Poem of the Week

One of my favourite things about having a teacher for a spouse is that we bounce ideas off each other and try things together and dialogue about what worked and what didn't. I find that I am maturing and growing as a teacher much more since he became my colleague. He is not afraid to tell me when I am spouting rather than talking. And he tells me to get off the pot when I am ranting (which I tend to do).

One thing that we have been discussing is Poetry.

I have always feared Poetry; it's rules intimidate me. I am afraid that I will teach it wrong.

But poetry has just caught my imagination.

I was searching for poems to use for Poem of the Week (which we will start in January). The idea is to seduce students into a love of poetry with fun, or silly, or poignant poems that we can play with each week. Incidentally, I also hope they will learn a bit about the musicality of words, reading fluency, and drama.

In my searching I discovered a new poet that I had never read before. (This isn't hard, as I don't make it a habit to read poetry.) She speaks with my soul-voice. Her poems are honest and real. I really like them.

Her name is Jean Little.

Bonus, she's Canadian.