POETRY

Poetry

Collins argues that teaching poetry offers some fundamental cognitive and intellectual skills, and that reading a poem “replicates the way we learn and think.” He sees many parallels between poetry and learning: “When we read a poem, we enter the consciousness of another. It requires that we loosen some of our fixed notions in order to accommodate another point of view . . . To  follow the connections in a metaphor is to make a mental leap, to exercise an imaginative agility, even to open a new synapse as two disparate things are linked.” Collins thinks of poetic form as “a way of thinking, an angle of approach,” that helps students understand how information must be “shaped and contoured in order to be intelligible.”

As a literature student, I disliked poetry unlike drama and prose which was my personal favorite. The teacher used a method where we had specific days assign for poetry, prose and drama. I always felt that poetry classes were boring in contrast of the other classes. This is because for drama classes we got to the opportunity to perform the play. Also, for prose we got the opportunity to create character sketches, conduct debates on the issues presented in the novel and so on. However, in poetry lesson these elements were missing; one poem was taught in a session where the teacher came with a set of question about the poem and students were ask to read and answer the questions. This strategy was repetitive and boring, students did not get the opportunity to perform poetry or enjoy the writer’s craft.

To make poetry lesson more interesting the teacher could utilized some of these strategies:

Fluent oral reading: The teacher can read the poem aloud to students using appropriate tone, inflection, gestures and movement. This will motivate students to read the poem and also enjoy poetry lessons.

Choral Reading: Model the reading of poem to student then allow students to practice on their own.

Readers and Writers Notebook: Teachers can allow students to keep a notebook in which they respond to the reading of poetry by using poems and pictures. Students can also use this notebook as they go through the writing process to complete the writing of their own poems.

Teachers should bear in mind that reading and writing poetry should capture the interest of all students. Hence, the teacher can allow students to select their own poems from the list of poem. Not only will this ensure that students are active participant in their learning, but would motivate them in interacting with poetry. Teachers must note that the purpose for teaching poetry is for enjoyment; hence they must first develop a positive attitude towards teaching poetry. Also, students should be given the opportunity to practice what they have learnt by writing their own poems. From my experiences, I cannot say that I was given the opportunity to write my own poem in poetry classes. The teacher therefore did not give students a purpose for interacting with poetry. Teacher must remember that it is important to give students a purpose for writing. Thus, after students have written their poems the teacher can allow students to engage in choral reading of their own poems.

Note that reading and writing poetry was emphasized and not writing or reading poetry on its own. It has been clearly stressed that reading and writing are interrelated. Through reading, students are equipped with a wealth of knowledge which can be used to write an essay or poetry. Through the reading of poetry, the teacher can help increase students participation in reading activities. Poetry can be used also in other subject areas such as Social Studies and History. It is an interesting method to get students to learn the content in that area in an interesting and creative way. Poetry also increases student’s creativity by allowing students to present ideas in an artistic way. A new idea learnt is that reading poetry emphasizes holism; which means that the entire poem must be read to students for discussion of the analysis of its content. This will help students identify the issues, images, structure and type of the poem which will assist in the writing their own poems.