Let's Talk Poetry

I honestly have not found my self exploring the world of poetry very often. Maybe because it's not popular among people my age or maybe because I haven't found the right source of inspiration yet. Either way, I have found myself exploring different forms of poetry more frequently over the past year and I have enjoyed the journey thus far. Throughout my schooling experience I received little instruction centered around poetry until I began taking reading courses in college. I was taught about the common types of poetry occasionally in school, but these experiences only challenged me to mimic the specific form we discussed that day, never revisiting the strategy outside of the lesson. Because of this I never identified as a poet, I never believed I could write poetry, and I was never inspired to seek out new forms of poetry to explore. The concept of a 'poet' seemed so elegant and formal, how could I possibly be that when I can't even create a decent haiku? I have now learned, through authentic instruction and with a comfortable environment, that anyone can be a poet and anyone can write poetry, also that poetry is much more readily available than I ever imagined. Until recently I thought I could only read poetry if I searched individual poems online, I never realized that there were so many different books written solely in verse. Since coming to this realization, I have enjoyed reading poetry much more. I have discovered different poetry novels that interest me, whether it's an assortment of poems or a narrative written in verse, and believe they could serve as great mentor texts for creating my own poetry. Books like all the small poems and fourteen more by Valerie Worth, the princess saves herself in this one by Amanda Lovelace, or Macy McMillan and the Rainbow Goddess by Shari Green are incredible resources to use as inspiration for your own poetry writing. In addition to finding new forms of poetry to read, I have also begun writing my own poetry more frequently. I have even found myself thinking in poetry, creating poetic phrases in my head centered around what I'm doing. Most of these just stay in my head, only a few are revisited and come to life on paper. This is because my confidence as a poetry creator is still developing as I discover who I am as a writer. I have only been recently challenged to create new forms of writing on a regular basis and since then my confidence as increased exponentially, but it may still take some time before I'm prepared to view myself as a poet. With that being said, I do enjoy reading and writing poetry much more now than I ever have before and I only see this relationship improving as I continue to discover more mentor texts and writing strategies to inspire me.

In my future classroom I hope to nurture my students' relationship with poetry by providing them with access to it in a variety of different forms. I want to ensure that every student sees exactly what poetry is and knows that everyone is capable of creating a beautiful piece of writing. In order to do this it is essential to provide students with a plethora of experiences where they interact with poetry authentically and regularly, rather than only discussing one poetic form at a time where a student's experience is isolated to the time of instruction, which is my experience with writing poetry. I think that poetry is overlooked at the elementary level because it is not heavily discussed in the NC ELA standards. Unfortunately, concepts and strategies that are not a primary focus in the standards are rarely given instructional time in the classroom, even if it could allow the student to grow academically. I also think that many people have a similar experience as me, or another nonpreferable experience, related to poetry which makes it more intimidating to instruct students on the topic. This leads to students receiving very little instruction on poetry, reducing their chances to interact with it. If you only teach students about poetry a couple of times they will not view it as a valid writing method and will be less likely to implement it in their own writing. Students may also struggle writing their own poetry if they are not taught how to do so with the proper level of support and with appropriate resources. Since it is less common for young students to read and write poetry, it is important that you are very intentional in the way you choose to introduce it to your students. It must be done in a way that catches their interest and shows them an obtainable goal. I wouldn't start by showing them an elaborate poem with words that are hard to understand because this could be overwhelming, but rather a simple poem or a poetic picture book, such as Firefly July, to engage their interest and model ways they could easily incorporate poetry into their own work. If you are able to create an environment where students are comfortable interacting with poetry, which I will discuss in more detail later, then you are providing them with another tool they can use to further enhance and improve their writing skills.

Before you can properly introduce it to your students, you first need to establish your relationship with poetry. To do this you will need to explore new forms of poetry, find mentor texts that inspire you, and practice the strategies you see in your own writing. Doing this will help you instruct your students more authentically and passionately. You are an insider now, right? I personally gravitate toward poems that I can relate to on an emotional level or poems that allow me to visualize what I am reading. I know I have found a good poem if it brings a tear to my eye or if I'm left sitting there with my eyes closed, imagining a picture of what I just read. The great thing about poetry is that you can find a poem about anything, making it easy for everyone to relate to. You can undoubtedly find at least one poem that you, or your students, can relate to, at times making the experience more personal and interesting than reading a book. Although I have begun to read more poetry, I have yet to find a favorite poem. I have been moved by many and some have left a lasting impression, but none have become the ultimate poem that I refer back to. Once I finish reading the princess saves herself in this one I hope to read other poetic novels and to one day find a poem that I relate to so well I would have believed someone wrote it just for me. There is one poem, however, that I wrote when I was in elementary school that I haven't been able to forget, so for now I will deem this as my "favorite poem." I wrote, "The brightness of the sun enlightens the spirit of those who embrace it." I'm not sure what inspired me to write this, but as the years have gone by the truth behind it has prevailed. Whether it's the brightness of the sun or some other small pleasure, you will not be moved by it if you fail to take the time to recognize its beauty and simplicity.

Earlier I mentioned how important it is to create an appropriate "Poetry Environment" within your classroom to ensure that it is a safe space for your students to experiment with their writing. This week I read the first few sections of Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School by Georgia Heard, where several different strategies were discussed to aid teachers in creating a welcoming environment in their classroom for writing poetry. Once you have introduced poetry to your students, which I touched on earlier in this post, it is important that you provide your students with opportunities to interact with poetry both during and after the lesson. Prior to reading this book I was unaware of how many creative ways there were to incorporate poetry into your classroom environment, many of which would take very little time to set up and implement. Even though teachers have so much free time on their hands (yeah right), it can be helpful to be aware of strategies that are easy and affordable to incorporate into their classrooms, so I will share a few of my favorites.

Emotional Environment: Creating an emotional environment where students feel comfortable enough to experiment with their writing will allow them to grow much more as a writer. In order to develop this type of environment you need to make your students' voices feel heard, provide them with opportunities to share their writing, you could create a "found poem" using your students' poetry seeds to show that they each have something they could write about, and you need to provide your students with authentic instruction centered around poetry, proving that it is a valid and commonly used writing structure.

Poetry Museum: Have a table or shelf in the classroom that is designated for different objects that could nurture poetry writing for your students, cover a window with crepe paper and allow students to write their poetic observations about what they see outside, or create a poetry apron that is filled with your favorite poems and allow your students to swap your favorites with theirs. Each of these opportunities will allow students to interact with poetry whenever inspiration strikes throughout the school day, increasing their chances to grow as a writer.

Word Scramble: Allow your students to help you create a "word scramble kit" for the class by passing out sentence strips and instructing students to write down a specific type of word (noun, adjective, ending, etc.), challenging them to focus on words that they relate to and that are interesting. Once this is done you will have a set of words that your students can use to help them begin writing poetry, allowing them to focus on the form of writing rather than their word choice.

Listening Center: Provide your students with access to recordings of poems being read aloud so they are able to interact with poetry in a different way. Some students may become inspired from solely reading a poem but using other modalities can allow you to grab the interest of a wider variety of students. Once the students have listened you could ask them to illustrate what was described in the poem or to try to emulate what they heard in their own writing. You can also then invite students to create their own recordings where they read aloud their own poems.

Music Center: Gather a few musical instruments and allow your students to pair them with the poem they are reading, challenging them to add movement to the words in the poem. When students do this they can use the instruments to accompany the words in the poem or to replace the words that the specific sound represents. This provides students with yet another way to interact with poetry in an engaging way.