I am one of the people who does not appreciate poetry. I know that it is the foundation for lyrical music, and that it discusses human experiences and issues through the written word. However, many others and I get no satisfaction from reading it. My feelings aside, I want to be a high school language arts teacher and I must know how to keep my personal feelings inside and present poetry in the most intellectually stimulating manner. I never want to be that teacher who reads a line... discuses it... reads another line.... discuss it.. etc., and I really like the advice that the author gives, I think it is a sure proof way to get through a poetry lesson.
My favorite poetry was William Blake's, his stood out to me among the all of the other Romantic period poets. If I ever teach the Romantic period I will focus much more heavily on Blake than the other poets. I think high school students would be very intrigued in his poetry and paintings. My senior year I had my best experience with poetry so far, I got to do a project/presentation on Blake and the time period, and after I went over the poems I turned out the lights, put on Vivaldi's Son De Spritza, which was written during Blake's prime, and played a slide show of about 20 Blake paintings. Everyone in the class was amazed by the presentation, the music in coordination with Blake's poetry and paintings was a moving experience.
The think aloud requires motivated students, it would be very important that the teacher pairs up stronger readers with average readers. I would definitely model how a think aloud goes for my students until they clearly understood how to ask the right questions when analyzing a poem. I like how the author pushes the students further to think critically about the poem, she does not stop once she creates a dialogue about the poem, she has them write personal reflections about the poem and the think aloud. I also liked the sensory imagery board she made, she students will be able to find sensory images regardless of reading ability, but once they can pull meaning of these sensory phrases they can relate physically to the poetry. The one aspect of poetry that scares me is that one day I will have to teach something that I don't relate to wholeheartedly, but I am confident that I can get through it, it will require a lot of extra studying after school, but I can do it.
I think that the think aloud is a great idea as well. Modeling is very important with this because some students would have trouble with it. Especially the struggling readers. I liked your idea about pairing them depending on their level of understanding.
ReplyDeleteI can understand your struggle with poetry. It is hard for me to grasp too. I think one reason is because it can be so tedious, yet so expansive. I would much rather read a novel, but I know I will have to teach poetry and try to struggle with understanding it now. I really liked the sensory images because I am more of a visual learner and can think better by seeing something.
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