This paper describes a collaborative relationship between a community member and an eighth grade English teacher that was documented through an ethnographic study during an entire school year. The community member taught a weekly poetry workshop where students are encouraged to take risks in their writing and also take a critical stance towards…

Describes and defends Koch's approach to teaching students how to write poetry. (DD)

Children are inspired to write creatively if they are free to sensorially absorb and naturally react to the world around them. (JH)

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)

The authors of this article argue that professional development on literacy instruction should go beyond instructional methods to teacher identity. Reading and discussing poetry and literature, as well as writing to examine powerful themes in teachers' lives, can help educators explore and deepen their identity as language arts teachers. Casbon,…

In this article, the author relates the effectiveness of using poetry in his classroom. He relates how students who initially thought poetry as "sappy" have somehow changed their perceptions as they begin to learn more about it. Through various poems, these students came to see how poetry can be a catalyst for a provocative inquiry…

Suggests that discussions on approaching poetry must begin with addressing the role of the classroom teachers and the attitudes about poetry that they bring to the classroom. Discusses a few general suggestions as to how poetry may be approached in the classroom. Discusses a poetry writing sequence which helps students explore images and…

Presents a case study of poetry writing in a fifth grade classroom. Shows not only how writing and reading come together but also how children come together with each other and with published poets. (RS)

Language arts educators who teach Latino English language learners know that part of their job is to help students learn to distinguish between the vernacular varieties of Spanish (or Mandarin, or Portuguese, or Swahili), English they use at home, and the school varieties of language expected in the classroom and in other professional and…