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Teaching Poetry

This page offers a variety of resources for teaching poetry. Here you'll find graphic organizers and other materials to assist you and your students in exploring the power of poetry. If you have problems viewing or printing the files below, please read the Helpful Hints on my Adobe Acrobat Reader Help Page.

Literacy Mini PacksLaura Candler's File Cabinet Poetry Printables

Poetry Websites

(*Caution: PoemHunter site may contain links or ads that are not kid-friendly!)

Featured Book: Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher

This is the most amazing book! Whether you love teaching poetry or the subject makes you feel a little uncomfortable, you need this book! Buy it and read it yourself before you use it with your students, and it will change the way you think about poetry. This is the second year I've used the book with students, and I had the same results both years. Ralph Fletcher speaks to young writers in this book and gets to the heart of what's important in writing poetry. When I read it aloud, my students are captivated by his words, and after just a few chapters they are writing very powerful poems on their own. Some students are finding their voice in writing for the first time this year . . . because poets can break the rules, kids who normally have trouble writing seem to excel in writing free verse.

Poetry Multimedia Project - If I Were In Charge of the World

Idea submitted by Radene Girola

Last year one of my newsletter subscribers described a wonderful multimedia project she does with her students. She uses PhotoStory 3 which can be downloaded for free from Microsoft, but other multimedia programs would work as well. Radene has her students take the poem "If I Were in Charge of the World" by Judith Viorst and asks them to rewrite it in their own words and create a PhotoStory. She sent me a sample PhotoStory she created for her students, and I have her permission to post it online. Please be aware that this file requires Windows Media Player, and if you have a Mac you might not be able to view the file. (Download the free VLC player from http://vlc.us.com and that should allow you to view it.) She also sent me her lesson overview. I have omitted the original poem by Judith Viorst due to copyright concerns, but you can order the book from Amazon.com or look for it in your library. Take a look at Radene's sample PhotoStory and prepare to be inspired! This would make a great end-of-the-year project! If you have questions about this activity, feel free to contact Radene at radene.girola@comcast.net.


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