Awakening Your Inner Poet
TJ Leonard
CRA 2012
TJ Leonard, EdD.
Middlebrook School – Wilton, CT
Sacred Heart University – Fairfield, CT
DRTJLeonard@gmail.com
In this packet you will find an abridged set of information that was provided today.
To access the information below, as well as additional resources, please visit:
www.poetrycra2012.weebly.com
1. Empower Yourself and Your Students
“People often ask me when did you become a poet? That’s not really the right
question. The question is, when did you stop?”
---- William Stafford
2. Explore Perceptions
3. Explore Theories and Research
4. Read Poetry
Books of Poetry:
The American Poetry & Literacy Project, (2006). How to eat a poem: A
smorgasbord of tasty and delicious poems for young readers. Mineola, NY:
Dover Publications, Inc.
Kennedy, X.J. (1999). Knock at a star. New York, NY: Hachette Book Group
Shihab, N.S. (2008). Honeybee: Poems and short prose. New York, NY:
Greenwillow Books
Shihab, N.S. (2005). A maze me: Poems for girls. New York, NY: Greenwillow
Books
Books About Teaching Poetry:
Atwell, Nancie (2006). Naming the world: A year of poems and lessons. Portsmouth, NH:
Firsthand.
Heard, G. (1999). Awakening the heart: Exploring poetry in elementary and middle
school. Portsmith, NH: Heinemann.
Heard, G. (1989). For the good of the earth and the sun. Portsmith, NH: Heinemann.
O'Connor, John (2004). Wordplaygrounds: Reading, writing and performing poetry in
the English classroom. Urbana, IL: NCTE
5. Watch or Listen to Poetry
www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere
www.poets.org
www.poetrysociety.org
www.poetryfoundation.org
6. Destroy Myths
Cheney, M. (2002). Expanding vision: teaching haiku. English Journal, 91(3), 7983.
7. Stop…
Found Poetry:
Hobgood, J. (1998). Finders keepers: owning the reading they do. Voices From
the Middle, 5(2), 26-33.
http://tinyurl.com/8t2vndr (Read Write Think PDF Instructions)
Black-Out Poetry:
www.austinkleon.com/category/newspaper-blackout-poems/
8. Stop Over-Analyzing
Visible Thinking
http://tinyurl.com/9jttf3t
9. Use the Common Core to Support Your Good Work
10. Explore Poetry in Public
Connecticut Poetry Calendar:
www.poetz.com/connecticut/
Wednesday Night Poetry Series:
www.wedpoetry.wordpress.com/
Central Park Zoo:
www.centralparkzoo.com
Poets House:
www.poetshouse.org
the old pond –
a frog jumps in,
sound of water
the smell of iron
as I come down the s tairs winter evening
-- Basho
-- Lee Gurga
starry night
biting into a melon
full of seeds
first snow
turning out the light
to see
-- Yu Chang
-- Lidia Rozmus
After weeks of watching the roof leak
I fixed it tonight
by moving a single board.
--- Gary Snyder
Broken bowl
the pieces
still rocking.
--- Penny Harter