Power of Poetry
One of the things that stuck out to me most about this chapter was that Christensen started with a sample text, and she wrote her own. Starting with a sample text is a great way for students to understand the format and style of the specific poem, and it also strengthens both reading and listening skills. In addition, by writing her own poems to share with her students, students were able to learn about her past, and often, they were able to make connections with experiences that they had in their own lives.
From the blog “Finding the Poems that Hide: Why Students Should Write Poetry” I was reminded that poetry can be found anywhere. Not only can students write poetry about their past life experiences, but they can also write about strangers, about instances in their day-to-day life that although they may seem to be insignificant, actually carry a hidden poem behind them. I was encouraged to “find” my own poem in daily encounters. I began finding poems on the shelves of books, the titles of novels become parts of sentences. Menu items became lists, and the signs at the store offered a direction for words to flow. I had fun trying to find poetry in seemingly random things in my life.
“The Teacher/Poet in V Parts” sparked my curiosity with the idea of a “list poem”, marked by the theme of kindness, which I hope to instill in my students. At work one day, I asked my preschoolers what it meant to be kind. Here’s what they said.
Positive words,
gentle hands,
loving hearts,
and sharing crayons.
Helping others,
taking turns,
saying “im sorry”
and forgiving words.
Encouraging others,
and sharing your mind;
In this classroom
we choose to be kind.
These blog posts and chapter from Christensen were so eye-opening and empowering,
and made me so excited to use poetry in my future classroom.
As is evident for you, Sarah, for me this chapter was truly eye-opening because it made me realize that poetry is an invaluable tool for teaching language use. As is written in this chapter, teaching grammar and drilling it does not increase writing ability. I certainly don't know all the rules of grammar, and when someone asks me why a certain sentence is grammatically structured a certain way, I often do not have an answer other than the fact that I just know somehow. Poetry gives one space to translate words to emotion, and what else are words? Words are signs and signifiers for ideas, concepts, and emotions, as Derrida pointed out, and instilling this idea is critical for teaching language, reading, and writing. Thus poetry, as does emotion, can and does exist everywhere, as you beautifully demonstrated t by working with your preschoolers. Through this ability to realize poetry's nature, we as educators can teach words, reading and writing to be a vehicle of sharing meaning, thoughts, and experiences.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with both of you, Sarah and James. It was almost refreshing to hear Christensen confide that she could not remember all of the grammar rules. My grandmother would try summer after summer to get me to memorize them but since I did not find those lessons enjoyable, I did not pay attention and I did not retain the information. Instead of making poetry a grammar lesson, using it as the art form and teaching students how to translate their emotion into words and express themselves will make the students more involved. I think we should all remember Christensen and not only teach our students to look for poetry in everything, but ourselves too.
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