Please make a plan as to how you might share this book with the rest of the class. To what does the book lend itslelf? How can you develop a feasible and engaging group share:
Poems
Character webs
Person on the Street Interview
Different Endings: leave class guessing
ABC book (electronic format?)
Act out a dramatic scene from the book
Please respond to one other entry on how to share this book.
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12 comments:
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I think there are many ways to share the ideas presented in this poetry book.
Throughout this book we learn more about the poet’s life. I was thinking that this book could be shared by reading a few of the poems that would show a day in the life of the poet.
Another idea to share this book could be through an ABC book of the author’s life or just of poetry seen through the poet’s eyes. For example, the letter M could have metaphor with an example of the metaphors the poet uses, or the letter S could be for squirrels with an example of how the poet’s teacher does not think you can write poems about squirrels.
I like the idea of using an ABC book to identify the different elements of poetry the author uses. For example, the use of couplets in Venus Flytrap Pap and Hungry for Poetry and the author's use of similes in A Writing Kind of Day and Poetry on page 26.
I think the book could also be used in a therapeutic setting as a springboard for discussions about aging grandparents in Memory Loss, or problems dealing with school such as in Bad Weather, Pinball and Writer's Block.
Rene- I also agree about the therapeutic aspect of this poetry book. The poem about the grandmother and memory loss really hit home. This book has different ways to show how youth can deal in different challenging situations. This book could be shared with something like that in mind.
To add to Rene's response regarding a springboard...I think a poem like "Writer's Block" would be a great poem to share with students after discussing and practicing identifying sentences, run on sentences, compound words, verbs, nouns, and fragments. This would be good way to have students remember each aspect of grammar mentioned. Allowing them to feel the power of grammar as it is portrayed in the poem as playing a game of football against the grammar team.
As for sharing the book with the class, maybe choose a poem and create some props (like an earth head type of homemade hat and a bald head to contrast-put a stocking on one of us another might label our face with the north pole, equator. The last person could read the poem aloud to the class and we would be sitting as a tableau (a still picture resembling the meaning of the poem)- if I have this concept correct.
Jessica you've made me aware of how much this book of poems really portrayed the author's family and poetry. I was reading the poems over and over again and enjoying them but by reading your response I've realized just how important it is to share personal perspectives about literature.
I also like the different ways of sharing this book with our class. We have to decide on one way...and they all sound great!
I've read this book of poems a few times and each time I read it I find a different message or a different way to look at the poem. They're wonderful poems for adolescent children because they often have a tough time expressing themselves. I found that I really learned something about the writer as I read each poem. Almost like a glimpse or a snapshot into his thoughts/feelings. These poems would be great to use as a book discussion w/upper grade children. It would be interesting to hear what each child got from the poems or one specific poem. I agree that the poems titled "Gradma" and "Memory Loss" were especially touching. These particular poems made me think about my own grandmother. The more you read these poems the more they make you think.
Karen, Ilike the way you put that, "The more you read these poems the more they make you think." I think that is what poetry is all about...at least to me. I often have a difficult time understanding or getting the meaning of the poems on my first read through so the more I read them the more I appreciate them.
I agree, Shannon, that understanding poetry is often difficult. I think we often miss the meaning and it goes right over our heads. As teachers we need to find a way to teach children to enjoy poetry, be comfortable with it and want to read and write it.
Teachers need to make poetry readily available in their classroom library. There should be many different types of poetry books by many different authors. Children should be encouraged to select these books during a free reading time. The teacher should read aloud from these books to expose the students to poetry. I think many times teachers don't feel comfortable w/poetry and therefore there is little exposure to it w/in the class.
Another way to get the children more excited about poetry is to have each child write their own poems in a poetry journal. Allow the children time to share their poems with someone they feel comfortable with, and if possible share some of these poems w/the class. By exposing our students to poetry hopefully they will grow to understand and enjoy it more.
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