Hello friends! As I was reading chapter 7 I got to a certain point about writing poetry. In that moment I realized that I forgot about the fact that we have to teach our students how to write poetry. Then I thought even harder...when was the last time I wrote a poem? I have determined that the last time I wrote a poem was in 8th grade. That was 7 years ago. 7 years ago!!! So I am being reminded I have to teach how to write poetry and I don't even do it myself?!?! So I want you to ask yourselves when is the last time you wrote a poem. Then ask yourself, could I teach my future students how to correctly write a poem. We mustn't forget that many types of poetry exist. The book then reminds us that "Poetry that rhymes is probably the most well-known type; however, poetry doesn't have to rhyme."
So let me go into more detail about the different types of poetry. We have acrostic poems. These are poems where you have one word and with that word you make each letter mean something. TEACHER: Trustworthy Excited Aware Caring Helpful Energetic Responsible. Then we have triangle poems. So the first word and first line is a noun. The second line is two adjectives. The third line are -ing words, and the fourth line is a sentence. We then have a cinquain and a diamante and I could go on and on about the different types of poems. My acrostic poem was hard enough for me to figure out let alone the rest of them I just named.
I think that we kind of dismiss poetry but I believe poetry is the key to understanding the creativity that students have. Sure they could write us a short story with 150 details about their dog. But with a poem, they have to be cunning and have to truly understand what it is they are writing about. They get to let their inner creators out. In order for them to fully understand poetry we have to introduce them to it. I'm sure they listen to music and music is very poetical. That would be a great first step. We need to read it to them and discuss it with them. An easy way to do that is to make your morning message a simple poem. The book gives some great tips for beginning and writing poetry with young children. It is something that we need to learn and never forget.
Here are a few questions for you to think about. When was the last time you wrote or read a poem? How would you introduce poetry into your classroom? Do you have any ideas on how you would teach it? If I challenged you (which I am) could you write your response in any sort of poem?
I haven't read or written poetry in a while. I feel like poetry was something i was taught and never really used. I have always been super intimidated by poetry because I have not been exposed to it enough. I think when you are teaching it you should make it a fun thing to teach. I am going to pretend I love to write poetry so maybe they will enjoy it as well. I also want to not just teach poetry and never use it again. I think it is important to allow students to write poetry if that is what they enjoy doing. I know a lot of people use poetry all the time to help them with life issues. I think if poetry had more importance placed on it then maybe it could help out more.
ReplyDeletePoetry
Difficult, Overlooked
Writing, Reading, Rhyming
Why is writing this so hard to do?
(My attempt at your challenge)
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ReplyDeleteOh poetry! I use to hate that when I was little. I stopped writing that as soon as I possibly could! It is funny that when I was little I use to love books that would rhyme and I use to love reading poems because a lot of the time they were short and easy. The older I got the more I didn't like it. I know that when I teach it I have to show the student they are writing a normal sentence, but your planning your sentence to work with the next sentence or the next three sentences. I remember in fifth grade we had a poem book, we did like eight different types of poems but also drew pictures and wrote about the kind of poem it was. It mixed poem writing with art and a little history which made it more fun to write so I think I would do something like that in my classroom.
ReplyDeletePoetry is no fun to write
But it will make my students very bright.
It may be hard for some kids brains,
but their ideas are still being explained.
Thats all I got!
Hi Alyssa! This post was so interesting! I actually really enjoyed poetry in school. I really liked reading it, but I have always been an english person. I was in AP literature and composition in high school and we had a pretty big poetry unit and we each had to read and research a different poet. I did Sylvia Plath and I actually really enjoyed reading her work. I also enjoyed writing poetry in high school, because it's a really fun way to express yourself in a different way, and you aren't too limited. When I was in third grade, when we first started learning about poetry, each student created a book full of different types of poems. I thought it was cool because we spend a really long time on it and we got to illustrate and make real hard copy books. I still have my poetry book at home I think!
ReplyDeleteHere's my answer to your challenge:
Dr. Suess is a goose,
not all poems have to rhyme.
He's not really a goose,
and I wish I could rhyme as well as he,
but a cutesy children's author, I will never be.
(sorry that was so lame)