Hello, I volunteered to review the book Poem Central: Word Journeys with Readers and Writers by Shirley McPhillips. As a 6th grade English/Language Arts teacher I am always looking for new ways to instill a passion for poetry in my classroom. I hear too much moaning and groaning when I tell the kids we are going to look at and/or write some poetry. This book definitely peaked my interest and will be using many of its strategies this coming year.
First, Ms. McPhillips really knows her poetry. It is quite obvious from the very beginning of the text. I knew right away that I was reading from a poetry master. Second, the breakdown of the book is very user friendly. It is divided in to three parts: Coming into a world of poetry, Reading a Poem:An Immense Intimacy, and Finding Poems, Making Poems. I really like the short chapters in between that had a diverse mix of poems. Part 1 is all about becoming interested in poetry and how to bring it in to the classroom. She gives some good advice here and this chapter sparked some ideas I plan to use this year. This section motivated me to do a poem once a week or even poetry Friday. Part 2 discusses reading poetry. It goes over structure, titles, rhythm, size and shape, difficulty level, and in short, how to talk to a poem. I really like how she says to read poems to read them and not analyze every word/line. Part 3 is about craft & creation. She gives different types of poems to write as well as student reflections. This part is great to use in the classroom and will be referring to this part a lot. This book couldn't have come at a better time. I want to do more poetry in my classroom. It is time for the moans and groans to become Ooohs and Aaahs. Thanks. Justin Greene Sent from my iPad _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
