Maybe Poetry isn't so scary after all...
Poetry Reflection (Pre Readings)
1.Personal feelings about READING Poetry
-
I enjoy reading most poetry, but always struggled to complete instructional poetry passages accompanied with comprehension questions. I think that is where my nervous feelings surrounding poetry arose because I always had a hard time answering the questions. I used to love reading Shel Silverstein poems with my Nana when I was young. She would read with such expression that I begged for more each time. I love the word play in many of his poems. I remember when my 7th grade English Language Arts teacher announced we would be starting a poetry unit, I just know I turned to one of my friends in the most 7th grade manner and said, “ugh no.” I dreaded it because I felt I would be unsuccessful at it. Fortunately, I was so wrong. He introduced poetry through song, which spoke to me then and still does today. I fell in love with the song “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman and “We Didn’t Start The Fire” by Billy Joel. We examined the lyrics, not for comprehension, but for how they made us feel. I still listen to both of these songs today and think back to how they made an adolescent version of myself feel. Today I enjoy reading poetry because I do it for pleasure, I find a lot of poems that I like on social media. One of my favorite poets is Rupi Kaur because I feel that I can relate to their work and the poems make me feel and think.
2. Personal feelings about WRITING Poetry
-
I do not write poems very often, since beginning to read Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline I have started to play around with writing poetry in my writer’s notebook. I model my writing after hers and write about family, home, and my emotional connections to both. Prior to this, my experiences with writing poetry were typically haiku because the structure made me feel safe. I knew that I would not have to be too vulnerable in a 5-7-5 syllable structure. Throughout this semester so far, I have grown to feel excited about being vulnerable in my writing and showing who I am. I also enjoy responding to poetry. I often take the pocket poems given to us in class each week, tape them in my writer’s notebook, and write a quick response about how they make me feel.
3. Personal feelings about TEACHING Poetry
-
My only experience teaching poetry came during student teaching and was very structured as students were creating a poetry book with all types of poems in them. Each day we would teach about a different type of poem such as cinquian, diamante, haiku, etc. The students had a packet that my cooperating teacher borrowed from teacher pay teacher that contained guides for each type of poem. I worked with students in small groups and helped them complete their poems each day. It felt more like filling in a graphic organizer than writing poetry because it was rushed due to weather and needing the book to be complete. Many of the students wrote about things that really mattered to them such as their families, pets, and friends. I loved getting to read their poems and learn more about the students. At this time, I did not feel very comfortable teaching poetry and essentially used the packet as a crutch each day. I still feel a little uneasy about teaching poetry, but I now know that in my own classroom I want it to be a creative process where students can express themselves freely. I want to teach poetry through mentor poems that students can lean on to better understand what they are striving for.
4.Criteria for how I know I've read a really good poem
-
I know that I have read a really good poem when it evokes emotion in me. Lately I feel as if I have read a great poem when it makes me want to write a response or my own poem modeling the one that I have read. A good poem to me makes me laugh, cry, or both. I need to be able to feel the passion behind the text on the page and know that this topic is very meaningful to the author.
5. How you (could) create a “Poetry Environment” in a classroom?
-
I think that I could create a “poetry” environment in the classroom by reading poetry often and showing my own excitement about it. I have been inspired by Dr. Frye’s pocket poems and would like to do something like it in my own classroom. I think by giving students a poem and giving them the option to reflect and write about it, but not requiring them to makes a powerful statement. There will be poems that students resonate with and ones they don’t. I like the idea of just giving them a poem to at least think about. From my own experience, I think that studying poetry through song is a great way to captivate young learners. I also want to create a relaxing environment in my classroom while studying poetry. This could look like having instrumental music playing, comfortable seating for students, dim lights, and other ways of creating a cozy environment.
​
Poetry Reflection (Post Readings)
1.Personal feelings about READING Poetry
-
I found comfort in knowing that many students and adults struggle with comprehension questions related to poetry. Poetry is intended to allow for personal connection and interpretation. The author may have a specific purpose for writing the poem but the reader may make a completely different connection with it. I love the idea of the Living Anthology Project presented in Awakening the Heart by Georgia Heard because one of the main purposes is to help kids read many different kinds of poetry in a non-threatening atmosphere. This means there are no right or wrong answers and no tests on the poetry being read, its purpose is solely for enjoyment and connection. Heard’s chapter on reading poetry inspired me to read and consume more poetry so that I may be more prepared to suggest and provide poems to my students. I really liked the idea on pages 31-34 that provided a lesson plan for reading the same poem every day of the week but providing a variety of activities. I wish that I would have had more experience reading poetry in my own school experience and known to appreciate beyond just memorizing to recite or trying to make meaning in order to answer questions. My own past experiences and the love that I am just beginning to grow for poetry at age twenty two inspires me to lead my future students on a path to enjoying reading poetry. I want my students to feel comfortable making risky interpretations and know that they will not ever be criticized for what they got out of a poem. My personal goal is to read more poetry for pleasure and begin collecting poems that matter to me.
​
2. Personal feelings about WRITING Poetry
-
After reading Georgia Heard’s chapter on writing poetry I feel more equipped to write my own poetry and encourage students to do so as well. Many of her examples for inspiring students to write poems left me feeling as if I too had something worth writing about. I was also captivated by the poems in Valerie Worth’s all the small poems and fourteen more because all though they were short and about everyday things, they were profound. I liked the perspective that she gave to otherwise mundane things such as a chair. I would never otherwise consider the fact that a chair appears to be sitting down on themselves. The poems that I have read so far in this text have served as a mentor for me. I always think that the things I want to write about are too simple for anyone to be interested in, but this book has shown me that if thought and written about in the correct way, anything is poetic. I want to open my eyes and begin to see the world as a poet. I am setting a goal for myself to let go of my doubts and just write about the things I notice, things that matter, things I’m curious about, and anything else. One day these poems may mentor my own students into gaining the confidence to write their own poems.
​
​
3. Personal feelings about TEACHING Poetry
-
I know that I have a long way to go before I feel completely comfortable teaching poetry, but I was amazed at how much Awakening the Heart taught me in just three chapters. I think that I used to feel a lot of pressure and fear surrounding how to help children decipher the one correct answer based on a poem. But according to Georgia Heard, the most important thing is that children make a personal connection with poetry first and then the meaning making can come (1999). I adore Heard’s idea of having poetry centers within the classroom where students are free to explore poems and appreciate their word choice, transmediate responses, listen to poems, observe nature, and so much more (1999). I also want to try out having poetry groups where each group is assigned to study a different aspect of the poem. Such as image, words, metaphor/simile, line break/stanza, beginning and ending, music, etc. The possibilities vary depending on the type of poem (Heard, 1999). These groups can help students understand how a poem is built and the different craft moves that authors make to allow their poem to have the intended impact. If students feel lead to memorize a poem and recite it that is awesome, but I will never require students to do so. I have seen this happen and be the only experience that students have with poetry and it makes me sad. I believe in students having choice over what poems they chose to read and then discussing why the felt lead to them. This can help build community and connections among students who may have thought they had nothing in common. My main goal as I begin my teaching journey is to instill a love of poetry that leads to intrinsic motivation for writing and reading it.
​
​
4.Criteria for how I know I've read a really good poem
-
I still believe that in order to know that I’ve read a really good poem I have to feel some type of emotional response. Whether that be sadness, happiness, laughter, or just a general feeling of connection. As Charles Simic says, “A poem is someone else’s snapshot into which you see yourself.” (Heard, 1999) Anything that makes me stop and think more deeply about myself and my world is important to me. I do not typically enjoy poems that are extremely complex and contain figurative language just for the sake of it. Many poems contain figurative language that is so beautiful that I just want to read it over and over. One quote really resonated with me in Awakening the Heart, “Poetry can give our students company and make them feel like they’re not so alone” (Heard, 1999). I want to read, write, and share poetry that makes this much of an impact. There is no formula for what makes a good poem. That is what makes it so beautiful, every poem creates a different response for different individuals.
​
5. How you (could) create a “Poetry Environment” in a classroom?
-
I still believe that a poetry environment needs to be comfortable and inviting, but prior to reading the first few chapters of Awakening the Heart I had never considered the difference between a comfortable environment and one that would truly inspire poets. I want to have objects in my own classroom as Fran and Norma did that remind my students to open their eyes to the amazing world and their own lives (Heard, 1999). I want to create a classroom that is an emotional environment that is a safe space for students. Students need to know that the classroom is a place where their voice is heard and valued. As a teacher, it is my responsibility to listen closely to the poetry that my students are speaking without even being aware of it. I plan to have a bulletin board to record and celebrate these phrases. It is not enough to just put on a front for students, I will genuinely believe in every one of my students and their potential to become a poet, even the struggling ones. I am inspired my Jacqueline Woodson’s story of being a struggling reader and her now beautifully written poetry. As mentioned before, I am excited to implement poetry centers in my own classroom and allow students time to explore poetry in a nonthreatening environment. Another thing that I want to do, inspired from Georgia Heard, is to have artifacts around my classroom that foster creativity. My favorite thing about graduate school has been the feeling that my voice matters and the things that I have to say are important. I want each and every one of my students to feel that way about their own ideas and writing.
Awesome Resources
Give me feedback, please!
"I Believe" Poem- inspired by Brown Girl Dreaming
Potential Self-Portrait Poems
Response & Connections to Professional Readings
I really enjoyed reading the poems in this book because they helped me feel free to write about even things that may seem unimportant. The small poems are about things people see everyday such as plants, animals, objects, and insects but are written about in a creative way that captivates the reader. I like how quickly I could get through the poems. I would like the use this as a mentor text for students because they are not overwhelming to read or comprehend. The descriptive and observational language is inspiring for all poets.
This book contains poems that are short and approachable for a variety of readers. I appreciated it from both a personal and educator perspective. The poems in this book would be great to use as pocket poems, gifts, and so much more. I felt so touched by "A Happy Meeting" and the clever word use. I hope that by reading more poetry mentor texts I will be able to think of lines like, "Quick, noisy courtship, then marriage:mud" as Joyce Sidman wrote. This text contains so many amazing poems to use as mentor texts.
Not to be dramatic, but I feel like if even if I just had these first three chapters to help me teach poetry that I would be okay. I cannot wait to read more and gain more knowledge, but I learned so much. It was like my eyes were opened to poetry in a whole new way. Heard's writing about poetry is both confirming and refreshing. It comforted me to know that poetry is not intended to only be dissected for end of grade test prep. It should be enjoyed, connected with, and discussed in a non-threatening environment. I feel so ready to go forth and create an environment that fosters reading and writing for my own poets.