Poetry Reflection
Your personal feelings about READING Poetry
I often find myself gravitating towards a poetry book on my bookshelf. For me, I love to read poetry that contains relatable life moments, memories, and thoughts. I especially enjoy reading poetry that leaves me wondering about what inspired the author to write this poem.
WRITING Poetry
Honestly, I find writing poetry more difficult than reading it. However, I think that is partly due to how I easily over think about what my poem should be about and the types of things that should be included in a poem. For example, structure, rhyme scheme, metaphors, etc. However, I find the process of writing poems to be like writing a song. Once you have the first line of your poem, the rest of the words seem to fall onto the page.
TEACHING Poetry
As a teacher, I think it is important for teachers to introduce and discuss poetry with their students. By inviting students to explore poetry, they are able to see that poetry can be just about anything. From life’s biggest adventures to everyday's small moments (e.g. riding a bus, picking flowers), we can use poetry as a gateway into another person’s world. The hope is when teaching students how to read and write poetry, they become inspired by other poems and poets to write their own kind of poetry.
Your criteria for how you know you've read a really good poem
When I read a poem, I want to feel like I am stepping into the author’s world. I want to be able to see, hear, taste and smell those same moments with the author. More importantly, I want to feel the author’s emotions whether that’s sadness, anger, fear, or happiness. When I am able to get all of these things from a poem, that's when I know it’s a keeper. (:
How you (could) create a “Poetry Environment” in your classroom?
I believe that the best kind of writing happens when students are able to write without standards. Meaning there are no restrictions or no limitations. Just letting students write just to write. More importantly, when inviting students to write, as the teacher, you want to let them know that the classroom is a safe place. A place where they can freely express their thoughts, worries, and memories without fear of being judged. In other words, we want students to feel like “All are welcomed in this space.” When encouraging students to write in the classroom, I think there should be mentor texts spread throughout the room that will allow students to explore and to get ideas for their poems. By creating an environment that mirrors different types of poetry using mentor texts, students are able to see past the ‘single-story’ of poetry, thus create poems that are a reflection of themselves and not of somebody else.
In keeping to the theme 'What we say is poetry' -- Awaking the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School by Naomi Shihab Nye highlights some important aspects about how to create a poetry environment, as well as what strategies to use when teaching students how to read and write poetry.
Creating a Poetry Environment
When facilitating a poetry environment, Nye mentions the importance of making sure it's 'an emotional environment' too. Meaning creating an place that sends that message: "all of our students lives matter, that every voice is worth listening to; and that students can take risks in writing poems about whatever their hearts urge them to write" (Nye 1999). To support her idea of developing 'an emotional environment' for students, Nye provides her readers with a few important guidelines that they should follow:
Listen Deeply -- Students need to feel like they are being heard by their peers and teacher. By teachers actively listening to their students, it will help students to find and develop their own voices as poets and writers.
Creating a safe space for every child -- Writing poetry often involves expressing our deepest feelings, thoughts, and experiences through words (Nye 1999). And for most children, writing down and sharing words can be frightening -- which is why teachers must create a space where students feel safe and respected to help ease their fears. By doing so, students will can write more 'honest poetry.'
Collecting Poetry Seeds -- Teachers should listen to their students talk and to try to 'find the seeds of poems in their natural, everyday voices' (Nye 1999). To showcase to students they are poets, the teacher should write down that things that students say throughout the day, and then create a 'found poem' to read to the classroom. In doing this short activity, students will begin to see and pick-up on the beauty and the poetry in their own voices.
Refer to your students as poets -- To help encourage students begin to see themselves as poets, teachers need to facilitate an environment where students can 'live like a poet.' In other words, teachers need to read and model to students about what poets say about poetry, and most importantly, to provide them with the opportunities to explore the process of writing poems.
Celebrate each student's unique way of looking at the world -- This includes allowing students to use their imagination when it comes to observing the world around them. Thus creating this innocent vision of the world -- where poetry is sparked.
Make time for Poetry in the Classroom -- Teachers need to make time for poetry in their curriculum because of it can provide students will valuable writing and reading skills that will help them to excel beyond the classroom.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein
Exploring the World of Poetry
March 3rd, 2020
6:22 PM: The sun is sinking below the earth, leaving behind a trail of colors across the sky. Telling a story of the sun's daily journey."What I Believe" Poem
(Inspired by Brown Girl Dreaming by Jaqueline Woodson)
I believe in prayers before every meal and going to church on Sundays.
I believe in Moravian LoveFeasts and Christmas.
I believe that love conquers all.
I believe that there is goodness in a world that filled with hatred and violence.
I believe in nonviolence and justice.
I believe in democracy and the first amendment.
I believe that blacks and whites will one day get along and live in peace.
I believe in my sister's brown skin and my pale white complexion.
I believe that family is more than just being blood-related.
I believe that my two younger sisters be the best veterinarian and engineer that the world has ever seen.
I believe that teachers will one day be valued by the U.S. government.
I believe in my 4th grade teacher's encouraging words.
I believe in that teachers have the power to change the world.
I believe in myself as a teacherReferences
Nye, S, N. (1999). Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School. Portsmouth:NH. Heinemann.