Poetry in the Classroom
Mar 16, 2021
6 min read
To be able to talk about poetry we must first truly understand what poetry is. Poetry is defined as a type of literature that focuses on expressing different feelings and ideas. This video below is a great video that talks more about what poetry is as well as what goes into making a poem.
My feelings about Poetry:
Poetry has always been the most dreadful topic for me in school. I have never liked to read poetry nor have I enjoyed creating poetry. When I was in elementary school my school had a contest of sorts where we had to pick a poem and recite it. Each student in their class would get up in the front of the room and have to recite the poem they had memorized. The teachers would then pick the best student in the class to go on and compete against the other grade level. The best student would be picked from the two and go on to represent the grade level in the bigger competition in front of the school. There would then be a winner chosen from each grade level cluster, K-2, 3-5 and middle school. The winner got a ribbon and a small prize. Going through school with this mindset made me view poetry as something you memorize to compete for a prize. I always felt as though when I wrote poetry it had to be perfect and that I was competing with the other people in my class even though that was not the case at all. Never winning at competitions and feeling like I wasn't good enough made me hate writing poetry as I had the sense of competition associated with poetry from an early age.
Poetry Environment in the Classroom:
In my classroom students will know that the poems they read will represent some aspect of their lives. The textbook I read this week, Awakening the Heart by Georgia Heard, has some great tips for teachers to help achieve the desired poetry environment in their classroom.
1. “Listen deeply to our own images, thoughts, and feelings-- and to our students’.”
2. Make sure that Every student feels that the classroom is a safe place where their voice is respected. “Writing poetry is about learning to express our deepest feelings and experiences through words, and that can be very frightening.”
3. “Poetry is already present in the classroom before [it is] formally introduced [in the classroom.] Listen to your students talk, and find the seeds of poems in their natural, everyday voices.”
4. “Include your students in the larger world of poetry and poets. Read them what poets say about poetry, the process of writing poems, and living life as a poet.”
5. “Truly believe that every one of your students has the potential to be a poet-- especially the struggling ones.”
6. “Celebrate each other's unique way of looking at the world.”
7. “We shouldn't wait until May or June to begin exploring poetry when all the “important things” are completed.”
Writing is a hard thing for many students to feel comfortable with sharing and poetry is one of the hardest forms of writing. I hope that when students share their poetry they know that they will be respected by their peers. When a student shares their writing in front of the class it should be a time for other students to support them and maybe even be inspired by them. Poetry is also something that students need to be eased into which is why it is good to have students exposed to poetry in the classroom as much as possible.
Teaching Poetry:
Having a bad view of poetry has made me not excited to teach poetry. I want my students to have a love for reading and know of all the different forms of writing including poetry. This week I was introduced to a textbook that talks about poetry and how to teach it. Textbooks are definitely not a popular reading for many people and I am no different but this textbook is different. From what I have read so far this book is different because it mixes real life examples of poetry in the classroom with tips for teachers. This is so helpful because it often feels as though teachers don't know how to teach poetry or it is taught quickly near the end of the year. Poetry can be used at any time in the year because it is all about helping students to understand figurative language and understanding the way language functions in different forms of writing. Throughout the North Carolina English language arts standards there are a few standards that talk directly about poetry and a few where teachers can use poetry to meet the standard.
RL.3.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, identifying words that impact the meaning in a text
RL.5.2 Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text.
When teaching poetry to my students I want to make sure that the poems I am picking are relatable for them. It is good to teach students the classics but also to have more modern poems in the classroom. Having this variety of poems allows a chance for more students to feel like their identities are being shown in the classroom. One way I want to introduce poetry to my students before formally doing a poetry unit is through different centers in the room. These centers were suggested in Awakening the Heart and I really love the idea of them. I also really like the idea of having a poem a week that I read to my students to get them to start thinking about the meaning of poems and to just overall be exposed to poetry.
Illustration Center
In this center students are given a couple of different poems to read and some blank white paper to draw on. When students read the poem they are encouraged to think of an image that comes to mind when reading it or after they have read it and put it down on paper.
Listening Center:
In this center students are not required to do much besides sitting and listening to a poem being read to them. Students are then encouraged to pick a poem they like and record themselves reading it on tape for others to listen to. Once poetry is formally introduced students can even pick a poem that they have written themselves.
Poetry Reading Center
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