April is National Poetry Month!

April is National Poetry Month, and we're celebrating in language arts classes with poetry reading, poetry writing, and poetry in performance!  Though one focus over the next couple of weeks will be the SBA tests, another will be poetry.  Students will write poems and contribute to a class anthology, a book that will live on the shelves of the Floyd Dryden library after this year's eighth graders have moved on to high school.  Thus, students will not only learn about poets and literary devices, but they'll also get a glimpse of the process of publication from rough drafts to a finished anthology ready for readers to enjoy.  Also, I'm excited to announce that guest artist Christy NaMee Eriksen will be working with students during our literary explorations.
Over the next couple of weeks, we'll play around with several different poem prompts.  We'll also read about some of the concepts behind poetry, including the importance of the image in poems (and the difference between "concrete" and "abstract" words) and the ways poet's use sounds to communicate mood and theme in poems.  We'll draw from what I find to be one of the best books about poetry ever: Western Wind: An Introduction to Poetry by John Frederick Nims (I was introduced to the text in college, and I've often returned to it in the years since).  Students will respond to the readings creatively and critically, using packets such as this one and this one.
Also, in celebration of National Poetry Month, Write Young AK is holding a poetry contest.  You can click HERE for information.  There are many more ideas about poetry, including a project that involves students writing to poets, at the Academy of American Poets website (another one of my favorite resources).
So this month, read a poem or write a poem (or maybe just carry one in your pocket--after all, Thursday, April 18th is Poem in Your Pocket Day)!