Poetry Friday!

I decided to feature two of my favorite professional books for teachers this week. If any of you know me, you know I am talking about Georgia Heard's books, FOR THE GOOD OF EARTH AND SUN: TEACHING POETRY and AWAKENING THE HEART: EXPLORING POETRY IN ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL. Neither are new books, but they are books that I go back to every year to think about poetry teaching. I am a big fan of Georgia Heard's work. She is amazing and has helped so many teachers to teach poetry well. I used to dread the idea of getting kids to write poetry. But, after discovering FOR THE GOOD OF EARTH AND SUN years ago, we have a great time reading, writing and thinking about poems. She is a poet and teacher and her strategies for teaching poetry help kids (and teachers) to love the genre of poetry and to learn to write it well. I have found that studying poetry and language the way that Georgia Heard teaches us to, helps students improve their writing across genres. Georgia Heard is a poet who has also written several poetry books for kids, such as CREATURES OF EARTH, SEA, AND SKY, THIS PLACE I KNOW: POEMS OF COMFORT, and SONG OF MYSELF: AN ANTHOLOGY OF POEMS AND ART.