Name:             Jill Cabe

School:           Harry L. Eastman School

Action Plan:   Reading, Writing, and Teaching Poetry with Teens

Grade Level:  6 – 9

Subject:          Language Arts

Topic:             Poetry

 

Content Information:

This pathfinder is intended to provide suggestions for resources to teach and read poetry with early teenagers.  Some of the content listed below may be more suitable for older teens, but the teacher knows his or her students well enough to decide what how mature they are and what they can handle.  The novel in verse is a growing genre and though the list here is not exhaustive it is a good start.  Novels in verse also seem to appeal to reluctant readers in a way that reading poems may not. Instead of presenting the classics in American and English poetry I have chosen writings that try to speak directly to teenagers and encourage them in their own writing. I only included one web site because generally the content on the internet, such as it is, does not compare to reading the printed page, is too commercial, or is too poorly written.

 

Dewey:

372.623

372.64

808.1

811

 

Subject headings:

American poetry—20th century

American poetry—21st century

Children’s poetry, American

Poetry—Study and teaching

Young adult poetry, American

 

Books: Novels in Verse

17: A Novel in Prose Poems, Liz Rosenberg.

The Brimstone Journals, Ron Koertge.

Girl Coming in for a Landing, April Halprin Wayland.

Jinx, Margaret Wild.

Keesha’s House, Helen Frost.

Locomotion, Jacqueline Woodson.

Loose Threads, Lorie Ann Grover.

Love That Dog, Sharon Creech.

Make Lemonade, Virginia Euwer Wolff.

Out of the Dust, Karen Hesse.

Soul Moon Soup, Lindsay Lee Johnson.

Split Image, Mel Glenn.

Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy, Sonya

Sones.

The Taking of Room 114, Mel Glenn.

True Believer, Virginia Euwer Wolff.

What My Mother Doesn’t Know, Sonya Sones.

Witness, Karen Hesse.

 

Books: Poems

Angst! Teen Verses from the Edge, Karen Tom.

Behind the Wheel: Driving Poems, Janet Wong.

Big Talk: Poems for Four Voices, Paul Fleischman.

Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing Up Hispanic in the United States, Lori

Carlson.

Dreams of Glory: Poems Starring Girls, Isabel Joshlin Glaser.

From Totems to Hip Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the

Americas 1900 – 2002, Ishmael Reed.

God Went to Beauty School, Cynthia Rylant.

Grand Mothers, Nikki Giovanni.

Hey You! C’mere: A Poetry Slam, Elizabeth Swados.

I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You, Naomi Shihab Nye.

I Wouldn’t Thank You for a Valentine, Carol Ann Duffy.

The Invisible Ladder, Liz Rosenberg.

Jump ball: A Basketball Season in Poems, Mel Glenn.

Movin’: Teen Poets Take Voice, Dave Johnson.

Paint Me Like I Am, Bill Aguado.

Phenomenal Woman, Maya Angelou.

Quiet Storm, Lydia Omolola  Okutoro.

The Rose That Grew From Concrete, Tupac Shakur.

Skin Deep and Other Teenage Reflections, Angela Shelf Medearis.

Slam, Cicely Von Ziegesar.

Slow Dance: Heart Break Blues, Arnold Adoff.

The Spoken Word Revolution, Mark Eleveld.

The World According to Dog, Joyce Sidman.

Things I Have to Tell You: Poems and Writings by Teenage Girls, Betsey Franco.

Truth and Lies, Patricia Vecchione

Wachale! Poems and Prose about Growing Up Latino, Ilane Stavans.

What Have You Lost? Naomi Shihab Nye.

You Hear Me? Poems and Writings by Teenage Boys, Betsy Franco.

 

Books: Writing Poetry

The Adventures of Dr. Alphabet, Dave Morice.

Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School,

Georgia Heard.

Favorite Poetry Lessons Grades 4 – 8, Paul Janeczko.

How to Write Poetry, Paul Janeczko.

Poem-making: Ways to Begin Writing Poetry, Myra Cohn Livingston.

Poems from Homeroom: A Writer’s Place to Start,  Kathi Appelt.

Poetry Everywhere: Teaching Poetry Writing in School and the Community, Jack

Collom.

Poetry Matters: Writing a Poem from the Inside Out, Ralph Fletcher.

Rose Where Did You Get That Red? Kenneth Koch.

Wishes, Lies, and Dreams, Kenneth Koch.

 

Videos:

Pinero

Poetic Justice

Slam

Slamnation

 

Audio CDs:

In Their Own Voices: A Century of Recorded Poetry, Various Artists.

Maya Angelou Poetry Collection, Maya Angelou.

Our Souls Have Grown Deep Like the Rivers, Various Artists.

The Rose That Grew From Concrete, Tupac Shakur.

Truth is on Its Way, Nikki Giovanni.

The United States of Poetry, Various Artists.

The Voice of Langston Hughes, Langston Huges.

 

Selected Websites:

Academy of American Poets

 

INFOhio Resources:

Literature Online

Oxford Reference Online