Hedgetoad Teaching

What are your favorite poems to use in class? The ones that you can either sell really well or always connect with kids? Here are some of mine - Freeway 280 by Lorna Dee Cervantes – this poem has some great images, but also quite a bit spanish. It gives the hispanic students in the class a chance to explain the meaning of the words and the images created with much more authority. September 12, 2001 by X.J. Kennedy – I don’t know if the images are so stark or if I’m able to sell it really well having been there, but kids really get into the theme of the poem. It’s also a great example of enjambment and how it affects the tone and theme of the poem. Slam, Dunk, & Hook by Yuself Komunyakaa – my students always ask me why we can’t read more poems like this…  I guess it does seem a little more approachable than say, Dickinson. Saturday at the Canal by Gary Soto – given that I teach in an area where every single students is dying to graduate and get out, this one hits hom...

When I lived in NYC, it always made my day when I found a new poem displayed in the subway car. Sitting alongside advertisements for English lesson and zit removal, it was a little pick me up amongst a sea of riotous ads. How's that for poetic? I never claimed to be good. The other day, I forgot to erase a poem I'd written on the board for one of my AP classes. A couple of sophomores mentioned it - one had seen it before; another asked what it meant... and suddenly an idea was born. If I post a short poem on the board and just never mention it, all of my students will assume it's meant for another class. They'll still read it, thinking it may be important, and get a little poetry in their lives. It's an idea anyhow.

I spent a significant amount of time yesterday looking for performance poetry that was school appropriate - sadly, just when I thought I'd found a really good one, out would fly some word that I can't use in class. It did, however, make the Taylor Mali's "Whatever" a little more meaningful... the whole lack of vocabulary thing. Taylor Mali - Whatever Taylor Mali - What Teachers Make (cleaner - does have lower level swearing) Nayeli Knutson, Priceless employeed poor ( includes the word shit ) Billy Collins - Forgetfullness (Animated Poetry) Billy Collins - Now and Then (Animated Poetry) I don't know if I'll be able to use any of these in class. Novemeber's storm wiped all the categories in our filtering system. In the restoration process, the filtering system software company informed our technology people that NO other schools had as much openness as we do. I immediately pointed out that their pool of information came from their own clients... bu...