2011 INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS OF ENGLISH

Donna Mahar, Ph.D.Assistant Professor, English & LiteracyState University of New YorkUSA

Donna.Mahar@esc.edu

Within Classroom Walls:Helping Students to Thrive with Literacy

Fluency in Reading & Writing Margaret Mooney Reading/Writing

For With By

Fluency Development LessonTimothy Rasinski

Teacher selects a text/poem Displays on board, overhead Students have two copies

Students read the poem together Choral reading Partner reading

Students read the poem individually Bring second copy home

Mentor Texts

Published selection Used to inspire a student to write

something Used to model aspects of writing for

students

Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voicesby Paul Fleischman

“Water Striders”

Whenever we’re asked Whenever we’re asked

if we walk upon water if we walk upon water we answer we answer Of course To be sure It’s quite true Whenever we’re asked Whenever we’re asked If we walk on it often if we walk on it often We answer we answer Quite often Each day All day through

Brown Angelsby Walter Dean Myers

“Prayer”

Shout my name to the angelsSing my song to the skyAnoint my eyes with wisdomLet beauty fill my eyes

Out of the Dustby Karen Hesse

“Breaking Drought”After seventy daysof wind and sunof wind and cloudsof wind and sandafter seventy days,of wind and dusta littleraincame

February 1934

Poetry With English Language Learners

Draw on Students’ Backgrounds Poetry in Translation

“Students translate the work of poets from their native country or ethnic heritage, and then write and translate their own poems.”

Carol McCarthy, Queens NY McCarthy, Academy of American Poets website

www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/17106

Poetry and English Language Learners

Predictable language patterns Repeated words Repeated phrases Repeated lines Identifiable rhymes

Alpha, J. (2009). Utilizing poetry as an ESL teaching tool and resource. Retrieved February 3, 2011 from http://www.brighthub.com/education/languages/articles/7143.aspx

Metaphor Poetry

Freedom is……. (adjective)Freedom is…….(noun)……………………… (prepositional phrase)

Adjectives Nouns PlacesPrepositional Phrases

essentialbasiclively

childballoonstream

in the sunrising in the airunder a tree

Poetryforge.com

Where I’m FromGeorge Ella Lyons

I am from clothespins,From Clorox and carbon-tetrachloride.I am from the dirt under the back porch.(Black, glistening

it tasted like beets.) I am from the forsythia bush, the Dutch elm

whose long gone limbs I remember as if they were my very own.

George Ella Lyons

I am from fudge and eyeglasses, From Imogene and Alafair. I’m from the know-it-alls and the pass-it-ons, from perk up and pipe down. I’m from he restoreth my soul with a cotton lamb and ten verses I can say myself

George Ella Lyons

I’m from Artemus and Billie’s Branch

fried corn and strong coffee.

From the finger my grandfather lost to the augerthe eye my father shut to keep his sight.Under my bed was a dress boxspilling old pictures,a sift of lost facesto drift beneath my dreams.I am from these moments-snapped before I budded-leaf-fallen from the family tree.

Bombs on Hiroshima

I Am FromBy Randy Galt, grade 7

I am from bombs on Hiroshima that my grandmother saw from her school window and cried. I am from a time long ago, A strong woman Who loves me as much as I love her

Georgia Heard's wonderful book, Awakening the Heart.

In the book, Georgia struggled with getting the kids to write about things that were truly close to their hearts- .As a result, she asked kids to make a map of their heart- however they wished and to include all the things that really matter to them.

What has really affected you heart? What people have been important to you? What are some experiences or central events that you will never

forget? What happy or sad memories do you have? What secrets have you kept in your heart? What small things or objects are important to you? (Page 110)

She doesn't then follow up immediately with a poetry lesson- that would be overkill. But they keep their hearts and refer to them later in the year when writing poetry.

source: www.proteacher.net

What has really affected you heart? What small things do you carry in your heart? Who are the people in your heart?

Valentine for Ernest MannBy Naomi Shihab Nye

You can’t order a poem likeyou order a taco.Walk up to the counter, say, "I'll take two"and expect it to be handed back to youon a shiny plate.

Still, I like your spirit.Anyone who says, "Here's my address,write me a poem," deserves something in reply.So I'll tell you a secret instead:poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,they are sleeping. They are the shadowsdrifting across our ceilings the momentbefore we wake up. What we have to dois live in a way that lets us find them.

Valentine for Ernest MannBy Naomi Shihab Nye page 2

Once I knew a man who gave his wifetwo skunks for a valentine.He couldn't understand why she was crying."I thought they had such beautiful eyes."And he was serious. He was a serious manwho lived in a serious way. Nothing was uglyjust because the world said so. He reallyliked those skunks. So, he re-invented themas valentines and they became beautiful.At least, to him. And the poems that had been hidingin the eyes of skunks for centuriescrawled out and curled up at his feet.

Valentine for Ernest MannBy Naomi Shihab Nye p. 3

Maybe if we re-invent whatever our lives give us we find poems.

Check your garage, the odd sockin your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite.And let me know.

What We Learned