Happy Poetry Friday!
Welcome to today’s tip in my month-long Poetry Tips for Teachers series.
Tip #18: Let the poet read.
If you’re self-conscious about reading poetry aloud, one way to ease into it is let the poets themselves read! I love the Poetry Speaks to Children anthology that comes with a CD of many of the poems in the book, most read by the poet. It’s awesome, and there are other books in the line, too. And of course, there are tons of us poets online sharing audio clips of our work (Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Irene Latham, and Renee La Tulippe are three who come immediately to mind as sharing a lot of audio and video for teachers). It’s great to hear how poets read, and it’s reassuring, too, because there’s usually nothing fancy about it. On top of that, you can’t help but absorb reading tips (your students, too) as you listen.
![Gravity [Why-ku]](https://i0.wp.com/laurasalas.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/gravity-k.jpg?resize=576%2C864&ssl=1)
Here I am reading these paired, question and answer haiku from my book, Why-ku: Poems of Wonder About the World.
[soundcloud url=“https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/201265927” params=“color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false” width=“100%” height=“166” iframe=“true” /]
And for more Poetry Friday fun, visit the very theatrical (I would be incredibly intimidated if I had to perform poems as well as she does!) Renee La Tulippe for the Poetry Friday Roundup!
20 Responses
This is so cool, Laura — “invites us with gravity.”
And I just like so much how this works on the page, so playful.
These tips are fantastic — are you going to put them all in one place? I would like to permanently link over…
xo,
a.
Thanks, Amy! I DO plan to round these all up on one page (maybe with a printable version linked) that lists them all in perhaps a more cohesive order and such. Once I recover from all my Poetry Month travel…
This is so cool, Laura — “invites us with gravity.”
And I just like so much how this works on the page, so playful.
These tips are fantastic — are you going to put them all in one place? I would like to permanently link over…
xo,
a.
Thanks, Amy! I DO plan to round these all up on one page (maybe with a printable version linked) that lists them all in perhaps a more cohesive order and such. Once I recover from all my Poetry Month travel…
I like imagining a balloon as a barkless sky dog, Laura 🙂 Sometimes when they pop, they seem to suddenly find their bark!
Ooh, good point, Tabatha!
I like imagining a balloon as a barkless sky dog, Laura 🙂 Sometimes when they pop, they seem to suddenly find their bark!
Ooh, good point, Tabatha!
Earth asks us to stay, I love this line. I had to read the red balloon lines a couple of times before I figured out the right order. Thanks for these tips for teachers. I hope you will find the time to share them in a printable version!
Thanks, Ramona. Yep, that “title” or question that links the two haiku–I tried and tried to find a better way. I wanted it to read from the bottom up, but I didn’t know how to indicate/hint at that. Thanks for sticking with it:>)
Earth asks us to stay, I love this line. I had to read the red balloon lines a couple of times before I figured out the right order. Thanks for these tips for teachers. I hope you will find the time to share them in a printable version!
Thanks, Ramona. Yep, that “title” or question that links the two haiku–I tried and tried to find a better way. I wanted it to read from the bottom up, but I didn’t know how to indicate/hint at that. Thanks for sticking with it:>)
Looking forward to all your tips in one place so I can share!
Thanks, Mary Lee!
Looking forward to all your tips in one place so I can share!
Thanks, Mary Lee!
My 13 year old girl is learning about concrete poems — she would love this.
Concrete poems are such fun! I don’t do them very often, though I try to think about what a poem looks like on the page. Too often I totally ignore that and just do boring old left-justified lines! I wish I had more of a designer’s eye, though:>)
My 13 year old girl is learning about concrete poems — she would love this.
Concrete poems are such fun! I don’t do them very often, though I try to think about what a poem looks like on the page. Too often I totally ignore that and just do boring old left-justified lines! I wish I had more of a designer’s eye, though:>)