Product Description

Awakening the Heart is a stirring personal reminder that encouraging children to discover the words and images of their own lives, as we discover our own, is a crucial devotion. We all need such books as lanterns and guides.

- Naomi Shihab Nye

Fans of the best-selling For the Good of the Earth and Sun will applaud this sequel by beloved author Georgia Heard - an inspiring and practical handbook that celebrates the natural power of poetry to teach the essential tools of all writing.

Awakening the Heart explores how to cultivate the poet in every elementary and middle school student - through well-drawn examples, detailed exercises, creative projects, and down-to-earth classroom teachings. Along the way, we learn how to: create environments that encourage children to express their innate sense of wonder; introduce poetry that will engage them; and help children make the transition from reading and talking to writing.

Best of all, Awakening the Heart is filled with luminous poems - by children, famous poets, and Heard herself.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #21750 in Books
• Published on: 1998-11-02
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
“Awakening the Heart is a stirring personal reminder that encouraging children to discover the words and images of their own lives, as we discover our own, is a crucial devotion. We all need such books as lanterns and guides.”–Naomi Shihab Nye

About the Author
Georgia Heard is an internationally known writer, keynote speaker and educational consultant. Thousands of educators and writers have listened to Ms. Heard speak of her passion for poetry and writing. She has keynoted hundreds of conferences and given workshops on writing throughout the United States as well as in Sweden, Canada, and Southeast Asia and she has brought her love of writing to classrooms throughout the United States.Ms Heard is the author of several books on teaching poetry and writing including her most recent title, The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work (Heinemann, 2002), the popular Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School (Heinemann, 1998), an inspirational and practical book for educators on how to engender a love of poetry among students, Writing Towards Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way (Heinemann, 1995) and For the Good of the Earth and Sun: Teaching Poetry (Heinemann, 1987). She is also the author of three

Customer Reviews

Very useful
I am a middle school teacher who found this book full of useful ideas which I have incorporated into my poetry unit. I also have Ms. Heard's book, For the Good of the Earth and Sun,and I found this one (Heart)to contain more practical lessons on poetry mechanics. She describes the how-to's of poetic language, form, rhythm and rhyme, etc, which were easily adapted to fit my students' needs. I did have to do a lot of reading and typing (no ready-to-copy pages) but it was worth the effort. I esp loved the heart mapping and the six-room description process.

Recommended for Language Arts teachers at all grade levels!
Georgia Heard's book Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School suggests ways for teachers to help students have positive, successful experiences with appreciating poetry and creating their own poems. Heard gives poetry workshops for teachers and has worked in many classrooms with students at different grade levels in schools across the country. Her book, Awakening the Heart, reflects how far our understanding of the teaching of poetry has come: students will not come to see themselves as poets if poetry instruction is relegated to a "poetry unit" after state tests have been administered.

Heard's book reaches out to teachers who haven't taught poetry in a workshop format before in that it offers the same descriptions of poetry and poetic terms that she uses when she speaks to students, reteaching us the essentials of poetry as we prepare to teach others. She gives examples of directions useful in explaining the centers to students, and includes student work produced in classrooms Heard has worked in. The reader gains the confidence that taking time to gain inspiration from Heard's minilessons, coupled with dedication to a positive classroom environment that integrates poetry into daily life, will really help students to become poets who read poetry with understanding and craft it thoughtfully.

Add Depth to you Poetry Instruction
I used this book as a basis for starting a poetry study in my classroom of 4th graders. The information and ideas that Ms. Heard gives are fantastic. It helps you create an poetry friendly environment, not just a few lessons. My students responded whole-heartedly to the suggested activities. The heart map activity was one of their favorites. She gives advice on how to help children write from their hearts and access true emotion (as opposed to writing about surface feelings,"I like my Nintendo"). This is the best poetry book for classroom instruction that I've found. Also, it is an easy and quick read.
I saw her speak on this book at Regis University in June 2003, she is an engaging speaker and it made me love the book even more.