The Synergy of Poetry and Content Areas: Reading Poetry Across the Curriculum

I know it’s the end of the school year, but now is the perfect time to think about how you might use poetry in your classroom next year, even if you’re NOT an English teacher! Remember back in November, when I talked about going to NCTE and mentioned the CLA Master Class on reading poetry across the curriculum that Janet Wong and I put together? (The Children’s Literature Assembly is part of the National Council of Teachers of English, and each year, it puts on an excellent session called the CLA Master Class at the NCTE National Conference.) The Master Class featured wonderful educators, bloggers, and poets each sharing ways to use poetry in specific content areas. Here’s the handout that attendees received, which is full of awesome resources for teachers. But wait–there’s more:>) Mary Lee Hahn Callout from CLA Master Class Now, the Journal of Children’s Literature has come out with its spring issue, and it features the article about the Master Class. For this piece, each Roundtable Leader summarized some of her favorite tips for the article, and the editors have kindly agreed to let me share it online. So, if you’d like to learn more about using poetry in practical and inspiring ways in subjects other than ELA, just click here to get ideas from Sylvia Vardell, Jacqueline Jules, Heidi Mordhorst, Mary Lee Hahn, and Paige Bentley-Flannery. They did an awesome job of covering social studies, sports & games, science, math, and the arts. Thank you to editors Miriam Martinez, Jonda McNair, and Sharon O’Neal for including the article and allowing me to put it online to share!

14 Responses

  1. Thanks for these great resources, Laura! Nothing turns a topic on its head like poetry does! Poems can introduce, review, and enrich any classroom content.

  2. Thanks for these great resources, Laura! Nothing turns a topic on its head like poetry does! Poems can introduce, review, and enrich any classroom content.

  3. Laura, this is so great. I was there, but we could only rotate to 2 (or was it 3) sessions. Now with this resource, I have all the wonderful ideas at my fingertips. Thanks!

    1. Thanks, Margaret. It was SO hard trying to figure out the logistics of the session, and we wished we could have had time for everyone to hear all 5 speakers. But at least this way, as you said, you can get a sense of the tips and resources they shared:>) Are you going to IRA in St. Louis this July?

  4. Laura, this is so great. I was there, but we could only rotate to 2 (or was it 3) sessions. Now with this resource, I have all the wonderful ideas at my fingertips. Thanks!

    1. Thanks, Margaret. It was SO hard trying to figure out the logistics of the session, and we wished we could have had time for everyone to hear all 5 speakers. But at least this way, as you said, you can get a sense of the tips and resources they shared:>) Are you going to IRA in St. Louis this July?

  5. Laura,
    This is awesome. It may be my summer workshop! A little at a time. Definitely saving this one! Thanks to all who shared!

  6. Laura,
    This is awesome. It may be my summer workshop! A little at a time. Definitely saving this one! Thanks to all who shared!

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