Those of you who are regular visitors to our twitter feed may remember seeing occasional tweets about the blog From the Catbird’s Seat from the Poetry and Literature Center at the Library. There are many wonderful posts From the Catbird Seat, but of special interest to many teachers will be the “Teacher’s Corner.” This feature, written by 2013-2015 Library of Congress Teacher in Residence Rebecca Newland, provides a variety of suggestions to use poetry and primary sources to engage students, encourage critical thinking and analysis, and inspire students to read – and write! – more poetry.
Ready to take a step into the “Teacher’s Corner”? Here are a few posts to get you started.
Are your students having trouble understanding a poem? Rebecca shows how asking students to act out a poem can help them better understand it.
Help students learn that poetry can come from unexpected places and unexpected people. Supplement this activity with the Web guide of Poetry from Presidents and encourage students to compare presidential poems with the president that wrote them. What do the poems help students learn about the person who wrote them?
Poetic Reactions to Historical Events
Explore the poetry of Walt Whitman to see his reactions to the Civil War and to the death of President Lincoln. Students can see how poems can document responses to important events in history.
A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words: Using Photographs to Prompt Poetry
Trying to get your students to write poems of their own? Rebecca provides tips on how to use photographs to help inspire student writing and provides links to Library collections that have thousands of photographs that may provide writing prompts.
Write Poetry to Encourage Reflection in a Hectic World
Ideas to help encourage students to write poetry to help them find quiet in what can be a loud and chaotic world.
Hopefully these posts will give you a taste of what’s available from the “Teacher’s Corner” of From the Catbird Seat.
Visit the Poetry and Literature Center website to learn more about the Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry and the people who have served in that role, including current Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith. Also learn about the podcast From the Catbird Seat and other features, including Poetry 180 and the Archive of Recorded Poetry and Literature, which now has 50 new recordings of poets and writers participating in literary events at the Library.
How have you incorporated poetry into your classroom activities this month? Let us know in the comments.