Celebrate literature, particularly poetry, by tying it in to current events. The beginning of the baseball season encourages the author to create the fourth in his series of mini poetry anthologies for the classroom.
Take Me Out to the Ballgame!
Whether your students' favourite sport is baseball, football, cricket, or hockey, you'll motivate them to read poetry by tying it in to current events or seasonal schedules. So Spring seemed a great time to create my latest poetry anthology that celebrates sport and pastimes. You can find the poems in my Pages section or as a pdf. booklet in the "Integrating the Learning Commons" group of lcommons.org.
Sport, Pastimes, and Play
I was fortunate to have great high school teachers of poetry. They combined a dedication to meaningful analysis (they only helped us take apart what we could put back together!) with a love for words at play. Playfulness is a great way to promote poetry, especially some of the comic poems you'll find in the anthology. While Casey at the Bat is well-known recitation fodder, the lesser known Brother Noah Gave Out Checks for Rain will delight those equally well-versed in baseball and bible lore. Some historical recovery will be necessary to enjoy the playful scriptural allusions.
Within the sports and pastimes theme, there is a remarkable diversity of poetic mood and voice. For example, the reflective Train Mates by Witter Byner contrasts with the exuberant Sea Fever by John Masefield. Moreover, sports or pastimes are often an opportunity to examine other themes such as regret (Tom Beatty), envy (The Passionate Shepherd), art (A Football Player) or war (Disabled and VitaÏ Lambada).
I hope you find an old or new favourite in the collection and send any comments with other suggestions to share.
0 comments:
Post a Comment