Poetry in the Classroom
A Quick Update from Ms. P
Hello and welcome back to Ms. Parsels’s Poppin’ Literacy Corner! Since my last post, quite a bit has changed in my professional life. My fifth-grade students returned to Plan A instruction (four days per week) on Monday and it makes my heart so happy to have all twenty-seven of them at school each day. Additionally, teachers found out that students in sixth through twelfth grade will return to Plan A instruction after spring break! I could not be more thrilled to have all of my sixty-one students back in school (almost) full-time. Now that we have had a little life-update, let’s dive into this week’s readings. This week I will be talking to you about launching poetry instruction in the classroom!
Let's Talk Poetry Instruction!
As teachers, we know that students learn best through concrete examples. Therefore, having mentor texts to reference when launching a poetry unit is a necessity. I have selected two mentor texts that I believe would help guide poetry instruction in elementary classrooms.
Mentor Text #1
EMPATHY from Dictionary for A Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z (Page 28)
This poem is an acrostic poem. An acrostic poem is a poem in which a word or phrase is arranged in a line (up and down). The writer then uses the first letter in each line to write a word or short phrase that relates to the original word or phrase. This specific mentor text highlights empathy; putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. My personal favorite line in this acrostic poem is “Yes, they matter”. This is my favorite line in this poem because all people matter regardless of their heritage, beliefs, gender, age, etc. and it is important to remind our students of this by providing texts that help support a diverse, accepting, and culturally responsive classroom. I think there are several things that students can learn about poetry from exploring this acrostic poem. In my personal experience, students tend to not like poetry because they view it to be “boring and hard”. However, I think that acrostic poetry is a very accessible format for all learners to use and the poems that are formed in this style don’t always have to be serious- they can be silly too! I used acrostic poems to introduce my students to poetry this Spring. They LOVED writing these unique and short poems. Although we did struggle to find a few words and short phrases for letters like Z and Q, we worked together and came up with some creative solutions. I think that this style of poetry is a great “hook” to help get students excited about poetry and help remedy the negative connotation that surrounds poetry. In terms of my own writing, I have found this poem to be helpful. I have been trying to push myself to write more abstract poetry. This acrostic poem has strong imagery- it inspired me with my observational poem about my Happy Planner this week. Creating an image in a reader's mind while they are reading is the key to keeping them interested and engaged in the text. Overall, this acrostic poem is a great mentor text to utilize when launching your poetry unit- students will love the endless possibilities that this style of poetry has to offer!
Student Sample
Teacher Sample
Mentor Text #2
This poem is a quatrain. A quatrain is a poem or stanza that is composed of four lines. Some quatrains can have a rhyme scheme while some have no rhyme at all. This specific quatrain uses a word/theme, forgiveness, to frame the poem around. This quatrain features the rhyme scheme AABB. My favorite line in this poem is “Please know you’re not the only one”. I think that this is a very powerful line because it is saying you are not the only one who has burdens. Everyone faces some type of struggle or challenge in their life at some point. I think that this poem serves as a great learning opportunity for students. First, they learn about the unique quatrain style of poetry- they will be surprised, but also confused about how it is a style of poetry that can both rhyme and be free verse. This style of poetry will require a little bit of pre-teaching about rhyme schemes to help build student background knowledge. I think that students can also learn that poetry can be an outlet to express their emotions. Writing is a beneficial coping strategy to help students express themselves, especially through journaling. In my classroom next year, I would use this poem to serve a couple of different purposes. I would first use this poem to introduce quatrain poems. Next, I would use this poem to talk about rhyme schemes and then challenge students to identify the rhyme scheme of this specific (this would be informal practice). Lastly, I would use this poem to complete a guided practice poetry lesson on quatrains. I would reference the poem throughout and have it displayed on the board as we composed our own class quatrain. Also, I think that this poem would serve as an excellent segway to talk to students about rhyming within poetry as well as using writing as a form of self-expression. Lastly, I have used this poem to influence my writing by trying to express my emotions more in my writing. I am a rather reserved person and open up to only a few select people and it can be hard to express different emotions when those people are unavailable. I am trying out journaling before I go to bed to unpack my day and share my Rose, Bud, and Thorn of each day before going to bed. This poem has helped me think about and really unpack specific things and remind me that I’m only human and just trying to do my best for not only myself but my students and that is all I can do.
Forgiveness from Dictionary for A Better World: Poems, Quotes, and Anecdotes from A to Z (Page 36)
Observational Poetry
This week, I went on a walk at home with my family. I am from Weaverville, NC, however, I live five minutes away from Mars Hill University (formerly Mars Hill College). My mom has worked at the college in finance since I was ten years old, to say I grew up on that college campus is an understatement. Downtown Mars Hill very much has the same aesthetic as Downtown Boone but on a much smaller scale. On our family walk, we decided to do a loop near the Quad. When making our rounds I noticed the Mars Hill College arch that has been on College Street for years. However, I hadn’t been home in a while and this arch caught my attention so I decided to snap a picture of it. It is definitely interesting how sometimes we take little things for granted. I say all this to say, live in the moment (not in the future or past) you never know what you will miss. I decided to try out Georgia Heard's "Observational Drawing" strategy out from pages 94-97 of Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School after this experience and then translated my drawing into writing.
This poem is another "try" at observational poetry. This time I chose to write an observational poem about my Happy Planner because it how I keep my life organized. It is truly the glue that keeps everything from falling apart in my professional, personal, and student life. I thought that it would be fun to play with the orientation of some words, so I tried this out after the word "spiraling" and turned the remainder of the poem into a spiral.
Until Next Time!
- Ms. Parsels
