My Best Poetry Unit
and other ideas for teaching poetry years 7-12
edited by Ken Watson
My Best Poetry Unit is a practical and effective resource for teaching poetry. Twenty one experienced teachers from Australia, Canada and Britain have contributed ideas and poetry lessons which have worked well in the classroom.
The basis of each unit is a poem (photocopiable) with comments, suggestions and activities for using it effectively in the classroom. Ideas for using other related poems are also included.
In an additional section of the book, three poets talk about their work.
photocopiable
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My Best Poetry Unit Contents
Words - Catherine Fisher
Part 1: My Best Poetry Unit
Performance Poetry in the Junior & Middle Secondary Years -
The History of the Flood - John Heath-Stubbs
The Apeman - Adrian Mitchell
The Daniel Jazz - Vachel Lindsay
The Young Jackaroo - Ethel Anderson
Didjeridoo - F T Macartney
The Song of the Whale - Kit Wright
Junior Coaching - William Scammell
The Mobile Rag - John Mole
The Unquiet Grave - Anon
Bargain Basement - F T Macartney
From Poem to Picture Book (Years 9-11)
The Trap - Jon Stallworthy
The Editorial Committee (Years 8-11)
The Golden Vanity
The Twa Corbies
Two Ravens
The Three Ravens
The Worst Poem in the Universe (Year 9-12)
The Poetry Detective: The Chest (Years 10-12)
The Romantic Poets
Sequencing Activity (Year 9-12)
Green Beret - Ho Thien
Two Translations of a Chinese Poem (Years 7-10)
Gallery Walk (Year 9-12) - Philip Allingham
Black Hull- Harry Thurston
Extended Metaphors (Year 9-10)
Portraits - Colin Thiele
All the World's a Stage - William Shakespeare
Comparing Two Versions (Years 10-12)
La Belle Dame Sans Merci - John Keats
Mapping Responses to a Poem (Years 9-12)
Cock-Crow - Edward Thomas
Teaching Kubla Khan (Years 10-12)
The Pictorial Essay (Years 9-11)
White Dresses - Rhona McAdam
At the Wedding - Andrew Wreggitt
Teaching Post-Colonial Poems (Years 9-11)
History Lesson - Jeannette Armstrong
Columbus - Robert Hull
An Introduction to Literary Theory (Years 10-12)
Late Fragment - Raymond Carver
Crossing the Bar - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
To His Coy Mistress - Andrew Marvell
I Can't Feel the Sunshine - Lesbia Harford
Sylvia Plath: A Discussion (Years 11-12)
Part 2: Poets Speak
Introduction: The Birth of Poems
How Does a Poem Come About? (Years 9-12)
Birdsong / Sunday Afternoon - Pittwater
The Art of Light Verse (Years 8-12)
Parkbenchers / Consequences / Cat / Elementary / Who
Remembering Childhood (Years 10-12)
Growing Up Perpendicular on the Side of a Hill
Part 3: Some Additional Poetry Units
Playing With Language (Years 7-11)
Beheadings - Miroslav Holub
A Group of Riddles
Secret Message - Tim Hopkins
Shakespeare - Tim Hopkins
Elusive - Tim Hopkins
Hiawatha - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (excerpt)
The Modern Hiawatha - George A Strong
Coochi-Coochi - Bill Greenwell
Sonnet in the Words of Shakespeare
What is a Poem? (Years 7-9)
Shadows - Gary Boswell
Hockey Player - Michael Nowlan
Changing the Point of View (Years 9-12)
The Doctor - Gary Hyland
Teaching The Forsaken (Years 10-12)
The Forsaken - Duncan Campbell Scott
The Ballad Tradition (Years 7- 10)
The Australian Ballad Tradition:
The Death of Ben Hall- Anon
How the Fire Queen Crossed the Swamp - Will Ogilvie
The Ballad of Percival Pig - Kel Richards
Two Canadian Ballads:
The Squad of One - Robert Stead
The Cremation of Sam McGee - Robert Service
Answers and Imitations: Exploring Tone (Years 10-12)
To Lucasta, Going to the Warres - Richard Lovelace
To Lucasta: On Seeing No Hope of Returning From the Wars - John Manifold
To Lucasta On Going to the Wars - For the Fourth Time - Robert Graves
Alibi - Arthur Guiterman
Life Matters (Years 10-12)
Yours Sincerely
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