Response Question TSW 460-504

Jessica Sumpter

English 484

April 15, 2008

Response Question

TSW 460-504

In Chapter 12, Teaching Poetry Writing, Beth Neman overviews various strategies of teaching poetry. I read this chapter in preparation for my unit lesson project, and I have the same question now that I did when I started the project. What is the best way to organize a poetry unit? I think there are basically two ways to organize a poetry unit. One, make a list of all the poetic techniques and conventions, like metaphor and rhyme schemes, and then pick out poems that express those techniques. Or two, you can choose a set of poems to teach first, and then teach the techniques as the come up in the poems. Which is more beneficial?