This book offers teachers and students a new and innovative way to promote skills in composition, thinking, and vocabulary. Through a cadre of one hundred poe-ums, students will be challenged to read and think and then answer thought provoking questions. The questions will focus on analysis, application, creativity, evaluation, explanation, and interpretation. It is estimated that over half of high school students are never taught to think on a number of different levels. A poe-um is designed to illuminate topics of interest to teens and scholars. A free-verse style allows for an easy flow of ideas and information. Use of words that rhyme in the context of a short but comprehensive commentary on a wide variety of topics produces a powerful tool for stimulating thinking. Use of a mature vocabulary invites the student to expand his/her own command of word power. Students learn that even one or two key words, when introduced into a composition, can have a dramatic influence and potent effect. Students with high levels of composition and thinking skills have a potentially dominant advantage in our competitive world. Innovative instructional materials such as this book can be a catalyst for development of both composition and the targeted six thinking skills.
