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The Forms of Things Unknown

Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens and Adults

Shelley Savren

A college student writes: “These words I write/ open their mouths wide/ screaming the most intimate secrets.”

An inmate in a maximum-security men’s prison writes: “Within my writing, I am able to break down my prison walls and escape, leave the gangster façade behind.”

The Forms of Things Unknown: Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens and Adults draws from Shelley Savren’s forty years of teaching poetry writing to a diverse array of students, from teens with mental health issues to seniors to adults with developmental disabilities, and in a wide variety of settings, which include middle schools, high schools, colleges, juvenile halls, women’s centers, and a men’s prison.


Each chapter includes an original poem from Savren, heartfelt stories, and lesson plans that introduce poetic concepts through model poems by professionals, open-ended writing assignments, methods for sharing and critiquing, and student poems. Designed for use in a classroom or community setting, this book features forty-one lesson plans and nineteen more poetry-writing workshop ideas and provides guidance and inspiration for teaching poetry writing to teens and adults.
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  • TOC
  • Reviews
  • Reviews
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 196 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
978-1-4758-2792-7 • Hardback • July 2016 • $77.00 • (£59.00)
978-1-4758-2793-4 • Paperback • July 2016 • $39.00 • (£30.00)
Subjects: Education / Teaching Methods & Materials / Language Arts, Education / Curricula, Education / Secondary / Language Arts, Education / Adult & Continuing Education
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 Welcome to Poetryland: Teaching Poetry Writing to Young Children (Rowman & Littlefield 2016). She is an English professor emeritus at Oxnard College and has been teaching poetry writing for the past forty years. Visit her at www.shelleysavren.com.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Chapter 1: Getting Serious about Poems: Middle School and High School
Chapter 2: Can Words Save Me? Teens with Mental Health Issues
Chapter 3: Does Anybody Love Me? Juvenile Justice
Part I: Girls’ Rehabilitation Facility
Part II: Colston Youth Center
Chapter 4: Poetry in Academia
Chapter 5: I Remember: Cedar Community Center for Senior Citizens
Chapter 6: Every Bird Can Sing: St. Madeline Sophie’s Training Center
Chapter 7: The Feminist Poet: Women Take Back Words
Chapter 8: Freedom Journey: R.J. Donovan Maximum Security Men’s Prison
Appendix: Additional Exercise Ideas
Resources
About the Author
As a teacher of creative writing at the college and university level for over thirty years, I am always looking for new texts to engage my new generations of students. To find a text appropriate for the wide variety of talents one engages on the undergraduate level is not an easy task. Shelley Savren’s The Forms of Things Unknown: Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens and Adults has become the answer to this search. Relying upon her over twenty-five years of reading, studying, writing, publishing and teaching a wide variety of poetry, Ms. Savren has constructed the most practical, user friendly and insightful creative writing text that I’ve seen in a long time. I look forward to my students holding this book in their hands, and I look forward to sharing it with you, reader.
— Bruce Weigl, 2014 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry


Inspired by the pleasures, the thrills and the curative powers of poetry – reading it, hearing it, writing it – Shelley Savren has devoted a lifetime teaching her passion. As a sometimes itinerant poet who leads writing workshops on high school and college campuses as well as in senior centers, prisons and juvenile “facilities,” I understand where she’s coming from – and going back to again and again. I salute the insights and techniques Shelley Savren shares in her mindful, heartfelt guide. The Forms of Things Unknown: Teaching PoetryWriting to Teens and Adults rocks.
— Al Young, California’s Former Poet Laureate


Anyone who dedicates their life to reaching behind razor wire and bars and walls to reach the oppressed and work with them on expressing their emotions and thoughts and in doing so organizing their lives into a comprehensible contribution to society should be commended. Read this book and welcome back to humanity those we have exiled into oblivion.
— Jimmy Santiago Baca, Author of Spring Poems Along the Rio Grande (New Directions, 2007), Winner of the American Book Award


As a school principal, I have witnessed firsthand the effectiveness and success of Shelley Savren's poetry in the classroom program. Her program has been instrumental in increasing the self-esteem of students and contributes to the enhancement of their reading and writing skills. The poetry program has had phenomenal results, particularly for students with emotional disturbances and incarcerated youth. Now, finally, this innovative program is available in print for everyone!
— Alan L. Murray, Former Principal, Ventura County Office of Education, Professor of Education, California State University, Channel Islands


The Forms of Things Unknown is chock-full of ideas, inspiration, and down-to-earth advice for teaching poetry in a wide variety of settings. Shelley Savren offers such accessible, practical guidance that even if you’re not a poet and have never taught poetry, you could dive right in with confidence. And if you are an experienced teacher, this will add a multitude of strategies and suggestions to your toolbox.
— Ellen Bass, Author of Mules of Love (Copper Canyon Press, 2014), Winner of the Elliston Book Award for Poetry


The Forms of Things Unknown

Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens and Adults

Cover Image
Hardback
Paperback
Summary
Summary
  • A college student writes: “These words I write/ open their mouths wide/ screaming the most intimate secrets.”

    An inmate in a maximum-security men’s prison writes: “Within my writing, I am able to break down my prison walls and escape, leave the gangster façade behind.”

    The Forms of Things Unknown: Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens and Adults draws from Shelley Savren’s forty years of teaching poetry writing to a diverse array of students, from teens with mental health issues to seniors to adults with developmental disabilities, and in a wide variety of settings, which include middle schools, high schools, colleges, juvenile halls, women’s centers, and a men’s prison.


    Each chapter includes an original poem from Savren, heartfelt stories, and lesson plans that introduce poetic concepts through model poems by professionals, open-ended writing assignments, methods for sharing and critiquing, and student poems. Designed for use in a classroom or community setting, this book features forty-one lesson plans and nineteen more poetry-writing workshop ideas and provides guidance and inspiration for teaching poetry writing to teens and adults.
Details
Details
  • Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
    Pages: 196 • Trim: 6¼ x 9⅜
    978-1-4758-2792-7 • Hardback • July 2016 • $77.00 • (£59.00)
    978-1-4758-2793-4 • Paperback • July 2016 • $39.00 • (£30.00)
    Subjects: Education / Teaching Methods & Materials / Language Arts, Education / Curricula, Education / Secondary / Language Arts, Education / Adult & Continuing Education
Author
Author
  • 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 Welcome to Poetryland: Teaching Poetry Writing to Young Children (Rowman & Littlefield 2016). She is an English professor emeritus at Oxnard College and has been teaching poetry writing for the past forty years. Visit her at www.shelleysavren.com.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents
    Foreword
    Preface
    Acknowledgments
    Introduction
    Chapter 1: Getting Serious about Poems: Middle School and High School
    Chapter 2: Can Words Save Me? Teens with Mental Health Issues
    Chapter 3: Does Anybody Love Me? Juvenile Justice
    Part I: Girls’ Rehabilitation Facility
    Part II: Colston Youth Center
    Chapter 4: Poetry in Academia
    Chapter 5: I Remember: Cedar Community Center for Senior Citizens
    Chapter 6: Every Bird Can Sing: St. Madeline Sophie’s Training Center
    Chapter 7: The Feminist Poet: Women Take Back Words
    Chapter 8: Freedom Journey: R.J. Donovan Maximum Security Men’s Prison
    Appendix: Additional Exercise Ideas
    Resources
    About the Author
Reviews
Reviews
  • As a teacher of creative writing at the college and university level for over thirty years, I am always looking for new texts to engage my new generations of students. To find a text appropriate for the wide variety of talents one engages on the undergraduate level is not an easy task. Shelley Savren’s The Forms of Things Unknown: Teaching Poetry Writing to Teens and Adults has become the answer to this search. Relying upon her over twenty-five years of reading, studying, writing, publishing and teaching a wide variety of poetry, Ms. Savren has constructed the most practical, user friendly and insightful creative writing text that I’ve seen in a long time. I look forward to my students holding this book in their hands, and I look forward to sharing it with you, reader.
    — Bruce Weigl, 2014 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry


    Inspired by the pleasures, the thrills and the curative powers of poetry – reading it, hearing it, writing it – Shelley Savren has devoted a lifetime teaching her passion. As a sometimes itinerant poet who leads writing workshops on high school and college campuses as well as in senior centers, prisons and juvenile “facilities,” I understand where she’s coming from – and going back to again and again. I salute the insights and techniques Shelley Savren shares in her mindful, heartfelt guide. The Forms of Things Unknown: Teaching PoetryWriting to Teens and Adults rocks.
    — Al Young, California’s Former Poet Laureate


    Anyone who dedicates their life to reaching behind razor wire and bars and walls to reach the oppressed and work with them on expressing their emotions and thoughts and in doing so organizing their lives into a comprehensible contribution to society should be commended. Read this book and welcome back to humanity those we have exiled into oblivion.
    — Jimmy Santiago Baca, Author of Spring Poems Along the Rio Grande (New Directions, 2007), Winner of the American Book Award


    As a school principal, I have witnessed firsthand the effectiveness and success of Shelley Savren's poetry in the classroom program. Her program has been instrumental in increasing the self-esteem of students and contributes to the enhancement of their reading and writing skills. The poetry program has had phenomenal results, particularly for students with emotional disturbances and incarcerated youth. Now, finally, this innovative program is available in print for everyone!
    — Alan L. Murray, Former Principal, Ventura County Office of Education, Professor of Education, California State University, Channel Islands


    The Forms of Things Unknown is chock-full of ideas, inspiration, and down-to-earth advice for teaching poetry in a wide variety of settings. Shelley Savren offers such accessible, practical guidance that even if you’re not a poet and have never taught poetry, you could dive right in with confidence. And if you are an experienced teacher, this will add a multitude of strategies and suggestions to your toolbox.
    — Ellen Bass, Author of Mules of Love (Copper Canyon Press, 2014), Winner of the Elliston Book Award for Poetry


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