Poetry Promotes Passion

In reading Christensen’s chapter about poetry this week, I was inspired to teach poetry in a whole new way.  Looking at the 3 roles she writes about in this chapter made a connection for me in seeing poetry in a whole new light.  

The first role:  Community Builder

I have always tried to make my classroom the type where students felt they could take a risk and that their ideas, cultures, and heritages would be respected and heard.  I agree that students sharing their lives, whether good or bad, helps them to identify who they are and why they are important. Building those communities while working on academics helps make a connection between others who have similar challenges or joys.  Students seeing they are not alone, or have things in common with others, gives them hope and strength.  For teachers, we get a chance to know the “whole child” while practicing compassion and empathy. As students learn to actively listen to their peers, it helps spark an interest about sharing things more personal in their lives.  Setting this stage as a class community will play as a stepping stone onto content and political areas.

The second role:  Grammar Text

Christensen talks about teaching poetry all year long.  Many times we are tied to curriculum maps and pacing guides that tell us what and when to teach it.  Christensen reminds us that if we don’t build these opportunities into the curriculum, students may never get the chance to genuinely write. We need to listen to our students, learn about their lives, and then locate the right poems or stories that they can relate too.  In turn, we can create lessons that incorporate parts of speech and descriptive writing.

Her strategy of using 1 crayon to highlight repeated words or phrases, and the other to locate vocabulary words helps build their skills in identifying parts of speech, while building stamina in their pieces. Her idea of identifying vocabulary and using word lists is something I’d like to try this semester during my poetry unit.  

My district is currently struggling with the “right tools” or “references” to teach grammar in the elementary schools.  Christensen’s techniques gives students a chance to learn how to use grammar and language effectively.  Teaching skills in isolation on worksheets is no longer the norm.  There is simply not enough time.  I agree that teaching students how to pay close attention to detail, while they are writing something that is meaningful to them, is simply more effective.  

The third role:  Literary Tutor

I really like the idea of using poetry to demonstrate understanding of content. I’ve done this in my classroom but not to this extent.  It is more of a choice for a finished project for science or social studies. Not only are students learning about metaphors and what they mean, but they use the same skills to help them develop ideas for essays.  I now know why writing a poem for this week’s RAFT assignment was an option.

Finding the Poems that Hide: Why Students Should Write Poetry

When I read the poem Forgotten Things by Kati Macalusco, the first thing I felt was sadness.  In reading her thoughts that followed, I realized when she talks about the “space between experience and language,” her poem was written in a way that put me in that “space.”  Her explanation is so clear when she speaks of just telling her husband what happened at the grocery store would not do it justice.  She wrote the poem  in a way that made me feel sad for the elderly lady, just as she experienced it herself.

It made me think of times we may experience something, and how it impacts us emotionally, but when we try to explain to someone, and they are not feeling the intensity we did, it doesn’t seem validated or understood.  I can now see how poetry can help students express their own experiences during those times.