A Poetry Teacher's Toolkit

Book excerpt: Professional poets spend many hours crafting a finished piece of work, yet we expect children in school to sit down and write when they are told to, whether they feel inspired or not. This series of four books is a toolkit to help you build a positive framework for children to read, write, understand and enjoy poetry - to bring a creative spark to the poetry classroom. A combination of featured poems, creative ideas, structured lesson plans and differentiated photocopiable activity sheets gives the series a uniquely flexible approach - which means you can use the materials in any classroom context. If you're wary of poetry, if you think it's boring, or if you're nervous about teaching poetry, then you've chosen the right book. Key themes covered in BOOK 4: Language and Performance are moods and feelings through the use of effective language; nonsense and humorous verse; the continuity and links between ancient and modern, between nursery and playground rhymes and Shakespeare; whatever our ability, there is a place for everyone on the poetry 'ladder'; and performance poetry. Other books in the series are: BOOK 1: Words and Wordplay; BOOK 2: Rhymes, Rhythms and Rattles; and BOOK 3: Style, Shape and Structure.