Teaching poetry is one of the best things about being an English teacher. It’s also one of the best ways to help kids explore the power of language, look at the world with fresh wonder, and develop their skills as readers and writers. With those lofty goals in mind, I’ll float into class with a poem in hand, but invariably someone will roll his or her eyes and let out a ghastly moan. That’s when I become more pragmatic and, without blinking, promise that we are going to take the pain out of poetry, that students will learn some simple ways of looking at a poem so that they might gain a better understanding of an art form that often seems complex and mysterious.

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It was my first year teaching a dual-credit literature class, and I had loaded the syllabus with classics. We had read Othello, several selections from James Joyce’s Dubliners, and The Great Gatsby. One morning during a discussion of some poetry by Emily Dickinson, a senior looked up from her book, gazed out the window at the spring greenery, and asked almost wistfully, “Can we read something that’s not about death?”

Tragedy dominates the literary canon, but students crave balance in their reading. They need to know the justice of actions with consequences. They need the hope that wrongs can be made right. They need the discipline of tough choices and perseverance that can lead to happy endings.

They need the writing of Jane Austen.

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“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” — Rudyard Kipling

I always find it interesting when people ask me what I do for a living. My response — “I teach 8th grade American history” — is typically followed by two standard replies from strangers. Some reply that they loved their history classes in school, and others reply that they didn’t enjoy history as students but have found an interest as adults through visiting historical sites and watching historical documentaries on television. I always ask the latter group a follow up question: “Why did you not enjoy history as a student?” Their answers are unfortunately consistent, and typically make me a little sad. “The class was all about dates, facts and names with nothing more.” This is the polar opposite of what I believe makes history an amazing subject to study. When I ask the individuals who tell me they loved history class to describe their teachers, they nearly always share the same experience: “My teacher told amazing stories that brought history to life and made it personal.”

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Not too long ago, my husband and I were watching clips from “The Best of the Electric Company” on our local public television station. Both of us are of the generation raised on Sesame Street and The Electric Company, and it was amazing how many of the skits and songs we remember. Who can forget Letter Man, with his endearing one-liners, always ready to save the day by having the perfect letter available on his varsity sweater? Or the two silhouettes forming words with common diphthongs and digraphs as a groovy tune played in the background (Ch…air…chair)? Or the Pointer Sisters singing the pinball counting song (One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, ELEVEN, TWELVE!)? My all-time favorite was Easy Reader, played by Morgan Freeman, who was the archetype of coolness — bell-bottoms, disco ball, and all!

What was also apparent to me as an adult and educator that evening was the educational quality of was happening behind the scenes — carefully and artistically crafted stories, characters, and settings that match a child’s world view and are designed to align to a solid curriculum framework and specific learning goals. In the March issue of Media Infusion, I outlined the many literacy resources available on the PBS Teachers Web site and how these multimedia tools can play a pivotal role in motivating young learners and giving them crucial practice time to learn essential reading skills. This month, PBS is bringing a plethora of new content to kids, parents and educators!

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There were times when I was teaching first, second, and third grade reading that it felt as though I were teaching in a PreK-12 one-room schoolhouse. Some students were just beginning to sound out consonant - vowel - consonant words while others were halfway through their second Harry Potter book…and they all needed individual attention to assess and push their learning. There were times when I looked up at all of those raised hands and thought, “There has got to be a better way.”

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