Poetry Cafe

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Poetry Cafe

• Presented by
• Yolanda Anzewu
• Teacher Consultant

2
Objective and Purpose

• Objective The student will write for a variety
  of purposes and audiences.
• Purpose Students write poetry to play with
  words, create images, explore feelings, and
  entertain.
• Focus Establish a love for language. Read Lucky
  Me by Yolanda Anzewu

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Classroom Applications

• GT Students The GT students will be able to
  research and produce a product. They will peer
  tutor the learning challenged students by
  teaching them writing strategies, how to navigate
  the internet, and how to type their final
  product.
• Learning Challenged Students Reluctant readers
  and writers will read poetry because it peaks
  their interest and it is short and to the point.
  They will enjoy writing poetry because they will
  realize they create poems naturally when they
  sing and play.
• ESL Students Second Language learners will
  enjoy poetry because its not laborious like
  writing a composition and they can express their
  feelings and emotions.

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Research and Theory

• All children are natural poets poetry is a
  universal language that can offer children a
  viable outlet for confusing feelings that they
  long to express and make sense of. For the Love
  of Language, Nancy Cecil.
• To further underscore the infinite possibilities
  of what poetry can be you can share a wide
  variety of genre with your students including
  humorous poems, thoughtful poems, alliterative
  odes, rhymed verse, as well as free verse.
• For the Love of Language, Nancy Cecil.

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Who Am I

• Name Yolanda Anzewu (Anzoo)
• School John F. Kennedy Elementary (45N. _at_
  Crosstimbers near Northline Mall)
• District HoustonISD (North)
• Job title 4TH Grade Lead Language Arts/ESL
  Teacher
• Tenure 1 year FBISD, 5½ years HISD
• Classroom I have 4 groups, and several centers
• Community Title I, CIS, SAY YES, URBAN

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Best Practices

• I believe reading and writing programs should be
  based on a balanced, interactive, social
  constructivist theory.
• At the beginning of the research unit students
  create poetry journals.
• First, we begin the day with the Reading Workshop
  during this time students read and respond in
  journals.
• Then we share a poem we enjoyed reading. They
  can share their poem by acting it out, drawing a
  picture, or recording their oral reading on a
  tape recorder, etc.

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Research and Theory

• Authors such as Calkins(1991), Bomer(1995), and
  Fletcher(1996) have been advocates for the use of
  some type of writers journal. Regardless of
  what it is called, the ideal journal or writers
  notebook is uniquely useful in helping struggling
  writers develop fluency through short, focused
  writing experiences. After numerous journal
  entries have been recorded, it becomes a place
  where teacher and student can look together to
  find writing topics.
• Supporting Struggling Readers and Writers,
  Strickland, Ganske, and Monroe

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Best Practices

• The next step is to teach a mini lesson on
  poetic devices, the author, poetic forms, or
  researching.
• Afterwards the students begin the Writing
  Workshop. They write poetry using the formula
  method as well as free verse.
• Finally students share there original poems at
  the Poetry Café and present their poetry
  projects.

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Research and Theory

• There is no trickery involved in reading poetry
  aloud. When a poem is read aloud with sincerity,
  boys and girls will enjoy its rhythm, its music,
  and will understand the work on their own level.
• Pass the Poetry, Please!, Lee Bennett Hopkins

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Research and Theory

• Georgia explained that in poetry there are two
  camps, the formalists, who teach and write poetry
  in terms of fixed forms and the free verse poets,
  who find their forms in the rhythm and content of
  what they are saying.
• The Art of Teaching Writing, Lucy McCormick
  Calkins.

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Research and Theory

• Ive learned that in a safe free setting anyone
  of any age can gather words, play with language
  and write poems, sometimes with what poet Anne
  Waldman calls goofy profundity.
• Poemcrazy, Susan Goldsmith Woolridge

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Research and Theory

• Beginning with formula poems will probably make
  the writing easier for young children or for
  older students who have had little or no
  experience with poetry.
• Teaching Writing, Gail Tompkins

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Research and Theory

• Poetry matters. At the most important moments,
  when everyone else is silent poetry rises to
  speak.
• Mental pictures or images, are at the ear of
  poetry, just like emotions.
• Poetry Matters, Ralph Fletcher

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A List of Books to Get You Started

• Books That Explain Why You Should Teach Poetry
• For the Love of Language by Nancy Lee Cecil
• How to Write, Recite, and Delight in All Kinds of
  Poetry by Joy Hulme and Donna Guthrie
• It Figures! Fun Figures of Speech by Marvin
  Terban
• Lets Do A Poem! By Nancy Larrick
• Pass the Poetry, Please by Lee Bennett Hopkins
• Poetry Matters by Ralph Fletcher
• Poetry Projects with Pizzazz by Michelle
  OBrien-Palmer
• Teaching Writing by Gail Tompkins
• The Poetry Break by Caroline Bauer

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A List of Books to Get You Started

• Multicultural Poetry
• Latino Poetry by Globe Fearon
• Make a Joyful Sound by African-American Poets
  (Scholastic)
• Pass It On by Wade Hudson
• Words With Wings by Belinda Rochelle

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A List of Books to Get You Started

• Books With A Collection of Poetry By One Poet
• A Lucky Thing by Alice Schertle
• A Pizza the Size of the Sun by Jack Prelutsky
• If I Were In Charge of the World by Judith Viorst
• The Sun Is So Quiet by Nikki Giovanni
• The Sweet and Sour Animal Book by Langston Hughes
• Visiting Langston by Willie Perdomo
• Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein
• A Book About the Poet
• Shakespeare by Peter Chrisp

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A List of Books to Get You Started

• Theme Poems and Anthologies
• Color Me A Rhyme by Jane Yolen
• My America selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
• Never Take a Pig to Lunch selected by Nadine
  Westcott
• Spectacular Science selected by Lee Bennett
  Hopkins
• Tomie dePaolas Book of Poems selected by Tomie
  dePaola
• The Oxford Illustrated Book of American
  Childrens Poems edited by Donald Hall
• The Random House of Poetry for Children by Jack
  Prelutsky

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Conclusion

• Read the Road Not Taken by Robert Frost.
• Assessment Create a Rubric for the Poetry
  Project Guidelines
• Are there any questions?
• How can use this information in your classroom?