This article was about how children’s poetry is being lost. There are not very many children’s poetry books. Most of the ones that are being sold are not ideal for children. The books include many classic poems and some that are more for adults. This article gives a list of some poetry books that are good for children. Apparently many of the books of poems are now out of print. Many of these can still be found and purchased on the internet. The author feels strongly about having a good classroom library of poetry for students that is not only Shel Silverstein.
This article talks about how the author thinks that poetry is being taught in the wrong way for the most part. Students are learning a few types of poems and writing them. The author wants poetry to mean more to children. That poems are not just to fit some sort of pattern, but to mean something. Poems should be show emotion and paint a picture in the readers mind. Children should be writing and reading poetry and not just following the curriculum that is not up to the authors standards.
I would use this approach at my grade level, but I would not limit my students to only using poetry. I would like my students to experience many different genres and poetry should not be left out. I feel that poetry was not precieved well when I was in school and I would like to see if that could be changed in my classroom. I would have poetry become part of the reading and writer’s workshop. Give students the choice to read and write poetry and not force them to write a poetry book like I had to do. The only problem is like the article says, Our class and school library has a limited selection of children’s poetry.
To use this approach I would need to know more about children’s poetry. What exactly makes a piece of poetry good for children? Being limited in my own knowledge of poetry would not bode well if I was to jump into a poetry lesson. I would also probably need to know if whatever my students write is ok, or if there is a way to grade poetry.
This module has lead me to think about how writing is a process and ideas can build on one another. Every student might struggle at different points in the process. Assessment needs to be made during all the steps of writing to see where a student is struggling. There are many informal assessments during workshop. I feel that most finished products turn out well, but there are points in the process that may be more difficult than others for different students.
I agree with a lot that you have to say. It seems that our ideas in our classroom are similar. I remember in school not knowing too much about poetry either. I think that it is sometimes the "forgotten" genre. I think that everyone has heard of this genre, but it is never really studied. I remember studying it a little in TE 348, but not much since or before that.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is important to teach this to our students. I think that my students would really enjoy it. I think they would use poetry in their own writing. How do you think your students would respond to it? I think it would be kind of neat to do an open writing. I could allow students to write in any way they prefer about something important to them. THis could help me see what my students are interested in.
Another way I was thinking to include poetry into the curriculum, would be to do a read-a-loud using a poetry piece. This could either open up a discussion on poetry, or lead to other poetry stories, or even just getting students thinking about this genre. I really hope to teach poetry this year, to see how my students respond to it.
I believe it is completely true that children’s poetry is being lost and I find that to be very sad. I think poetry is a great way for children to learn how to become good writers. Also, children’s poetry is often more exciting for kids to read than novels because it’s often shorter and also has many engaging elements. It is so interesting to me that the good children’s poetry books are out of print. However, it is nice that we have the technology today to buy and sell books online so that these books can still be purchased.
ReplyDeleteI also find it so interesting that the author discussed having a classroom library of poetry that is more than just Shel Silverstein because those are the poems I remember reading when I was a child. That makes me wonder how long it has been since poetry has started to get lost. Yes Shel Silverstein is a good children’s poet but our students need to be able to experience more than one author’s poetry.
I completely agree with the author that poetry needs to mean more for the children. My students wrote a personification poem the other day and the first response we got when we told them we were going to write poems was “poetry is hard, I can’t write poems, I don’t like poetry.” I think this is because children don’t understand the art of poetry and the freedom they have in their writing of poetry. Students often see poetry as extremely structured which is what scares them, but it doesn’t have to be that way. I love that this author said that poems should paint a picture in the readers mind. I think a great way to get students involved in their poetry and enjoying it is to have them draw or paint pictures to make their work come to life. Then they will have a greater connection with poetry and hopefully find more joy in reading and writing poetry.
As I said above, the only poetry I remember reading was Shel Silverstein and maybe a few haiku poems, so poetry was also not perceived well when I was in elementary school and even through high school. I love your idea of having poetry be a part of reading and writing workshop. I think having students work together to read and write poetry could be very rewarding and educational for them. They would then become more familiar with it and not be so afraid of it. It would allow them to delve into poetry without being forced into it in a specific way. I think giving them options of what poetry they want to read for readers workshop would also be beneficial.
The issue of the classrooms and school libraries having limited selections of children’s poetry does make it difficult to teach poetry in a fun and meaningful way. However, I think as a teacher there are ways to get around this. Even if we don’t want to buy poetry books we could search for poems online that we could print out for our students or even post on the elmo or promethian/smart boards to save paper. However, as you said I would also need to know more about children’s poetry and what makes a piece of poetry good for children. However, I certainly look forward to learning more about children’s poetry as I continue to teach and grow in my knowledge.
The assessment process is so different for writing than any other subject in my opinion. As you said the end product may be good, but the work that the students put in to get there may have been a lot. We need to look at our students work from the beginning and see how they work through the process. The process of writing is just as important as the final draft. As teachers, we need to be sure we are doing informal assessments throughout the writing process. My CT collects my students graphic organizers, rough drafts, and final draft every time she collects a paper so that she can look at all of their work and how it has improved or lack of improvement from the rough draft to the final draft.