Poet Study: Georgia Heard

About the Poet:

Georgia Heard was born in Enterprise, Alabama on December 13, 1957. She grew up there but attended several universities on the east coast including: American University, University of New Hampshire, and received a Masters in Fine Arts in poetry from Columbia University. She is a speaker and advocate for poetry and poetry writing and she travels around to school districts and conferences. She has worked for several years with the Teachers College Writing Project where she works alongside teachers from New York City. She helped develop this project. Heard is known for being a landscape painter and writer, as well as a compiler of others’ works. 

My Opinion:

When researching Georgia Heard, I was surprised by the information I was finding. Heard's poetry or pieces that she creates are often books that have been compiled from several  other poets' work. For example in, Falling Down the Page: A Book List of Poems, Heard showcases several other poems including one of her own. Also, I did not realize that much of her work focuses on the instruction of poetry alongside her actually writing it. Many of her books try to increase the comfort level for creating and reading poetry among teachers and students. Many of her instructional pieces for how to teach and write poetry are for all ages. Some of her work includes: Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems, Climb Inside a Poem: Reading and Writing Poetry Across the Year, Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School, This Place I Know: Poems of Comfort, Songs of Myself: An Anthology of Poems and Art, and Poetry Friday. Her work focuses on creating, “Practical tips for promoting poetry-friendly environments.”

Heard has been reviewed by Instructor Magazine as “One of the Ten Best Books Every Teacher Should Read.”

She has edited and co-authored many books which could be extremely useful in elementary classrooms. I know I will want to encourage my students to become interested in poetry at a young age because some of the greatest pieces of writing in history are poems. Her work, I feel, will be great resources to use as a teacher to get young students, and even myself, excited about poetry!


References:

Mia. "Welcome - Georgia Heard Bringing Poetry into Everyday Life." Welcome - Georgia Heard Bringing Poetry into Everyday Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Sept. 2010. <http://georgiaheard.com>.


Vardell, Sylvia M.. Poetry People: A Practical Guide to Children's Poets. Englewood, Colorado: Libraries Unlimited, 2007. Print.