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First Published in 1999. Based on the author's experience of teaching poetry to children for more thirty years, this book offers guidance on engaging young children minds in poetry in line with the Literacy Hour.
When asked by the school inspector what he thought of poetry, an eleven year old replied that "it's all la-dida and daffodils, isn't it?" In his primary school the boy had come across very little poetry apart from nursery rhymes, snatches of rhyming verse and a few comic pieces and nonsense poems. Poetry to him was something arcane, not really related to his own life. He had studied no powerful, challenging, contemplative, arresting, quirky poems and had written very few poems himself. His teacher admitted that he was no English specialist, had received few ideas at college on the teaching of poetry and didn't really know where to start. As children progress through the primary school they need to be exposed to a rich diet of poetry and encouraged to read, perform and write it themselves. Providing a varied and stimulating environment is essential if is to flourish. In addition, children need specifi c guidance and ideas to start them off writing their own poems. This book, written by a former teacher and school inspector, and popular and widely published children's poet, offers an accessible, practical and structured programme for the teaching of this sometimes neglected aspect of the English curriculum.
Published in 1988, this book is a teacher's eye view of how children come to write and rewrite poems, and of how they make aesthetic choices in their writing. Drawing on over twenty years' experience of teaching poetry in primary and secondary schools, Robert Hull presents a detailed account of the process of writing poetry in the classroom. The reader is invited, almost in confidence, to be witness to a skilled teacher's planning, recognition, and definition of children's emergent understanding and expertise. The author adopts a non-behaviourist model which stresses difficulty and uncertainty, rejecting a simplistic assumption of linear progression, predictability of outcome, and short-term results. The many examples of poems written by the children demonstrate in a very vivid and impressive way the value of this approach. All teachers, not just of poetry, will find this a fascinating and informed study, and an inspiration for their own work in the classroom.
Teachers often complain that students find poetry difficult and intimidating. Some undergraduate students arrive at university with little or no interest in poetry. They confess that they do not know how to read it and therefore cannot understand or appreciate it. The distinctive features of poetry create some problems for the learner of English language, yet, if taught properly, poetry can be an effective tool in urging students to learn the language.
Poetry teaching is an art which gives life to the poetry in the class. It inspires the students to write poetry. Various techniques and activities, to make poetry teaching interesting, have been discussed at length in this book. Apart from this, literary devices have also been mentioned with examples.
