Gervase Phinn Teaching Poetry in the Primary School
When asked by the school inspector what he thought of
poetry, an eleven year old replied that 'it's all la-di-da
and daffodils, isn't it?' In his primary school the boy had
come across very little poetry apart from nursery rhymes,
snatches of rhyming verse and a few comic pieces and
nonsense poems. Poetry to him was something arcane, not
really related to his own life. He had studied no powerful,
challenging, contemplative, arresting, quirky poems and had
written very few poems himself. His teacher admitted that he
was no English specialist, had received few ideas at college
on the teaching of poetry and didn't really know where to
start. As children progress through the primary school they
need to be exposed to a rich diet of poetry and encouraged
to read, perform and write it themselves. Providing a varied
and stimulating environment is essential if is to flourish.
In addition, children need specific guidance and ideas to
start them off writing their own poems. This book, written
by a former teacher and school inspector, and popular and
widely published children's poet, offers an accessible,
practical and structured programme for the teaching of this
sometimes neglected aspect of the English curriculum.
# Paperback: 158 pages
# Publisher: Crown House Publishing (30 Jan 2009)
# Language English
# ISBN-10: 1845901304
# ISBN-13: 978-1845901301 |
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Professor Gervase Phinn is a graduate of The University of
Leeds, holds two Certificates in Education with distinction,
a masters degree from The University of Sheffield and
diplomas in Language Development and in Speech and Drama.
He taught in a range of
schools for fourteen years before becoming General
Adviser for Language Development with Rotherham Metropolitan
Borough Council. In 1988 he was appointed Senior General
Inspector/Adviser for English and Drama with North Yorkshire
County Council and later became Principal Adviser for the
County. He is now a
freelance lecturer and writer. A consultant for The Open
University course,
Learning for Diversity, The Poetry Society and The Schools
Curriculum and Assessment Council, he has for some
twenty five years been a regular
contributor to a variety
of D.E.S., D.F.E. and O.F.S.T.E.D. courses and conferences
and lectured widely in this country and abroad.
Gervase Phinn is a Registered Inspector
with O.F.S.T.E.D., trained to inspect primary, special and secondary
schools and is
Fellow and Visiting Professor of Education at The University
of Teesside. He has
published many articles
in periodicals such as The Use of English, English in
Education, The Times Educational Supplement, Spoken English,
Remedial Education, The Art and Craft Magazine, Primary
English, The Primary English Magazine, Language and
Learning, Dance and Drama, The International Review of
Children's Literature
and Librarianship, The Yorkshire Dales Magazine and The
Dalesman. He has contributed chapters to a range of
academic texts including : Choosing Books for
Young Readers in The
Reading for Real Handbook (Kentledge) and Fiction in the
Classroom in The English Teacher's Handbook (Hutchinson). His
books on the
teaching of fiction and poetry, The Vital Resource, Touches
of Beauty and Habituated to the Vast have recently
been reprinted. Gervase Phinn has contributed poems, stories
and plays to many anthologies and has edited a number of
text books including Five
Themes for English (Longman), Sweet and Sour, Stage Write
and Right on Cue
(Collins) and Lizard Over Ice and The Turning Tide (Thomas Nelson).
Additionally he has published collections of his own
plays and stories and recently his anthology of
poems, Classroom
Creatures, has been reprinted. In March, 1998 his
bestselling autobiographical novel The Other Side of
the Dale was published by Michael Joseph and appeared as a
Penguin paperback the following year. The sequel, Over Hill
and Dale will appear in
hardback in April, 2000. Television and radio appearances
include: Esther (BBC2), Midweek (Radio 4), North East Tonight, (Tyne Tees
Television), The BBC World Service, The Heaven and Earth
Show (BBC2) and Just One Chance (BBC2).
A Fellow of the Royal
Society of Arts, he has a particular interest in children's
reading and is widely know as a lively and
entertaining speaker. He is married with four
grown up children.
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