Poetry can enable learners to engage, learn and have fun, whatever their
cognitive, linguistic or social levels and this book provides a great
many examples of how this might be achieved. This exciting and
innovative text provides a wide range of ideas for using poetry to
enhance the early years and primary curricula, and therefore the
learning experience of all children. Each chapter contains ideas for
pedagogy and practice, underpinned by research and classroom experience
ensuring that practitioners will come away feeling much more confident
to teach this genre and better enjoy poetry themselves.
Throughout, there are discussions around specific pedagogies and
practices relating to the use of poetry across the curriculum, as well
as resources - including a wide range of poems from diverse countries
and cultures and poems in different languages - and activities which can
immediately be used in the classroom. Ideas are provided in terms of how
poems can be employed in different subject areas, to introduce or
reinforce concepts, engage children in more challenging concepts, ensure
that lessons are fun and engaging and develop children's awareness of
other people and places beyond their immediate experience.
This book is an extremely powerful combination of informed discussion -
drawing on ideas from different theoretical perspectives including
recent findings from neuroscience - and practical suggestions for every
classroom. Armed with this text, practitioners will not only have a very
strong idea of how to use poetry to enhance their curriculum but also
why this is such a compelling genre.
