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 another section of the book, three poets talk about their work.

Photocopiable

My Best Poetry Unit Contents

Words – Catherine Fisher

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
• Lending Library
• How's That?