Teaching Poetry
So far, my (just) 4 weeks unit on poetry is going well. Students are working through how to read poems and what sort of language and sentence structure they must use to express their response to poetry.
I’ve stressed that students be able to interpret the theme and analyze the poet’s use of at least poetic devices.
It sounds kind of dry, but improvement is happening. Atwell suggests that students become better readers by reading.
Taking this approach, I’ve invited students to analyze two poems written as a class (World of Warcraft and a random one) and two poems from the textbook that speak to a similar theme. Students chose another new poem to analyze as a readers’ theatre, which doubled as a preparation for their speaking skills in the poetry presentation.
I used to dislike English tests, but I’m beginning to like them (I’m not a fan of the Elements of Literature tests). The unit test will present students with a new poem to interpret and analyze, and a similar question will make it to the midterm.
Each class, I introduce how a lesson and task are designed to help the class succeed in their independent reading and analysis of poetry. They’re on board.
