Pathways for Poetry
As another school year comes to a close, it is time to look back at where the path laid down by my inquiry into poetry and gifted learners has taken me this year.
I began the year thinking about how I could connect poetry more meaningfully into my work with advanced readers and writers, specifically focusing on grades 3,4, and 5.
I knew that students in upper elementary grades who have shown facility with imagery, metaphor, and word play have consistently excelled at English Language Arts as they progress through high school. Unfortunately, poetry in schools is often relegated to a week-long unit in which it is briefly discussed and produced. That naturally limits the extent to which students are given the opportunity to show what they know in this format. When we look at the four genres of writing (expository, narrative, persuasive and descriptive) poetry can provide a foundation for all of them , yet it remains largely separated from these genres and is given short shrift in the march through English Language Arts curriculum.
My inquiry led me to many exciting discoveries that showed poetry being used in imaginative ways in a variety of subject areas. These cross-curricular connections challenge the idea that poetry should be restricted to the ELA classroom and allows it to take its place in broader contexts. I found a periodic table of elements in haiku, a scientist who studies climate change synthesizing important ideas on the topic in poetic form, a professor of history who is writing poems covering U.S history, and many other examples.
It is important for teachers to understand that poetry can be a very effective way for students to demonstrate knowledge in every discipline area and that honing the ability to write poetically helps one become a better writer no matter the genre. One example of a poetic form that works well for pairing poetry with non fiction involves students creating ‘found’ poetry. On the website FacingHistory.org, a found poem is defined this way:
A “found poem” is one that is created using only words, phrases, or quotations that have been selected and rearranged from another text. To create found poems, students must choose language that is particularly meaningful or interesting to them and organize the language around a theme or message. T
I have used these as a viable means for students to reflect on important concepts and also connect with topics on an emotional level. In an online course I taught for many years to middle school advanced learners the students composed found poems from a book entitled Uprooted. The topic was Japanese Internment Camps in the U.S. during WWII. Below is an example of a found poem written by students that shows how a poem can capture historical understanding with potent effect.
EVACUATION
So much to do
so little time
a couple of duffel bags and suitcases
property with white neighbors
pictures to the Camera Club
piano I put in the church parlor
decided to sell everything for ready cash
ordinary folks looking for bargains
vultures in the form of human beings
time is running out.
$150 for a brand new automobile
$50 for a piano
$5 for a refrigerator
$15 for a set of elegant china
These were not merely objects
like verbal slaps
Mama began to break them,
piece by piece
another dinner plate hurled at the floor
another and another
never moving
glaring at the retreating dealer
tears streaming down her cheeks
This school year my students examined famous poems too, in order to analyze author’s craft and utilize techniques to become better writers. Some of the poems we looked at described common objects or pets. This yielded a poem by a 3rd grade student about a beloved cat:
Pester
Annoying little rascal
lovely kitty cat
eyes like sunshine
in the middle of the night
tongue as pink as flowers
nose wet like a rose with dew
and his gray and black coat
has a perfect zebra pattern
by Wren
As I pursued my inquiry topic, I intentionally incorporated more poetry in my work with advanced learners regardless of what we were studying. As a result, students produced poems on many non-fiction topics, did more poetry free-writes, and got me assessing their learning in new ways. A few students who had fairly strong anti-poetry sentiments at the beginning decided poetry was pretty cool! One 3rd grade student initially illustrated the cover of his poetry portfolio with negative images and a thumbs down hand. When he completed the portfolio, he had erased the images and changed the drawing of the hand to a thumbs up.
As I move forward with this inquiry, I plan to share poetry ideas and resources with the 3rd-5th grade staff next year. I also am working on a presentation about effectively using poetry to develop both subject area knowledge and to elicit the complex thinking and facility with language and imagery that some advanced learners demonstrate. I believe that moving poetry out of the box of a self-contained unit will yield great results for all students. The poetry path hasn’t ended. I feel like the journey is just beginning.
