Poetry highlights in honor of National Poetry Month!
Poet of the Day: Janet Wong
Janet Wong is well known in the NCTE community, most recently as the recipient of the 2021 Excellence in Poetry for Children award. She is the first Asian-American poet to win the award. Born in Los Angeles, Wong attended UCLA and Yale Law School. After pursuing a career in law, she decided to become a poet for children. She always had an interest in art, having studied art history in Bordeaux, France, while at UCLA. She studied poetry under Myra Cohn Livingston, one of her earliest mentors. Her first book, Gold Digger, was published in 1994. Since that time, she has published numerous books and collections of poetry, including the Poetry Friday Anthology collection coauthored with Sylvia Vardell. She also runs her own publishing company, Pomelo Books. Janet shares her work widely with children and teachers through school visits and conference presentations. She is an advocate for the power of poetry to help children express themselves and become confident writers. She has won numerous awards and accolades and is extremely active in professional organizations that support teachers, including NCTE. 
This poet belongs in our classrooms because . . .
Janet’s poetry is intentionally crafted to be relatable for children and to have a central place in classrooms. Her anthologies connect to content areas and standards and serve as accessible entry points for lessons on a variety of topics. The philosophy behind Pomelo Books, her publishing company, is "Poetry PLUS . . . ," describing the belief that poetry can be integrated across the entire curriculum.

Janet’s poems are fun! In Hop to It! Poems to Get You Moving (2020), Wong and Vardell provide poems encouraging active learning, perfect for any classroom. These poems are a wonderful outlet for remote and virtual learning contexts, to get kids moving and give them a break from screens. Her picture books are gorgeous read-alouds to introduce content or model writing techniques. Janet believes in the power of poetry to connect with and motivate young writers. Her tag line "Give it a try—why not you?" helps children take a leap with poetry. To inspire children to write their own poetry based on their reading, she and Sylvia Vardell created interactive writing notebooks to accompany their poetry anthologies. Janet is a frequent presenter in schools and classrooms, reflecting her intense commitment to teachers and students and to spreading the gift of poetry.

Try using a poem by Janet Wong in your next lesson, and watch engagement and excitement grow!
A Poem by Janet Wong
"You Can Do It Right Now" (2020)

You can shout at a march.
You can quietly pray.
You can read the news
and share it today.
You can send the mayor 
of your town a note.
You can make a sign 
that tells people to vote.
You can talk to your family.
You can listen to friends.

There are different ways
to reach the same ends,
to fight injustice,
to show that you care.

You can do it right now,
from anywhere.
Teaching Connections
When working with teachers and students, Janet espouses the power and potential of using a "poetry suitcase" in the classroom. She discusses the poetry suitcase on her website. This is a teaching idea Janet uses and shares with student and teachers she works with during her school visits. A poetry suitcase can enhance your lessons in endless ways. Janet recommends that teachers spread out poems and invite children to choose one they find inviting.
 
Looking for a rich resource to pull poems on a variety of topics? Look no further than one of Janet’s fabulous anthologies—The Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (2015), Hop to It: Poems to Get You Moving (2020), or The Poetry of Science (2015). Once the students select a poem, they copy it on an index card, then find an object that represents the poem. The object can be something found in the poem or an object that the students use to connect the poem to their own lives. For example, the student might choose an object from a favorite vacation spot when reading a poem about the ocean.

The act of copying the poem to the index card gives students a chance to experience the structure of the poem and reflect on what specific aspects they find engaging. Then at the beginning of class, the teacher pulls out an object and invites the student who selected it to read the poem. (This step could easily be adapted to accommodate a virtual classroom.) The class enjoys the poem and makes connections to it. Students can read as many poems as time allows. Janet suggests possibly closing the time with the teacher selecting an object and a poem, as a transition into the lesson for the day. When the objects have been exhausted and all the poems have been read, students can write their own poems to put in the suitcase! Janet also suggests teachers trade suitcases with other classrooms or schools to keep the poetry “fresh.” Once you get started with a poetry suitcase in your classroom, you and your students will likely think of many different ways to make it match your interests and needs.

Because Janet writes poetry with teachers and students in mind, there are so many creative ways to use her poetry in the classroom. She suggests "pocket poems," which are poems students keep in their "pockets" all day or carry around with them, as a reminder of what they think and feel. Her "Printables" page also includes a link to Earth Day Pocket Poems.

Janet’s book Hop to It! encourages movement and interaction when reading poetryand includes descriptions of many different ways to use movement at various points throughout the day: when standing in line, when a movement break is needed, during free time, at lunch time, or as a part of a regular lessons.

Any teacher interested in incorporating more poetry into their day can turn to Janet Wong!
 
Read NCTE's interview with Janet Wong, "Poetry, Everywhere We Look!"

Selected Works by Janet Wong

Anthologies
Hop to It: Poems to Get You Moving by Sylvia Vardell and Janet S. Wong 
A Suitcase of Seaweed & More by Janet Wong
Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations by Sylvia Vardell and Janet S. Wong
The Poetry of Science: The Poetry Friday Anthology for Science by Sylvia Vardell and Janet S. Wong
Great Morning! Poems for School Leaders to Read Aloud by Sylvia Vardell and Janet S. Wong

Poetry Collections
Twist: Yoga Poems
Knock on Wood: Poems about Superstitions
The Rainbow Hand: Poems about Mothers and Children
Once Upon a Tiger: New Beginnings for Endangered Animals
Night Garden: Poems from the World of Dreams
Declaration of Interdependence: Poems for an Election Year

Picture Books
Alex and the Wednesday Chess Club
Hide and Seek
Dumpster Diver
Buzz 
Homegrown House
Apple Pie 4th of July

Books for Older Readers
Me and Rolly Maloo
Minn and Jake
Almost Terrible Summer
Behind the Wheel: Poems about Driving 
Special Thanks to Today's Curator
Mary-Kate Sableski
Mary-Kate Sableski is an assistant professor in the department of teacher education in the School of Education and Health Sciences, University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in children's literature, literacy methods and literacy intervention and assessment. Her research focus is on diverse children's literature instructional support for struggling readers. She is a member of the NCTE Outstanding Poetry for Children Award Committee. She can be reached here.