Books by Atwell, Holbrook, Janeczko, and Somers

Naming the World: A Year of Poems and Lessons by Nancie Atwell (Firsthand, Portsmouth, NH, 2006)

Nancie Atwell's compelling resource shows how poetry can give adolescents opportunities to "begin to name the world for themselves: figure out what matters, explore it, try to make sense of it, endeavor to change it, and help themselves begin to live lives of worth." This comprehensive book, along with an accompanying teacher's guide and a DVD, gives teachers everything they will need to make poetry a vital part of the curriculum by spending ten minutes each day sharing poetry and discussing it.

The one hundred fifty lessons are grouped according to fifteen themes or topics, such as games, the natural world, dogs and cats, the senses, and metaphor. Each lesson contains one or two appealing poems, suggestions for introducing or setting the stage for the reading, some features to notice, prompts for a response stance, and a "benediction"―an invitation for students to look at their own lives for sources of poems.

In the separate thirty-page A Poem a Day teacher's guide, Atwell eloquently reveals how she uses poetry to build reading and writing skills that also transfer into other genre. She discusses in detail how she discovers, reads, performs, and teaches poetry. Readers can view the DVD to see how all this fits together as master teacher Nancie Atwell and her students "unpack" poems in seven complete poetry lessons. Atwell's contagious enthusiasm throughout the three Naming the World components will be an inspiration to all who have the privilege of sharing poetry with adolescents.

Practical Poetry: A Nonstandard Approach to Meeting Content-Area Standards by Sara Holbrook (Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH, 2005)

In her foreword to Practical Poetry, Janet Allen calls the book "a gift for our teaching heads and our teaching hearts." Its casual, teacher-friendly voice makes readers feel as though Sara Holbrook is making a personal visit to demonstrate how poetry can help in meeting academic content standards. According to Holbrook, reading and writing poetry is a practical route to learning because it jogs the memory, demands keen observation, requires precise language, encourages good organizational skills, and promotes reading fluency. Holbrook uses her own poems and those of professional and student writers to show how poetry can be used to teach specific national standards in mathematics, language arts, science, and social studies. For example, aligning to the measurement standard, Holbrook shows how writing "greater than/less than" poems can help students put mathematical terms into practice. When studying genetics in science class, students can demonstrate their understanding by writing a "blueprint" poem, sharing their own unique "recipes." Each exercise includes step-by-step directions and suggestions for assessment. Holbrook's powerful ideas for using poetry to help students learn about themselves and their world can be easily adapted to enhance any teacher's toolkit.

Opening a Door: Reading Poetry in the Middle School Classroom by Paul B. Janeczko (Scholastic, New York, 2003)

From the first page, it is evident that author, anthologist, and poet Paul Janeczko has written Opening a Door with passion born not only from his love of poetry, but also from his love of teaching. He shares his own early bumbling efforts to teach poetry to tenth graders and his eventual epiphany that "reading a poem should not be like performing an autopsy, looking at a dead object and figuring out what killed it." He offers practical advice to teachers who want to help students have an "ongoing love affair with poetry." There are general suggestions for choosing poems carefully and for guiding student responses.

In-depth lessons called "Explorations" are provided for fifteen carefully selected classic and contemporary poems. Each includes an opener to get students thinking about the issues or themes; insightful commentaries on the poem's form, language, and structure; response sheets that include poetic terms useful for discussion; reproducible graphic organizers; biographical information about the poet; and a short list of related poems.

Finally, maintaining that "everyone deserves the chance to explore themselves and their lives through poetry," Janeczko urges teachers to become active readers of poetry. Browsing this section with its superb suggestions for books, websites, and audio programs is sure to delight the readers with some new discoveries for themselves and their students.

Teaching Poetry in High School by Albert B. Somers (National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL, 1999)

How can we teach poetry so that more of our students will occasionally want to read a poem after they leave us? Beginning with a review of the current state of poetry in America and its schools, Albert Somers provides a wise and humane guide for engaging students in poetry. Selecting the right poems by becoming poetry "talent scouts" is one key. According to Somers, even most English teachers do not regularly read the work of serious contemporary poets. He challenges educators to set aside the textbooks and create their own anthologies of poems they really like. An entire chapter on contemporary poets appropriate for young adults provides a quick and informative update. Practical guidelines are offered for involving students in talking about poems by using questions that shape rather than limit discussion. Readers will find a wide array of ideas for writing, performing, and assessing poetry as well as teaching it across the curriculum. The book is also sprinkled with classroom scenarios, brief instructional highlights, and many complete poems. Multiple appendices suggest abundant resources for nurturing future readers of poetry.

Sheila Cantlebary is a reading content specialist at the Ohio Resource Center. As a former teacher in Columbus Public Schools, she taught English, language arts, and reading (7—12), served as a K—12 English language arts coordinator, and was a teacher in the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow program. Her teaching experience also includes facilitating State Institute for Reading Instruction and English Language Arts Academy sessions.

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