Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 144
•
Trim: 6½ x 9⅜
978-1-4758-2522-0 • Hardback • June 2016 • $59.00 • (£45.00)
978-1-4758-2523-7 • Paperback • June 2016 • $30.00 • (£22.99)
978-1-4758-2524-4 • eBook • June 2016 • $28.50 • (£21.99)
Shelley Savren is the author of two poetry books, The Common Fire (Red Hen Press 2004) and The Wild Shine of Oranges (Tebot Bach Press 2013), and The Form of Things Unknown: Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens and Adults (Rowman & Littlefield 2016). She is an English professor emeritus at Oxnard College and has been teaching poetry writing to young children for the past forty years. Visit her at www.shelleysavren.com.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
AcknowledgmentsIntroductionChapter 1: Imagine a Purple Elephant – Teaching Grades pre-K through 5th
Chapter 2: Magic Poetry Pencils and Mistake Stickers – “Special Needs” Students
Chapter 3: The Craft of Poetry: Gifted, Seminar and Pull-out Programs
Chapter 4: Poetry Outside the Classroom
Chapter 5: Poetry in the Face of Art: Writing in an Art Museum
Chapter 6: Home Is Where You Sleep at Night: Homeless, Abused and Neglected
StudentsAppendix: Additional Exercise Ideas ResourcesAbout the Author
From Lorca to Gary Soto, Amy Uyematsu, Kenneth Patchen and Yusef Komunyakaa and many more—and most of all, the students of all grades; we see the teaching of poetry blossom before us. Savren encourages teachers, respects them and guides them with the excitement of a poet and daring educator who has journeyed well the poetry and teaching road. Magnificent, practical, magical.
— Juan Felipe Herrera, poet laureate of the United States
The education system lacks the language and pedagogy of poetry and this book seeks to rectify that by engaging seriously with the most energetic and open group: young people. Shelley Savren has written a beautiful and necessary book.
— Dorianne Laux, nominee for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry, author of The Book of Men: Poems
Welcome to PoetryLand is a great resource for educators and poets who teach writing to young people by providing explicit ways to enter a child’s imagination in a variety of settings. I love the example poems and the innovative ways Ms. Savren incorporates her own passion of poetry into writing exercises that can reach any child.
— Terri Glass, former director of California Poets in the Schools
We felt Shelley’s magic every time she entered my classroom, and I feel it as she shares her heart in these pages. What a gift to read and digest the treasures of her experience and insight. Every teacher who wishes to give students a voice to express themselves needs to share poetry writing with her or his class, and there is nothing better to guide the journey than Shelley Savren’s book, Welcome to Poetryland: Teaching Writing to Young Children.
— Liz Hoppe, 2014 Ventura County Teacher of the Year