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Week 7 -- Observational Poetry


As teachers we are trained to be good observers when it comes to monitoring the classroom or a student's behavior. Little do we know, these same skills can be good for writing poetry. According to Georgia Heard's (1999) book, Awaking the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School, she mentions how "observation is an essential tool for both scientists and poets" (p.92-93). In other words, as we are nurturing our students to be scientist observers, we also want tp show them how their observations can be turned into poetry.

When helping students become better observers, Heard (1999) states that observational drawing can be help tool for students as they better their skills as scientist observers and poets. Here are just a few of benefits of observational drawing, that Heard discovered (see page 95):

  • Drawing helps students to linger, to slow down, and to stay seeing and reseeing, which is the heart of writing.

  • Drawing encourages students to NOTICE DETAILS they might not have noticed before.

  • Drawing SHARPENS THIER VISUAL SENSE, which will help them to write more concretely and with images.

  • Drawing natural or ordinary objects helps them see poetry in the ordinary, small, and unglamorous.

Curious to see how observational drawing process works, I decided to try it out myself.

 
 

My Observation Poem

Purple Flower


A flower
with purple pedals
soft as silk
and dark blue lines 
that look like veins. 
Who's colors shine bright
on a cold 
and cloudy day.

A welcoming 
and familiar sight,
for all who pass by.
Buzzing bees
Singing Robins
Morning joggers
And wondering dreamers 
like me.

As I gaze
upon this purple flower.
It gives me 
hope 
in a time 
of uncertainty.

 

Invitation to Observation Poetry

When we consider how to best invite students into learning how to create poetry out of their observations, I would recommend using mentor texts as a way to expand on their observational thinking about things in nature. One mentor text that would be great for this is Forest Has a Song by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater. In this text, Vanderwater invites us into her world of observations of nature through poetry. This would be a great tool to encourage students to use their senses and to look closer at the details when it comes to observing ordinary objects and things in nature.



 

References

Heard, G. (1999). Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School. Portsmouth: NH. Heinemann.


Vanderwater, L.,A. (2013). Forest Has a Song. Boston: NY. Clarion Books.




 
 
 

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