques in group treatment for people with AIDS and HIV infection. Gives particular attention to poetry and art techniques in workshops on "intimacy and dating." (SR)

Describes the experience of a teacher and his students on Writers in Electronic Residence (WIER), a computer network available to schools in which students post their creative writings which are then discussed by professional writers, students, and teachers. Makes a case for using computer technology in language arts classes. Discusses some of the…

Explains how teachers can use written compilations of student-generated questions and comments as a basis for discussions of novels and poems. Shows that student brainstorming ideas can be used effectively as the basis for writing assignments. (TB)

The protest poetry of Claude McKay, a leading writer of the Harlem Renaissance, is couched in the Western sonnet form. How the poetic form supports or conflicts with the messages of African-American pride and contempt for racism is examined. (SLD)

Discusses how a professional writer and teacher of writing helps children write better by incorporating specific images taken from their "screens"--the places where they see things in their heads. Presents numerous examples of students' poems. Notes the "screens" can also be used in writing stories or essays. (RS)

Presents two children's poems about candy, by Dorothy Aldis. The article describes a teaching unit on the poems, the poet, and her use of end rhymes. Activities include writing rhyming words, writing rhyming poems, rhyming a recipe, and creating collages. (SM)

Describes an activity in which students are given copies of a poem by Emily Dickinson in her own handwriting and are assigned the task, in groups, of preparing a version of the poem for publication. Notes that this activity makes students aware of an editor's work and the work that goes into preparing material for publication. (SR)