Write Me A Poem
Reading, Writing and Performing Poetry (82 Pages)

ISBN 1-875327-22-3

Available from:

Eleanor Curtain Publishing
Melbourne, 85 High St Prahran, 3181
Ph (03) 9510 2522
Fax (03) 9510 5922
www.ecpublishing.com.au/ecp.htm

Introduction:

Write Me a Poem is a very practical book for teachers interested in encouraging children to explore reading, writing and performing poetry.

Poetry has an important and stimulating role to play in the writing repertoire of children, bit its successful introduction in the classroom is a challenging experience to many teachers. In Write Me a Poem Lorraine Wilson, teacher, author and international consultant, shares her enthusiasm, methods and successful strategies.

Children's experience of poetry is usually of rhyming poetry - consequently, when they start to write poetry they frequently sacrifice meaning and sense for rhyme. By exposing children to free verse, many options for self-expression are opened to them. Following a sequence of immersion in poetry, of demonstration and modelling, children become comfortable in writing and sharing different types of poetry: poetry which tells a story, poetry which describes, poetry which recounts, poetry which argues a position. They also discover that poetry provides a form for expressing emotions, for using the language of laughter and tears and for celebrating life.

Write Me a Poem presents ideas and strategies for engaging and encouraging children to write, read and perform poetry. It includes sections on Noisy Poems, Poems for Two Voices, Rhyming Poems and poems that express emotion.