YALSA Poets: The Movie

Just a few weeks ago, I was at the YALSA Symposium in Austin TX-- such a great event. I was lucky to gather a fantastic panel of poets and authors (Janet Wong, KA Holt, Michael Salinger, Sara Holbrook, Guadalupe Garcia McCall, and Jacqueline Woodson) all talking about their work and reading and performing excerpts. I was able to videotape a few nuggets to share with you here. Enjoy!

K A (Kari) Holt talking about her new novel in verse, Rhyme Schemer

We gave audience participants a sample page from Rhyme Schemer-- where the protagonist, Kevin, takes a page from an "old" book and turns it into a poem-- 

and challenged the audience to turn a page from A Wrinkle in Time into their own original "found" poems. Here's one fun example:

Jacqueline Woodson reads an excerpt from Brown Girl Dreaming

Guadalupe Garcia McCall shares her poem, "The Cafe," from The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School.

Sara Holbrook and Michael Salinger read from More Than Friends (by Sara Holbrook and Allan Wolf) [an excerpt]

And here's a quick shot of Janet (Wong) and me horsing around:

There will be another YALSA Symposium next year and it will be held in Portland, OR in 2015. The focus will expand to include literature, programming AND youth services. Should be fun! 

A poem for Black Friday

Last week I was at the NCTE conference (so fun!) presenting alongside Janet Wong and Eileen and Jerry Spinelli on the topic of kindness. Here's a tiny glimpse of our session-- a video of Eileen reading her original poem, "Get a Life" from The Poetry Friday Anthology (K-5). It's perfect for this crazy Black Friday, too.

And here is the text of the poem:

Get a Life
   by Eileen Spinelli

There are books to read.
And birds to feed.
And awesome facts for learning.
There are yards to weed.
And friends in need.
And dreams to set us yearning.
There are trails to hike.
And films to like.
And stories made for swapping.
What I mean to say in this poem today
is there’s more to life than
shopping!

And here are the Take 5! activities that accompany this poem:

1. Prior to sharing the poem, jot numbers on a piece of paper or list on the board (1, 2, 3, etc.) as if you are making a to-do list. Then read the poem aloud, pausing for a moment after each line. 

2. Share the poem again, inviting students to join in on the final two lines (is there’s more to life than / shopping!) while you read the rest aloud.

3. For discussion: What are some of your favorite activities to do during holiday breaks?

4. Lead students in considering how repeating key words and phrases, particularly at the beginning of each line (There are; And), helps build a poem and can add to the distinctive rhythm of the lines. Then read the poem out loud together again, listening for the patterns.

5. Link this poem with another thoughtful poem by Eileen Spinelli, “Today” (4th Grade, Week 29, page 215 in The Poetry Friday Anthology).

NCTE CLA Master Class: Poetry Across the Curriculum

While attending the NCTE conference, I’ll also be participating in the annual “Master Class” coordinated by the Children’s Literature Assembly of NCTE (such a great organization). The focus is poetry across the curriculum and I’m responsible for the social studies area. I’ll be sharing sample poems, teaching tips, and activity suggestions. Sharing poetry in the context of social studies is a natural given the topics that make up this content area. The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Curriculum Standards quickly reveal the poem connection possibilities with Thematic Strands that focus on culture, people, places, identity, government, technology, society, and civic ideals. Here are the bare bones of my presentation. (We were charged to come up with only 5 examples in each category-- because I would have shared way more than 5, if possible!)

CLA Master Class: Poetry Across the Curriculum

SOCIAL STUDIES AND POETRY

5 GREAT SOCIAL STUDIES POETRY BOOKS

1. Corcoran, Jill. Ed. 2012. Dare to Dream… Change the World. San Diego, CA: Kane Miller.
2. Engle, Margarita. 2008. The Surrender Tree. New York: Holt.
3. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. 2008. America at War. New York: McElderry. 
4. Myers, Walter Dean. 2011. We are America; A Tribute from the Heart. Ill. by Christopher Myers. New York: HarperCollins.
5. Singer, Marilyn. 2013. Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents. New York: Disney-Hyperion.

5 SOCIAL STUDIES-TEACHING TIPS

1. Talk about “Today’s Document” at the National Archives (at Archives.gov).
2. Create “found” poetry from news articles.
3. Examine facsimiles of primary source documents (at Jackdaw.com).
4. Use Google Maps to locate places you’re reading about. 
5. Look at children’s books in different languages from around the world at the International Children’s Digital Library.

5 SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHING WEBSITES

1. National Council for the Social Studies 
2. Notable Children's Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies
3. Social Studies Central
4. History is Elementary 
5. The History Channel 

5 SOCIAL STUDIES POEMS ONLINE

“Liberty” by Janet Wong

“Just Like That” by Laura Purdie Salas

“I, Too, Sing America” by Langston Hughes

“Gate A-4” by Naomi Shihab Nye

“The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

Look for “Ten Poetry Collections for Social Studies Not to Be Missed” in Poetry Aloud Here (Vardell, 2014) as well as lists of poetry collections organized by topics such as Presidents’ Day, women’s history, U.S. history, world history, war and peace, plus multicultural and international poetry booklists in The Poetry Teacher’s Book of Lists (Vardell, 2012).

Others will be presenting parallel examples in the areas of math, science, arts, games & sports. 

Learn more about the Children’s Literature Assembly here.

PLUS: Of course I’m absolutely thrilled that our book for middle school, The Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, was selected as a Poetry Notable by the NCTE Excellence in Poetry Committee. Here’s that link.

There will also be a BUNCH of poets in attendance at the conference and I hope to cross paths with many of them including: Irene Latham, Laura Purdie Salas, Mary Lee Hahn, Jacqueline Jules, Sara Holbrook, Michael Salinger, Heidi Mordhorst, J Pat Lewis, Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, Georgia Heard, Rebecca Dotlich, Paul B Janeczko, Pat Mora, Linda Kulp, Jane Yolen, Heidi Stemple, Leslie Bulion, Rene Saldana, Eileen Spinelli, Joseph Bruchac, and George Ella Lyon. What fun, right?! I hope to share photos afterward. 

And finally, they’ll be announcing the next winner of the NCTE Poetry Award at the conference too! Stay tuned.

Image credit: MrJohn56.wordpress.com;ncss;cla

Posting by Sylvia M. Vardell © 2014. All rights reserved.