R&L Education / National Middle School Association
Pages: 308
•
Trim: 7 x 9
978-1-57886-341-9 • Hardback • February 2006 • $104.00 • (£80.00)
978-1-57886-339-6 • Paperback • January 2006 • $57.00 • (£44.00)
Ross M. Burkhardt, a consultant in writing and middle level education, taught English and social studies in New York State for 32 years. Inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame in 1998, Ross is a past president of National Middle School Association and the author of Writing for Real: Strategies for Engaging Adolescent Writers (Stenhouse, 2003).
Chapter 1 Foreword
Chapter 2 Acknowledgments
Chapter 3 Introduction
Part 4 Part I: Before Class
Chapter 5 Why Poetry?
Chapter 6 The Teacher as Poet
Part 7 Part II: In the Classroom
Chapter 8 Memorizing and Reciting
Chapter 9 Composing and Publishing
Chapter 10 Discussing and Interpreting
Chapter 11 The Process of Student Poetry
Chapter 12 Back to the Beginning
Part 13 Part III: Beyond the Classroom
Chapter 14 Cross-Curricular Poetry
Chapter 15 Poetry Teachers at Work
Chapter 16 Reflections from the Classroom
Chapter 17 Appendix: Full Text of Classroom Poems by Braley, Burkhardt, and Lazarus
This text will be beneficial to beginning language arts teachers who share the author's passion for poetry but may not possess the pedagogical knowledge to teach poetry to adolescents. Burkhardt, who was inducted into the National Teachers Hall of Fame for his work as a middle school writing teacher, calls on over 30 years of personal experience in creating this cookbook-style text that emphasizes the importance of memorization and recitation in the teaching of poetry. He cites the works of the National Writing Project, NCTE, and Poetry Alive and embraces Rosenblatt's theory of reader response to poetry interpretation. The book includes student examples and letters to the author from former students. Jean Little's poem, 'After English Class,' reproduced in this work, epitomizes the author's theory that students must have the freedom to bring their own understandings to the study of poetry. The section 'General Assertions about Teaching Poetry' sums up the book nicely. This is not a text for experienced poetry practitioners, but neophyte middle school language arts teachers would find it both beneficial and comforting. Recommended.
— Choice Reviews
Drawing upon decades of experience as a language arts teacher, Burkhardt describes a number of classroom-tested poetry lessons aimed at developing reading, writing, and critical thinking skills.
— Reference and Research Book News