Teach Living Poets

Melissa Alter Smith, Lindsay Illich

Description

Teach Living Poets opens up the flourishing world of contemporary poetry to secondary teachers.

It is designed to give advice on reading contemporary poetry, discovering new poets, and inviting living poets into the classroom, as well as sharing sample lessons, writing prompts, and ways to become an engaged member of a professional learning community. 

The #TeachLivingPoets approach, which has grown out of the vibrant movement and community founded by high school teacher Melissa Alter Smith and been codeveloped with poet and scholar Lindsay Illich, offers rich opportunities for students to improve critical reading and writing, opportunities for self-expression and social-emotional learning, and, perhaps the most desirable outcome, the opportunity to fall in love with language and discover (or renew) their love of reading. The many poems included in Teach Living Poets are representative of the diverse poets writing today.

Sujets

• Reading Skills
• Writting
• Disciplines
• Language Arts
• Subjects
• Teaching
• EDUCATION
• SEL
• Level
• Secondary
• Subject
• Writing
• School
• Poetry

Informations

• Publié par: National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
• Date de parution: 22 février 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780814100134
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

NCTE Editorial Board
Steven Bickmore Catherine Compton-Lilly Deborah Dean Antero Garcia Bruce McComiskey Jennifer Ochoa Staci M. Perryman-Clark Anne Elrod Whitney Vivian Yenika-Agbaw Kurt Austin, Chair, ex officio Emily Kirkpatrick, ex officio

Staff Editor: Bonny Graham
Interior Design: Jenny Jensen Greenleaf
Cover Design: Pat Mayer
Cover Photo: Melissa Alter Smith
NCTE Stock Number: 52614; eStock Number: 52621
ISBN 978-0-8141-5261-4; eISBN 978-0-8141-5262-1
©2021 by the National Council of Teachers of English.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the copyright holder. Printed in the United States of America.
It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.
NCTE provides equal employment opportunity to all staff members and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical, mental or perceived handicap/disability, sexual orientation including gender identity or expression, ancestry, genetic information, marital status, military status, unfavorable discharge from military service, pregnancy, citizenship status, personal appearance, matriculation or political affiliation, or any other protected status under applicable federal, state, and local laws.
Every effort has been made to provide current URLs and email addresses, but, because of the rapidly changing nature of the web, some sites and addresses may no longer be accessible.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Illich, Lindsay, 1977- author. | Smith, Melissa Alter, 1980- author.
Title: Teach living poets / Lindsay Illich, Curry College; Melissa Alter Smith, Lake Norman Charter High School.
Description: Champaign : National Council of Teachers of English, 2021 | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Opens up the flourishing world of contemporary poetry to secondary teachers, giving advice on discovering new, diverse poets and reading contemporary poetry, as well as sharing sample lessons, writing prompts, and ways to become an engaged member of a professional learning community”—Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020038154 (print) | LCCN 2020038155 (ebook) | ISBN 9780814152614 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780814152621 (adobe pdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Poetry, Modern—20th century—Study and teaching (Secondary) | Poetry, Modern— 21st century—Study and teaching (Secondary)
Classification: LCC PN1101.I45 2020 (print) | LCC PN1101 (ebook) | DDC 808.1/0712—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038154
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020038155
Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries. —Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
Look at all the diamonds. —Kaveh Akbar, “Portrait of the Alcoholic Floating in Space with Severed Umbilicus”
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION: WHY TEACH LIVING POETS?
CHAPTER 1    Discovering Contemporary Poetry
CHAPTER 2    Reading Contemporary Poetry
CHAPTER 3    Recognizing Common Moves in Poetry
CHAPTER 4    Teaching Poems
CHAPTER 5    Teaching Single Author Collections
CHAPTER 6    Poets in the Classroom
CHAPTER 7    Writing Poems from Prompts
CHAPTER 8    Writing Projects for Contemporary Poetry
CHAPTER 9    Becoming Connected Educators
CONCLUSION    ”Somewhere Other Than a Mirror”
WORKS CITED
INDEX
PERMISSION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
AUTHORS
Acknowledgments
F irst, we would like to thank the poets featured in this book for their double generosity: first for writing poems for the world, and second, for giving us permission to share them in this volume. Special thanks to Kaveh Akbar, whose work profoundly impacts and inspires us. And to Janais Phillips, thank you for sharing your story.
We also would like to thank NCTE, the NCTE Twitter community, and the teachers who have allowed us to share their ideas in this book: Susan Barber, Scott Bayer, Matt Brisbin, Amber Buckley, Ann Cox, Kristin Dreyer, Tricia Ebar-via, Jen Flisinger, Joel Garza, Monet Hardison, Kelly Herrera, Karla Hilliard, Jori Krulder, Nikki Lehman, Angela Massingale, Carrie Mattern, Tia Miller, Adrian Nester, Valerie Person, Noel Poynter, Kristin Runyon, Tolly Salz, Roy Smith, Sarah Soper, Brian Sztabnik, Nicole F. Tong, Melissa Tucker, Donna Vorreyer, and Jay Ward.
Lindsay would like to thank Curry College for its institutional support during this project, especially for the sabbatical in the spring of 2017, during which the original post for the Literacy & NCTE blog spurred this book; the Curry College faculty creative writing group: Melissa Anyiwo, Pebble Brooks, Heather Falconer, Dorothy Fleming, Don Gervich, David Miller, Rebecca Paynich, Kara Provost, and Patricia Stevens; mentors, friends, and colleagues: Amanda Crabb, Kristen Getchell, Crystal Goodman, Julie Groesch, Esther Guenat, Jimmie Kill-ingsworth, Tom Martin, Janet McCann, and Nancy Young; my coauthor, Melissa Smith, who agreed to write a book with a stranger and made me a better teacher; my family, who have pulled me into the future: Wilma Lewis, who dared to disturb the universe; my parents, who wouldn't let up; Lauren Brisbin, for being my ever-fixéd mark; Dee and Pop, and our Nebraska crew; and, of course, most of all my dear loves Dobie, Hazel, and Craig, with whom I dwell in possibility.
Melissa would like to thank the educators and poets who support #Teach LivingPoets; the #aplitchat squad, who make me a better teacher—your support and friendship is a gift; RA Villanueva, for his mentorship and generosity; Clint Smith and José Olivarez; Jamie Lord, for her encouragement and help; coauthor Lindsay Illich, for her guidance and camaraderie through this project; my parents, Don and Carol; my husband, Craig, and my children, Payson and Chase—I love you more than the universe.
Finally, we thank our students, who inspire us daily.
Introduction: Why Teach Living Poets?

Portrait of the Alcoholic Floating in Space with Severed Umbilicus
in Fort Wayne I drank the seniors Old Milwaukee
Old Crow in Indianapolis I stopped now I regret
every drink I never took all around coffee grounds
and eggshells this sweating a mouthful
of lime as a boy I stole a mint green bra
from a laundromat I took it home to try on
while my parents slept filled its cups with the smallest
turnips in our pantry the underwire grew
into me like a strangler fig my blood roiled then
as now back on earth frogspit is dripping
down wild aloe spikes salmon are bullying
their way upstream there is a pond I leapt into once
with a lonely blonde boy when we scampered out one of us
was in love I could not be held responsible
for desire he could not be held at all I wonder
where he is now if he looked up he might see
me sparkling I always hoped that when I died
I would know why my brother will be so sad he will tell
his daughter I was better than I was he will leave out
my crueldrunk nights the wet mattresses my driving alone
into cornfields unsure whether I'd drive out I wish
he were here now he could be here this cave
is big enough for everyone look at all the diamonds
— Kaveh Akbar
Why teach living poets? Let's begin with Janais's words. Janais, who uses they/ them pronouns, is reflecting on the experience of having the poet Kaveh Akbar visit their class:

That poet visit meant everything to me. I got to analyze Kaveh Akbar's poem [“Portrait of an Alcoholic Floating in Space with Severed Umbilicus”] for my poetry project. I spent about a month just looking at the same poem. And I learned so much from it that I didn't think I would be able to learn because when I read it at first, I was like, “Okay, I don't understand this.” And then once I started understanding it, it was like something new every single day. I was learning something new about that poem every single day. And even after I presented my project, I was still like,”Oh man, I just figured out something else about this poem that I wished I could've talked about in my presentation.
Kaveh's reading was a spiritual experience in all honesty. The way he read his own poetry was completely raw. Every poem that was supposed to make me uncomfortable did so tenfold in person. Every poem that was as powerful as a punch on paper knocked me out in person. Raw is exactly the word to use here—the entire classroom was laden with emotional vulnerability as soon as he spoke the first word of each poem. This was, without a doubt, the pinnacle of my day. I was sitting in the audience pretty much trying not to cry. Hearing him read my favorite work of art in-person is an invaluable experience.
And finally getting to meet him and talk to him was amazing because, before him, I didn't have a favorite author, and he's my favorite author now. He's created my favorite work of art, and I think that's a really valuable thing. Getting to present the man who made me sort of fall in love with poetry—that is something that I am never ever ever going to forget. Getting to read his poetry and analyze the inner workings of it was a little spot of brightness in this year because it has been hard for me. You know, I haven't really been super happy all year, and his poetry makes me really really happy. I'm immediately in a good mood when I'm reading his poetry. I needed that.
I am signed up for a poetry class in college. My first semester is going to have a poetry class, and I definitely would not have signed