Poetryclass News

01-06-2008

For all writers, schools & teachers:

The Ecopoetry Study Packs

RESOURCES FOR POETRY LESSONS & CREATIVE WRITING


Issues of Ecology and the Environment are coming to the fore throughout education, recreation and business.  Increasingly, writers and educators will need to grapple with core Environmental issues, both on and off the curriculum, through personal creativity as well as in the classroom.

The Poetry Society has commissioned award-winning poet,
ecologist and educator Mario Petrucci to develop the following Environment-centred resource packs, designed for schools, young adults and poets:

1. Poetry : the Environment. (PDF 185KB)  Four of the most pressing Environmental themes, comprehensively explored through poetry.

2. Biomimicry : Poetry.  (PDF 118KB) This fascinating new branch of science is concerned with solving problems by imitating Nature.  Mario’s unique poetry pack explores Biomimicry to support independent imaginative writing activity and National Curriculum alike.

3. The Green Poetry Pack. (PDF 272KB) Poems and writing ideas to engage with the natural world, soil and trees, and local self-sufficiency.

Each pack is flexible in its application and can be adapted to suit:

The packs are well-structured and easy to follow, with plentiful support notes, including alternative strategies for encouraging creative thinking and responses to the crucial issues they raise.  Inventive and challenging, they will help you cover fresh ground on key Environmental themes through the following resources:

  • Complete lesson plans: suggestions for preparation, writing, discussion
  • Excellent guidance on reading, writing & editing poetry
  • A variety of poems as reading material, suitable across age and ability
  • Helpful notes on how to approach the more demanding poems
  • Back-up resources and ideas on follow-up activities

These lesson plans enter new territory for the Poetry Society and may also represent new territory for the classroom and poetry reader, but they are important.  Leading scientists and activists worldwide are turning to poetry to engage these most pressing issues.  Why not have poetry stand forward in turn?  Indeed, we feel you are unlikely to find a more relevant or inspiring Environment-oriented writing package for classrooms, seminars and tutorials.  These poems pull no punches – they will intrigue, delight and provoke at every level of emotion, learning and action.

Finally, not only are the packs free, they are downloadable as ready-to-go A4 pdfs, facilitating easy print-out and duplication.  We hope you and your students will find them instructive, productive and rewarding.