Student Exercises

1. Students listen to a variety of Garrison Keillor's readings of poems. This is a great resource to support a unit on poetry or to use as a daily or weekly enrichment activity.
2. After listening to a selection of poetry readings, students describe the qualities and characteristics of Keillor's dramatic readings and use the same techniques in their own reading aloud of poetry.
3. Students create their own version of The Writer's Almanac. Selecting a poem that they like or have written themselves, students research information about the author, write an introductory script, and then create an audio-taped performance that includes the author information and a reading of the poem. Create a tape or CD of all the students' work, then play one each day for the class or the school.

Tips and Techniques

• Audio files of The Writer's Almanac have been archived, listed by week, since February of 2001.
• To find a particular poet or poem, use these search tools the search box on the program page or the main MPR search engine.
• Bookmark particular poems or Writer's Almanac dates you or students plan to use again.
• Remember to have students cite sources for information or quotations they use in reports, multimedia documents, or other educational projects, including photos and audio clips. Students should include the following information in their citation: document title or description, date of publication or when they found it on the Web, an address (URL), and, if possible, the author, photographer, or artist.

Click on these links to find instructional ideas, teaching and technical tips, and standards alignment possibilities for each of these topic areas:

News reports

Documentaries

Travel diaries

Comedy

Poetry