ERIC ED432780: Teaching Poetry in High School.

231 Pages·1999·3.4 MB·English

by  ERIC

DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 432 780
CS 216 827
AUTHOR
Somers, Albert. B.
TITLE
Teaching Poetry in High School.
INSTITUTION
National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL.
ISBN
ISBN-0-8141-5289-9
PUB DATE
1999-00-00
NOTE
230p.
AVAILABLE FROM
National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon
Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 52899-0015: $14.95
members, $19.95 nonmembers).
PUB TYPE
Books (010)
Guides - Classroom - Teacher (052)
EDRS PRICE
MF01/PC10 Plus Postage.
DESCRIPTORS
Class Activities; *English Instruction; High Schools;
Internet; *Poetry; *Poets; Student Evaluation; Teaching
Methods
IDENTIFIERS
Alternative Assessment
ABSTRACT
Suggesting that the teaching of poetry must be engaging as
well as challenging, this book presents practical approaches, guidelines,
activities, and scenarios for teaching poetry in high school. It offers 40
complete poems; a discussion of assessment issues (including authentic
assessment); poetry across the curriculum; and addresses and annotations for
over 30 websites on poetry. Chapters in the book are (1) Poetry in America;
(2) Poetry in the Schools;
(3) Selecting Poetry to Teach;
(4) Contemporary
Poets in the Classroom;
(5) Approaching Poetry;
(6) Responding to Poetry by
Talking;
(7) Responding to Poetry by Performing;
(8) Poetry and Writing;
(9)
Teaching Form and Technique;
(10) Assessing the Teaching and Learning of
Poetry;
(11) Teaching Poetry across the Curriculum; and (12) Poetry and the
Internet. Appendixes contain lists of approximately 100 anthologies of
poetry, 12 reference works, approximately 50 selected media
resources, 4
selected journals, and 6 selected awards honoring American poets.
(RS)
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BEST COPY AVAILABLE
Teaching Poetry
in High School
Editorial Board: Jacqueline Bryant, Kermit Campbell, Bobbi Fisher, Xin Liu Gale,
Sarah Hudelson, Bill McBride, Gerald R. Og lan, Helen Poole, Karen Smith, Chair,
ex officio, Peter Feely, ex officio
4
Teaching Poetry
in High School
Albert B. Somers
Furman University
National Council of Teachers of English
1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096
Staff Editor: Zarina M. Hock
Editorial Assistant: Jessica L. Creed
Interior Design: Doug Burnett
Cover Design: Pat Mayer
NCTE Stock Number: 52899-3050
© 1999 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. Printed
in the United States of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for
the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English
and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not
imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the
membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorse-
ment is clearly specified.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Somers, Albert B., 1939
Teaching poetry in high school/Albert B. Somers.
cm.
p.
ISBN 0-8141-5289-9 (pbk.)
1. PoetryStudy and teaching (Secondary) I. Title.
PN1101.S63 1999
808.1'071'2dc21
99-32205
CIP
6
This book is dedicated
to the memory of my parents,
Albert B. Somers Sr. and Margaret Pritchard Somers
AVAILABLE
BEST COPY
vii
Contents
A Note to the Reader
ix
Permissions
xi
I. Background
1. Poetry in America
3
2. Poetry in the Schools
11
II. Selection
3. Selecting Poetry to Teach
25
4. Contemporary Poets in the Classroom
47
III. Approaches and Methods
5. Approaching Poetry
65
6. Responding to Poetry by Talking
90
7. Responding to Poetry by Performing
108
8. Poetry and Writing
125
9. Teaching Form and Technique
145
10. Assessing the Teaching and Learning of Poetry
158
11. Teaching Poetry across the Curriculum
166
12. Poetry and the Internet
183
IV. Resources
Appendix A: Anthologies of Poetry
195
Appendix B: Reference Works
202
Appendix C: Selected Media Resources
204
Appendix D: Selected Journals
209
Appendix E: Selected Awards
210
8
viii
Contents
Works Cited
213
Author
219
ix
A Note to the Reader
0
ccasionally in a poem, a poet will imagine his audience, as Ted
Kooser does in "Selecting a Reader" (p. 55)
For this book, my
.
imagined reader is a high school teacher who is fond of poetry,
and open to new approaches, new possibilities. She may be
a little gun-shy
from teaching itfinebut she hasn't given up. She is a teacher of
everyday, ordinary students, the kind who think they don't like poetry but
often find, with someone's help, that they do.
This book has a single broad purpose: to encourage future readers
of poetry. I think we need to teach poetry in such a way that more of
our
students will occasionally want to read it after they leave us.
You would expect me to be a reader of poems, and I am, but I don't
pretend that liking poetry is easy. It takes a little work. As Chapter 3
explains, I reject far more poems than I embrace. Still, the ones I love burn
brightly in my imagination. They are stuck on my walls, tucked
away in
folders and books, in boxes and cubbyholes. I often swap
poems with
friends and colleagues, and among the poems I've shared
are "Spring" (p.
44) and "For the Ex-Wife on the Occasion of Her Birthday" by Thomas
Lynch. I once sent a copy of "Flying at Night" (p. 55) to a former student
serving in the Peace Corps, whose response led me to include it here.
This book assumes that anyone can like poetry, that a lot of poetry is
approachable and fun. And poetry is fun to do things withto talk about,
write, write about, act out, and so on. As teachers, we can mine these veins
no end.
A few parts of the book may need elaboration:
Chapters 1 and 2: These chapters establish the context, offering
my take on the American mind-set toward poetry and about the
role schools have played in creating it.
The poems in the book: I've included over forty. In some cases,
though, I've cited or even described a poem, but not included
itfor several reasons. For one thing, publishing a poem requires
acquiring permission, a time-consuming process. Moreover, the
famous ones (such as Langston Hughes's "Mother to Son" ) are
easily found. And most important, if I ask you, in effect, to go
looking for a poem, you may find others you like even more.
The classroom scenarios included here and there: These vignettes
are not transcribed recordings of classes. They are the synthe-
sizedand sometimes imaginedgleanings of hundreds of high
school classes I have taught or observed over the last thirty-five
years. The names of teachers and students are fictitious.
10