Children & Poetry- a match made in heaven!
April 1, 2011
I am delighted that the Academy of American Poets inaugurated in 1996 National Poetry Month, which is now held every April. Taking poetry “off the mantle”— saving it for meaningful occasions—and putting a little bit into our everyday lives is a good thing. I think of a poem as a vitamin for the spirit.
Having said that I never understood the wisdom of having a 6-week unit of poetry. I remember well those 6-week units and by the end, I had enough poetry to last me a lifetime and I didn’t want to hear, once again, the ubiquitous question “What is the meaning of the poem?” In my way of thinking a better question is to ask: “What is the mood that is deposited after you read the poem—how does the poem make you feel?” I want children meeting poems that elicit a wide range of emotions—happy, sad, cheerful, reflective, humorous, soulful, heartfelt and others.
In our hurried lives, poetry offers the opportunity to get lost in a picture of words and feeling and reminds us to slow down and savor the everyday. Robert Frost’s poem, A Time To Talk captures that sentiment.
When a friend calls to me from the road
And slows his horse to a meaning walk,
I don’t stand still land look around
On all the hills I haven’t hoed,
And shout from where I am, “What is it?”
No, not as there is a time to talk.
I thrust my hoe in the mellow ground,
Blade-end up and five feet tall,
And plod: I go up to the stone wall
For a friendly visit.
Parents reading to children opens to the door for a conversation about the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
March 25, 2011
Parents want their children to feel safe, but traumas and natural disasters are part of the world. The urge is not to talk with children about subjects that are difficult, but the reality is that your children will learn about these subjects, and if not from you, then from someone else. And that “someone else” […]
Children who read for meaning are children who are good readers and enjoy reading.
March 21, 2011
The San Francisco Examiner recently ran an article: “ Children love to read, especially when they read actual books” http://www.sfexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/03/children-love-read-especially-when-they-read-actual-books which made the point that although reading devices abound with new gadgets readily available, children are actually reading books—the ones that come with real pages. A point that seemed to be missing in the article […]
The Bill of Rights and Readers
March 16, 2011
We can thank James Madison (3/16/1751-1836), the fourth President of the United States for introducing the Bill of Rights to the First United States Congress in 1789. The bill came into effect in 1791. The First amendment of the United States Constitution protects the right to freedom of religion and freedom of expression—freedom of speech, […]
Congratulations Harper Lee —recipient of the 2010 National Arts Medal Winner, which honors both creativity and scholarship.
March 11, 2011
Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird (1960), which won the Pulitzer Prize, has become a classic of modern American literature. To date, it is Lee’s only published novel, and although she continues to respond to the book’s impact, she has refused any personal publicity for herself or the novel since 1964. When I heard the […]
