All Grades

How do you assess such a personal art as poetry? Basing his discussion on the best poems he has collected from his students over the years, Jack Collom provides a poet's view of what makes them good. Collom's approach is friendly, specific, perceptive, and delightful, affording the reader the opportunity to understand the nature of creative evaluation. He offers strategies for teaching writing, critiquing honestly without negativity.

Teacher's Perspective
For the teacher who enjoys teaching poetry and would like more ideas of how to make it more engaging for students, Moving Windows is a good resource. The author Jack Collom has gathered poems from students who participated in his poetry workshops and residencies in schools. Not only does it include many poems written by children, but it also includes the type of poem the students were studying at the time. The poems included in the book range from lunes to acrostics. Students will enjoy hearing other young people’s voices as well as create their own poems that express how they feel about life, family, friends, etc. A fifth grader who is describing what poetry is to him writes one of my favorite poems in the book. He compares poetry to water in that there are many things underneath it, so it never really ends. Teachers can use the poems in this book to spark their students’ interest and encourage them to express themselves through verse.
--Kandace Logan

Price: $14.95
Teachers and Writers Collaborative, 1985, 180 pages, paper
ISBN 0-915924-55-2
All Grades