Module Two Major Poets and Awards

NCTE Award Poetry

Bibliography 

Cullinan, Bernice E., ed. 1996. A Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by NCTE award-winning poets.  Illustrated by Andi MacLeod and Portraits by Marc Nadel. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong Boyd Mills Press, Inc. ISBN 1563970872.

Critical Analysis

A Jar of Tiny Stars: Poems by NCTE Award-Winning Poets is an anthology edited by Bernice E. Cullinan.  The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) gives this prestigious award every three years and considers only the poet’s full body of work. The fifty poems included in this collection were chosen by children throughout the country as their most beloved poems.  The ten poets spotlighted in this anthology are David McCord, Aileen Fisher, Karla Kuskin, Myra Chon Livingston, Eve Merriam, John Ciardi, Lilian Moore, Adoff, Valerie Worth and Barbra Esbensen. Each chapter begins with the poet's portrait, a short quote by the poet and the back of the anthology offers the reader a short biography of each poet.

The poetic styles range from limericks to free verse, humorous to serious in nature.   The portraits are achieved with black and white watercolor washes by Marc Nadel.  Many of the poems in the anthology are not illustrated. However, the poems that Andi MacLeod’s sketches compliments and assists to accentuate the wit and feelings communicated in the poems.

Follow-Up Activity

On a large sheet of white chart paper write the poem “Snowman” by David McCord.  Read the poem aloud to the students several times. Allow students to turn and talk about the poem and share their connections with their partners. 

For the culminating activity, students will need three nylon balloons, salt, felt, scraps of cloth, one large bowl, one medium bowl, one small bowl, and a large pan or plastic container. The teacher will fill the balloons with water. Tie the tops of the balloons and place each balloon in one of the bowls in the freezer for at least fourteen hours or until the balloons are frozen. Then, cut the balloons apart and place the ice balls one on top of the other by connecting each snowball with salt. A large amount of salt will help the snowball adhere to each frozen snowball. Students may put clothing and body parts on the snowman.  

Each day, as the students observe their class snowman, they will reread the “Snowman” poem and pair/share what they notice about their classroom snowman that is similar or different from the snowman in the poem.  Students will predict how many days it will take before the snowman melts. Students will draw a picture in their science journal each day illustrating the changes that occur with their classroom snowman.

Highlighted Poem

Snowman

By David McCord

My little snowman has a mouth,

So he is always smiling south.

My little snowman has a nose;

I couldn’t seem to give him toes,

I couldn’t seem to make his ears.

He shed a lot of frozen tears

Before I gave him any eyes–

But they are big ones for his size.

Florian Poetry

Bibliography

Florian, Doglas. 2009. Dinothesaurus: Prehistoric Poems and Paintings.  Simon & Schuster New York: Atheneum Books for
Young Readers. ISBN 978-1-4169-7978-4.

Critical Analysis

Douglas Florian book Dinothesaurus, provides the reader with amazing dinosaur poems infused with humor and interesting information. The "Glossarysaurus" offers specific information regarding each dinosaur, fossil web sites, an annotated list of dinosaur museums, bibliography for additional reading, and a section that contains a useful pronunciation and meaning guide.

Florian’s double page spreads features illustrations that are done with gonache, collage, colored pencils, stencils, dinosaur dust, and rubber stamps on primed brown paper bags. Each drawing will mesmerize any dinosaur enthusiast. Upon careful inspection, the reader will be captivated by Florian hidden artwork.

I read this book to my kindergarten students and they were fascinated by the clever language and colorful illustrations. Each poem in Florian’s poetry book deepens and broadens my kindergarteners understanding of dinosaurs.

Follow-Up Activity

I utilize this activity with my kindergarten students. For these two activities, each student will need a copy of Florian’s poem “Deinonychus,” clean chicken or turkey bones and Plaster of Paris.  

For the first activity, students will listen to the teacher read the poem from a chart several times, during the week. Students will be provided with a copy of the poem “Deinonychus” to place in their poetry notebook. Students may draw a picture of their favorite dinosaur from the book or create their own dinosaur giving it a name, it meaning and pronunciation. For their illustrations, students may use colored pencils, rubber stamps, and watercolors. Students will pair read this poem and share their work with the class.

 For the second activity, students will use clean chicken or turkey bones and Plaster of Paris. The teacher will help the students place each bone in wet, packed sand to make an imprint.  The students will remove their bone and the teacher will help the students pour Plaster of Paris into the imprint (or mold). When the mixture has hardened, remove it from the sand.  Help the students label and display their fossils in the discovery center. 

Highlighted Poem

Deinonychus

die-NON-i-kus (terrible claw)

Deinonychus had terrible claws.

Deinonychus had dangerous jaws.

Deinonychus was built to attack.

Deinonychus would hunt in a pack.

Deinonychus would leap on its prey.

Deinonychus could ruin your whole day!

Multicultural Poetry

Bibliography

Mora, Pat. 2010.  Dizzy in Your Eyes: Poems About Love. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN  978-0-375-94565-6.

Critical Analysis

Dizzy in Your Eyes  is a collection of fifty poems relating the coming of age experiences of preteens and teens. The poetry is written in the voice of girls and boys, who make it feel incredibly authentic.  What I like most about this collection is the handy and instructive footnotes throughout the book that explains the various styles of poetic form used in each poem. Further, sprinkled throughout the collection is a brilliant use of imagery. Mora writes in free verse, as well as an array of classic poetic forms.  Many of the poems have Spanish words that provide the reader with a sense of culture and authenticity. Unfortunately, only one poem in this book was translated in Spanish after the English version.

Each poem in Mora’s collection evokes a familiar childhood experience. My teenage son enjoys reading this book of poems. He describes it as,” A mirror into his soul.” He voiced, “I can  relate  to the topics in this poetry book because I have lived many of these.”  His favorite poem is entitled “Dumped.” He said, “I like this poem because it brings back memories of my junior high and high school years.”

Follow-Up Activity

The poem “Dumped” can be an arena for teens to discuss their thoughts and feelings about being jilted by someone they care about. Through dialogue, students will observe that they share similar experiences with their peers and they are not alone. 

Highlighted Poem

Dumped

I can’t believe you dumped me.

                For months, I felt happy inside.

What a catastrophe!

                Now I feel ugly and just want to hide.

All those months, I felt so happy inside.

                Was everything you said untrue?

Now I just want to hide

                and try to forget I loved you. Still do.

Was everything you said untrue?

                “Let’s just be friends.” I hate the words.

I’m trying to forget I loved you and still do.

                I ache at the mean rumors I’ve heard.

“Let’s just be friends.” Haunting words.

                Me, a lump you dumped, casually.

How I ache at the rumors I’ve heard.

                My heart broke, my private catastrophe.

Module One: Introducing Poetry

Module 1- Introduction to Poetry: African American Poetry

Bibliographic Citation:

Poet: Langston Hughes

Photographer: Charles R. Smith, Jr.

Title: "My People"

Publisher: New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2009,

ISBN:  9781416935407  

Critical Analysis:

          “My People” is a thirty-three word poem written by Langston Hughes, during the Harlem Renaissance, in 1923. The Harlem Renaissance is a term coined by Alain LeRoy Locke in his compelling 1925 book The New Negro: Voices of the Harlem Renaissance. According to Locke, editor, educator, sociologist, and the first African American Rhodes Scholar of 1907, the Harlem Renaissance was a literary and scholarly culmination that cultivated a new-found African American cultural distinctiveness in the 1920s and 1930s. Alain Locke describes it as a "spiritual coming of age" in which the African American community was able to capture upon its "first chances for group expression and self determination."  Langston Hughes wrote “My People” during this era, a time in history of unbridled racism, limited educational and economic opportunities for African American people. Through Hughes’ uplifting words, African Americans were given a positive and inspiring image of themselves as a people full of beauty, heart and soul.

Charles R. Smith, Jr. illustrations of Langston Hughes poem “My People” personifies the beauty, heart and essence of a people Langston Hughes words captures  in a poem written over eight-eight years ago.  For example the line, "the stars are beautiful," Smith photographs the gleaming hair clips in a little girl's dark hair. Further, for "Beautiful, also, the sun" is matched with two glowing faces, angled towards a midday sun.  Smith’s sepia-colored photographs offer the reader an up-close and vivid view of the unique shades of skin tones, beauty and spirits, of the African American people Langston Hughes loved and wanted to empower through his inspiring poetry.  

Through expert photography, Charles R. Smith, Jr. expresses his creative prowess of Hughes poem with style and eloquence. Smiths’ photographs offers the reader a glimpse of a people that are of varying ages, hues, sizes and statues. His book won the Coretta Scott King award in 2010 at the ALA Youth Media Awards. According to the end cover of Smith’s book:

I wanted to show skin color as bright as the sun and as dark as the night; I wanted to show the newness of a newborn smile and the wisdom of wrinkled skin.  But, more than anything, I simply wanted to show that like any other group of people, black people come in all shapes, sizes, shades, and ages, and that each of us is unique.

Highlighted Poem:

The night is beautiful,

So the faces of my people.

The stars are beautiful,

So the eyes of my people

Beautiful, also, is the sun.

Beautiful, also, are the souls of my people.

Follow up Activity:

This picture book is an excellent read aloud for all children. However, for my kindergarten students, I would utilize this book  as a multicultural activity.  Before introducing the poem, I would share background information about Langston Hughes. Next, I would place the picture book on a document camera to allow the children to view the photographs and words, as I read the poem to them. At the conclusion of the poem, I would offer the e students an opportunity to pair/share their thoughts on the poem. Then, after reading the book for at least four times, throughout the week, I would bring several digital cameras to class and allow the students to take sepia-colored photographs of their classmates. Last, I would print the photographs and help my students create a class book with their photographs illustrating Langston Hughes poem “My People.”

Module 1- Introduction to Poetry: Hopkins Collection

Bibliographic Citation:

Compiler: Lee Bennett Hopkins

Illustrator:  David Diaz

Title: Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems

Publisher: New York: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2010                                   

ISBN:   978-1-4169-0210-2

Critical Analysis:

Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poems  is a wonderful selections of poems by Lee Bennett Hopkins and illustrated by David Diaz. Hopkins collection provides the reader with a delightful source for children to learn about the four seasons.  Hopkins introduces each of the four collections with quotations from such renowned poets as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Henry James, William Cullen Bryant, and William Shakespeare.  One of Hopkins poems heads each of the season collection. Further, Hopkins offers forty-eight poems, twelve for each of the four seasons. In this anthology, Hopkins presents the reader with traditional poets such as Karla Kuskin, Joseph Bruhac, Carl Sandburg, and Richard Brautigan. Moreover, twenty-nine of the poems have contemporary poets such as J. Patrick Lewis, Marilyn Singer, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, and Joan Bransfield Graham. The poems in Hopkins anthology are brief enough to capture the attention of the primary student and the upper grades will enjoy the sophistication in the imagery. Both young and older students will appreciate the humor.

David Diaz, presents the reader with a bold palette of l radiant mixed illustrations that brings excitement to each seasons. Diaz illustrates how much can be understood through the changing colors of the seasons. A brilliance of color around animals, people and inanimate objects connects the stunning tones in the illustrations to create intensity and importance to each poem without overpowering the words.

Highlighted Poem:

Moon, Have You Met My Mother?

Karla Kuskin

I am softer

and colder

and whiter than you.

And I can do something

that you cannot do.

I can make

anything

beautiful:

warehouses

train tracks

an old fence

cement.

I can make anything

everything

beautiful.

What I touch,

where I blow,

even a dump filled with garbage

looks lovely

after I’ve fallen there.

I am the snow.

Follow up Activity:

This activity is a great way for young students to begin to understand the difference in weather and seasons. Students will have a better understanding of what the weather is like during the Winter and they will be able to enjoy the poems in Sharing the Seasons: A Book of Poem. This activity can be used with primary students.  Show pictures of Winter scenes from the anthology. Let students pair/share what they observe. Allow students to discuss what they do during the Winter and share their favorite activities with their partners. Explain that they are going to read poems about Winter throughout the week.  Write the poem “Moon, Have You Met My Mother?” by Karla Kuskin on chart paper. Allow the students to listen to you read the poem at least four times, during the week. Finally, supply each child with a copy of the poem and let students follow along as you read “Moon, Have You Met My Mother?” Students may illustrate their copy of the poem and place it in their poetry notebook for further reading. Students may work in groups to read and share their illustrations and interpretations of the poem with the class.

Module One: Introduction to Poetry: School Poetry

Bibliographic Citation:

Poet: Ron Koertge

Title: The Brimstone Journals

Publisher: Massachusetts: Candlewick Press, 2001

ISBN:   0-7636-1302-9

Critical Analysis

The Brimstone Journals is a distinctive poetic novel in free-verse. The student of The Brimstone Journals recounts the events that lead up to an attack on the school premeditated by one of their classmates. The students in the journal are bully and victim. In the end, only one will do anything about the attack. Though the varied free-verse poems, Ron Koertge reveal the humdrum, daily worries of teens and the tragedy threatening their lives. The characters are not developed, however their voices and anxiety are often authentic and crude. From an excerpt taken from Random House, Ron Koertge writes:

The Brimstone Journals chose me. The characters woke me up at night.  The entire first draft took just three weeks. Then the voices were gone and it was time to be a 
writer again instead of merely taking dictation from god-knows-where.

Highlighted Poem:

Joseph

I’m fed up with Gandhi and Martin Luther

King. Sometimes you’ve got to get people’s

attention!

So I go over to Boyd’s house.

He’s pretty ragged. “Hey, man. You just

missed Sheila.” Then he opens up this old cedar

chest and shows me.

“I got a Ruger and I got a Smith & Wesson.”

Then he picks up this Glock, holds it. “First

time Mike gave me one of these, I almost

puked.”

When I ask him if he’s okay, he reaches

into his camouflage pants and shows me

a handful of pills. “Yeah, until I forget

which of these do what. “Then he hands

me the Ruger. “Try this one. See if it

feels good.”

No way. I’ve got my hands up like he’s

an ATM robber. “Look, you haven’t been

at school. I was worried.” He shrugs.

“Whatever.” Walks me to the door. Hugs me.

Says to miss first period on Tuesday.

Out in the car, I just sit there. Is he serious?

I mean. I’ve heard stuff, but I always hear stuff:

it’s high school, right? And anywhy, who would

I tell, the same cops who dragged me to jail

the time I handcuffed myself to that bulldozer?

And then I start thinking: So he’s got a couple

of guns. He used to have a lot of skin

magazines. That didn’t make him a rapist.

And last summer, who came and got me

in the rain when I blew a tire way in the hell

out on Maxwell Road in the middle

of the night?

Boyd, that’s who.

Follow Up Activity:

     This activity is for children fourteen and up. Ask students to pair /share the meaning of bullying with their group. The teacher is to act as a facilators for student groups. As facilitator, tell students that bullying can be verbal or non-verbal, physical or non-physical. As the teacher walk among the different groups, ask students in each group what they think the saying “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can really hurt me. Ask students to turn and talk with a students in their groups to reflect on their experiences with bullies. Give each student a cut out paper “stone.” Have students write a behavior that could hurt someone or make them feel badly. Have them wrinkle up the "stone" and then try to smooth it out. Explain that once someone has been hurt, it is never forgotten. You cannot remove the hurt. The wrinkles will always be there. Hang stones on wall to create a wall of intolerance or have students sit in a circle and pile the rocks up in the middle. Ask students to think about ways to prevent these things from happening. Create a class list of ideas.