Stoking the Poetry Flame

Andrea Louise Ambler

Illustrator Christine J. Curry

 

Stoking the Poetry Flame  is the second book in a three-volume series. Other books in the series are as follows: Book One Igniting the Poetry Flame and Book Three Keeping the Poetry Flame Alive. The series seeks to ignite and invigorate the creative poet within each student. Each book in the series can be used as a stand-alone but best used in conjunction with the other books.

 

Book Two, Stoking the Poetry Flame, expands the student’s knowledge, appreciation, and love of poetry through  a deeper understanding of the strategies and techniques used for writing it. Book Two is an easy-to-follow, field-tested resource for teachers and home-school parents to use at all grade levels and for all abilities.

 

Purposes, biographical information, specific poetic structures, and classroom student tasks are included in each chapter. Examples of original student poems illustrate each lesson. A Resource List and Bibliography are found at the end of each chapter, and a Glossary of Literary Terms is at the end of the book. A meaningful project includes directions for creating an anthology of the student’s poems.

 

Following this project is a poetry reading for invited family members, teachers, administrators, and outside guests. A culminating activity was having students reflect on what reading, writing, and poetry meant to them.

 

The students applied what they learned about the strategies and techniques in writing poetry to describe grandparents, parents, siblings, friends, neighbors, and other relationships, as well as their own dramatic memories and personal discoveries. Additionally, students wrote about the facets of nature, such as the four seasons, about the relationship of music and art to poetry, and about places near and far.