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When I poll the 8th graders in my Pre-AP
class each year, very few of them will admit to liking poetry. Even when we
talk about music being poetry, they will counter-argue with, “But we don’t like
‘real’ poetry.” And I have to agree with them. I don’t like “real” poetry much,
either. I don’t remember any teacher or professor, other than one, teaching
poetry as anything other than the sum of its parts, something to be broken down
and analyzed, not appreciated as a total work. The joy we found in the poetry of
our childhood – Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, Mother Goose – becomes overshadowed
by the analysis of form and literary devices.
I have always struggled to find a way to connect students to
poetry without tearing it apart line by line, and what has worked for me the
most are poetry novels. Reading for me
has always been about stories, the longer the better. Authors like Ellen
Hopkins, Sonya Sones, and Sharon Creech amaze me with their ability to tell
entire stories, some with multiple story lines, using only poetic forms. Our students,
as part of their curriculum, now read Out
of the Dust in 6th grade. They just finished it, and while my 6th
graders said it was hard, they liked it better than the book it was paired
with, Esperanza Rising. My Pre-AP
students are reading Requiem as our
last component of the Holocaust unit. As we work through it, we will also look
at the poems that survived the Terezin camps, and they will consider the
question of why the children of Terezin immortalized their thoughts about what
was happening to them using poetry instead of prose.
The Common Core doesn't address poetry in any meaningful
way, but we know that students will be tested on their reading abilities using
poems. If we embed poetry into our instruction, rather than treat it as a separate
entity, perhaps our students could come to understand the value of poetry in
helping connect to other pieces of literature, and to understand that poetry is
sometimes the best way to express those deeper feelings that prose can’t quite
capture.
Poetry has power, and our students need to know how to tap
into that power. We need to help our students make the right connections so
that they can answer the question posed in the Apple commercial, “What will
your verse be?”
Poetry has power:
ReplyDeleteThe unseen surfacing
amidst the heart's call
for understanding.
This story unfolds in verse
on pages where blank space
dominate,
and where one carefully placed word
makes all the difference
in the world.
-Kevin
PS -- more lifting of lines to make my own poems. Thanks!
You gave me much to think! My ELL students like poetry as they can show their talents even though they are not proficient!
ReplyDeleteOut of the Dust...one of the best books I've ever used with students needed to be paired with so much more...an understanding of the Dust Bowl and what was going on in the 30's. I also 6th grade is a bit early. I love that Poetry Friday just came out with an Anthology which I promptly ordered integrating Science with poetry. I am also a firm believer that students need choice with poetry just like everything else. xo
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine a world without poetry. I find myself thinking, cleaning, cooking, even walking the dog in it.
ReplyDeleteI use it and teach it all year long - mostly because I cannot imagine NOT doing it. I have my kids make their own poetry anthologies throughout the year.
ReplyDelete