Suggests a course unit created in response to General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) guidelines which attempts to avoid the guidelines' inherent division between skills and creative response. (JAD)

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)

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)

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)

Provides an account of how one English teacher fosters awareness of the metaphorical nature of language and the sensory experience of poetry. Shows how the poem "Mnemonic" by Li-Young Lee can be used to instruct students concerning how poetry speaks to the memories of the reader. (HB)

Provides an account of how one poet would like to have her poems taught in the English classroom. (HB)

Provides an account of the importance of story poems in the English classroom. Describes how one teacher wove the teaching of poems, stories, and writing into a single coherent unit of study. Argues that bringing these diverse materials together is a useful method of literary study. (HB)

Describes how teachers might invite their students to become more creative and riskier in their own poetry by examining cartoons in Gary Larsen's series, "The Far Side." Claims that the finished products were often authentic and daring. Includes eight examples of students' poems. (HB)

Provides an account of a class discussion of the poem, "Grace" by the Native American writer Joy Harjo. Describes how students systematically investigated the meaning of the title. Asks teachers to use Native American poetry more and provides sources of such works. (HB)

Provides an account of how one English teacher fosters awareness of the metaphorical nature of language and the sensory experience of poetry. Shows how the poem "Bullfrogs" was used to instruct students concerning point of view and the various perspectives from which a story can be seen. (HB)

Gives advice for the beginning teacher by narrating the experiences of one teacher's childhood and explaining how these experiences shaped the teacher's professional outlook. Concentrates on one of the teacher's memories of his childhood experiences with his grandmother. (HB)

Describes how one English teacher, in conjunction with an art teacher, linked writing poetry with student art. Recounts the pairing of student artists with student poets. Explains the benefits of such a learning arrangement, in which an artist tries to capture graphically the meaning of a poem. (HB)

Describes how one teacher taught poetry and its principles by relying mainly on poems written by her former and current students. Comments on why this approach seemed to bring out in students a true appreciation of poetry. (HB)

Provides an account of how one English teacher fosters student appreciation of ethnic and minority literatures by teaching Linda Hogan's poem, "The Truth Is." Shows how students can be encouraged to consider their own cultural heritages. Asks student groups to concentrate on how one word is used within the poem. (HB)

Describes how one English teacher developed a five-day approach by which William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" was successfully introduced to a seventh-grade class. Argues that it is possible to have such young students read and enjoy Shakespeare. (HB)