Stanza, meter, rhythm, and rhyming schemes are all terms that quickly come to mind when I think of poetry. Similarly, I could add daunting, stress, and anxiety. As you may be able to gather, my experiences with poetry have not been so great. Although I do enjoy reading poetry, I’ve never considered writing it to be my forte. For some reason, I’ve always felt really constrained by the "rules" of poetry, but perhaps this is because my definition of poetry is constrained.
Reading Chapter 4 in Allen’s book reminded me of the many types of poems that do exist. They don’t necessarily have to contain repetition and rhythm. Instead, they can focus on capturing voice (e.g. double voice poems) or constructing a list of descriptive characteristics. When I think of these alternatives, particularly the list, poetry doesn’t seem to be quite as overwhelming. In fact, as I was reading the list poem on page 46, I thought to myself, “I could write that!”
Not only did this chapter broaden my perceptions of poetry, it also instilled a bit of confidence within me. Last week I had totally marked the genre of poetry off the list of possibilities for my MGRP, but after reading this chapter and exploring the different types of poems that exist, I’ve begun to at least consider reinstating it.
Furthermore, I feel that re-examining my views of poetry is essential as I enter the classroom as the teacher becuase I will have the opportunity to set the tone for each lesson. If I maintain my feelings of drudgery against poetry, I could unnecessarily turn my students off to writing it, causing them to think to that it is a chore. Because imposing a negative mind-set is definitely what I don't want to do, I must keep an open mind and remind myself I CAN also write poetry.
You can! And you can read good poetry to your students. You can buy this book for a penny on Amazon and it has some FANTASTIC poems in it as well as other things (http://www.amazon.com/World-Treasury-Childrens-Literature-Book/dp/0316273023/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288018403&sr=1-3).
ReplyDeletehaha, I completely agree with your early views on poetry. I spent most of my early years trying to write out solid rules for the types of poetry that was expected from me. And as I advanced teh teachers tossed those ideas out the window while looking at how different authors have personalized their own writings by developing particular rules that maybe only they themselves adhered to. I like the idea of eventually getting the students to write their own rules for a type of poetry that they themselves develop. It is a great way to get the children to feel that they "own" the skillset in order to write "good" poems.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder that how we as teachers react to something so goes our students. When a teacher opens up a project or reading and starts with "I don't like it but..." or "this is going to be boring" or "this is hard" we are less likely to want to read or do it! Great reminder to stay positive! ;-) (even if we are secretly begrudging the exercise!) Fake it to you make it!
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