Customer Reviews

Opening a Door: Reading Poetry in the Middle School Classroom

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An interesting selection of poems each accompanied by a lesson. Lessons easily expanded upon and adapted for various ability levels. I especially appreciate the variety of poems and the fact that they are not typical.

Just ordered this book over the summer, and plan to use it with my 7th grade students this school year. I like the focus on exploring meaning in poetry, not actually having students write poems (though that could easily be amended to these lessons). There is a nice variety of work here, from Gary Soto to Edgar Allen Poe. I think this book will help teachers read and discuss poetry with middle school students. The resources in the back of the book, including online sites and lists of anthologies, are especially helpful.

This book is a tremendous resource for teachers nervous about teaching poetry. While I find some of the given activities to be boring, they give teachers a place to start; the activities are easy to "make your own". What I love most of all is the selection of poems - a nice mix of some classic and some contemporary, all appropriate for middle school. This book is a staple in my classroom!