Poetry Potpourri Presentation for NCTE 2011

I had the amazing privilege of working with two very smart ladies while putting together our presentation on poetry for NCTE this year (titled "Poetry Potpourri"). Katie Doherty (some of you may know her from her informative Choice Literacy articles and videos) and her mom, Dee Doherty, were my cohorts in crime, and we had a blast the last few months, while learning a lot from each other at the same time.

It's been a little over a week since we presented in Chicago, and we wanted to share our slideshow with whomever might be interested. We are attaching the googledoc link to our slides and also the link to the resources in our handout.

We hope you enjoy and can find something to use for yourselves.

Link to slideshow...

Link to resource list...

The Underwear Salesman

I have always been a fan of J. Patrick Lewis's poetry, but I didn't start collecting his books in earnest until I heard a colleague of mine (Mary Lee at A Year of Reading) talk recently about how she sometimes has her kids study books by a certain poet on Poetry Fridays or during Poetry Month. An immersion study of sorts, only with one author (or in this case, poet). She really hooked me with that idea!

So imagine how delighted I was to see one of Lewis's newest books, The Underwear Salesman: And Other Jobs for Better or Verse, at a recent seminar I attended. I quickly snatched it up and started reading the poems to myself. As I read, I found that I was chuckling repeatedly, page after page. I knew this was a book I needed to add to my J. Patrick Lewis collection!

From the title page on, Lewis engages in play on words: "jobs for better or verse".

In the poem titled "Exterminator", Lewis writes:
"I come to de-bug
What's under de rug."
Funny stuff, right?!!

Then there's "Garbage Collector":
"Things to do
at work:

• Smash trash
• Squish fish
• Wrap scrap
• Bind rinds
• Close nose

Things to do
after work:

• Hose clothes
• Lose shoes
• Shower (hour)
• Suds crud
• Quench stench
• Comb dome
• Great date"

The succinct use of words (kids would love to try their own 2-word phrases), the rhyming, and the use of possible unknown words are all great reasons for kids to explore this poem.

And, that's just sharing two poems. Each of the other poems is equally delightful for a multitude of reasons.

The illustrations, by Serge Bloch, are done in a variety of mediums and greatly enhance each and every poem. He really captures the essence of each poem. There are 47 poems about very eclectic occupations -- the words and word play are wonderful, and Bloch delivers on each page as well. I've heard that writers and illustrators really never talk with one another about the book, but you would never know that to be the case with this book. Lewis and Bloch have created a well-blended book of poems and illustrations -- words and pictures intricately tied together.

Finally, the book starts and ends with poems talking about a variety of interesting, diverse, and unusual occupations (Bill will happy to know that librarian made the list!), and the fact that there is no hurry for children to decide what they need to be. All those jobs are out there, and just waiting to be found:
"Hey kid, what's the worry?
There's no need to hurry.
You've got your whole life to find out!"
A great message for children who are too often in the fast lane. The Underwear Salesman would be a great book for them to read, enjoy, kick back, relax, and imagine all the possibilities that might lie ahead...

I can't wait to share this book with my class!

Wing Nuts and Poetry???

This summer, in my school district, we had a Leadership Academy that focused on shared leadership in education. During one of the breakout sessions, I was fortunate to be placed into Mary Lee's (A Year of Reading) conversation about building literacy in the classroom. She shared many wonderful things during the session, but one of her ideas that I held on to was the idea of introducing a class to many different books of poetry by the same poet. The concept was to immerse the children in the works of one writer, and to let them see the variety of writing one person can do. A great compare / contrast conversation!

Anyway, one of the poets she has shared within her own class is J. Patrick Lewis. He is a fairly prolific writer, and the students would see some wonderful samples of many types of poetry. She shared with the group some of her collection of J. Patrick Lewis books, and I was amazed at how much he has written.

So, with Mary Lee figuratively sitting on my shoulder, I set about to start my own J. Patrick Lewis collection. The last time I was at Cover to Cover, I purchased Scien-Trickery: Riddles in Science and The World's Greatest Poems. Then, in a recent district classroom library update, all 5th grade teachers received VHERSES: A Celebration of Outstanding Women. All of these books were either authored or co-authored by J. Patrick Lewis. You can see the variety in just these titles alone.

But, when I was at Cover to Cover last weekend, another title jumped out at me: Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku. I'm a sucker for a clever title, so I walked over to the poetry section, picked it up, and noticed that J. Patrick Lewis was one of the authors of the book. I was obviously meant to have this book, so I got it! Not a thing serious in this book, but there are so many wonderful word plays.

To give one example:

"High school band minus
its tuba player -- looking
for a substi-toot!"

I predict that my students will fall in love with Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku, and it will become a new favorite read on Poetry Friday (and probably other days as well!).

A note to readers -- I just noticed that for all my posts this week, I dealt in the humorous. As much as I love a well-crafted, beautifully written book, I need humor in my life, also! This must have a been a week I gravitated to more books like that than normal. Just an observation.