New Resources for Teaching the Immigrant Experience through Poetry

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend December 2014 The Immigrant Experience   In this month’s newsletter, we focus on the subject of immigration, offering a roundup of resources, including a new lesson plan, an anthology of poems on the subject, and more.

To develop poetry resources for the classroom (including some below), we have been working with a special group of elementary school teachers and the New York City Department of Education. In November, we held our second meetup, which featured Academy Chancellor Edward Hirsch, who read poems and talked about his own immigrant background. Our Educator in Residence Madeleine Fuchs Holzer led activities and discussion in response to Mary Jo Salter’s “The Buttonhook,” a poem inspired by a photograph of immigrants at Ellis Island and written as part of We the Poets, our recent project with the National Archives. Photo: Ellis Island, NY, Line Inspection of Arriving Aliens, 1923 Featured Lesson Plan   Check out this new unit on the immigrant experience, which includes activities that involve students’ own heritage. We’ve also compiled an anthology of poems on the subject of immigration. More Lesson Plans and Classroom Activities Essays on Teaching Poetry Online Resources for Educators Writing the Past: Using Poetry to Explore Family History   In his essay, originally published in Teachers & Writers Magazine, “Writing the Past: Using Poetry to Explore Family History,” English teacher Benjamin Gott confronts the challenge of engaging his sometimes reticent middle school students. “I knew that the only way to pass on meaningful pieces of family history was through conversations—the same conversations that my students’ parents said were lacking in their lives.” Featured Book: Singing School   Edited by former United States poet laureate Robert Pinsky, Singing School:  Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying with the Masters (W. W. Norton, 2013) comprises the poet’s favorite poems organized in four sections: Freedom, Listening, Form, and Dreaming Things Up, each featuring a brief introduction by Pinksy.  Create Your Own Anthology to Share with Students on Poets.org   It’s quick and easy to create an anthology of poems on a specific theme to share with your students on Poets.org. From the poems page, click the “your profile” link in the righthand column. Next, go to a poem you want to include and click on the “+” icon at the top of the poem. Follow the prompts to create a title for a new anthology or add the poem to one of any of your existing anthologies listed in the dropdown.  Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038