Intended to serve as a general model for the teaching of poetry writing, and written from the perspective of one individual teacher's thinking and experience, this guide, although originally written for teachers of seventh and eighth graders, is adaptable to other levels--elementary, high school, and college. Chapter 1, "Students and Teachers," introduces the teacher and his students, compares junior high school students to elementary and high school students and introduces Konstantin Lardas, the college professor who served as model and inspiration for the approach to teaching and literature described in this book. Chapter 2, "Models and Teaching Designs," establishes the theoretical groundwork upon which the poetry assignments given were designed, sequenced, presented, revised, evaluated, and completed, resulting in individual poetry books. Chapter 3, "Poems and Poetry Assignments," presents 18 poetry assignments found to be effective in the classroom. (Twelve references are included.) (ARH)