This past summer I had an opportunity to go to China for a study tour program through the Global Educators Cohort at MSU. We visited Beijing, Shanghai, and Chonqing. While in Beijing I co-taught a Chinese Language Arts lesson to a 6th grade classroom. Luckily the other student I co-taught the lesson with was originally from MSU and spoke Chinese so planning our lesson was fairly easy. The lesson we taught was bases on a famous Chinese poem. Before we taught our lesson we were given the chance to sit in on a lesson taught by the teacher that was very similar to the lesson we would be teacher, only with a different famous Chinese poem. I learned very quickly just how important poems were in China. In China poems are apart of their culture and are extremely important to the elders in China. The lesson consisted of the students reciting the poem multiple times. They were given the poem beforehand to have memorized before class. Then, after reciting it, they began to analyze what the poem meant and the teacher discussed the format of the poem (which was the same for every Chinese poem). All of the well-known poems, which were discussed in class throughout the year, were packed full in Chinese culture and important meanings. So, the teacher picked the poem apart line-by-line and broke down what exactly what the poem was trying to say. After analyzing the poem the teacher finished the lesson the teacher explain to the students how important it was to read the poem with emotion, because it is such an important part of the Chinese culture. The teacher went around one by one picking students to demonstrate how the poem should be read, then they finished the lesson by reading the poem out loud with as much emotion as possible.
I felt so honored to sit and watch this lesson, you could tell by how passionately the teacher taught the lesson just how important poems are to Chinese culture. As we talked to the teacher, principle, and other language arts teachers after teaching our lesson, I realized how much I didn’t know about poems. In my elementary, middle, and high school we didn’t place much importance on poetry. But, I wish teachers had stressed the importance of poetry and how it can be very cultural.
Was there much focus on poetry in your elementary, middle, and high schools? Do you think it would be beneficial to make poetry an important part of our culture like it is in China?
I absolutely love poetry, although I don't write it anymore. I think that it is such a wonderful way to teach children literary and rhetoric devices. It is MUCH simpler than doing what my 11th grade teacher did, she gave us a list of rhetoric devices to define, which wasn't bad, but then she gave us two books, Digital Fortress and 1984 and told us to find examples, all two weeks before class started. I have never been a fan of busy work but finding examples of literary devices in novels like these is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Poetry naturally lends itself to these devices! There are a million great poems out there and great poets too. The stuffy old classics can be laid to rest. It is possible to make poetry a focus in school and have children like it. It just all depends on the teacher I guess. I am definitely going to make poetry a main focus as an educator.
ReplyDeleteIn first and second grade we would have reading time where we would go to the carpet and our teacher would read Shel Silverstein books to us. I can remember all my classmates loving this time of the day. We always looked forward to it because the poems were so creative. It was not until 4th grade that poetry came up again, when I had to write a haiku. I had a hard time writing it, but the concept of a haiku is cool. Poetry came up here and there throughout my education, but it was never a huge part of it.
ReplyDeleteThere does not seem to be a problem with using more poetry in school, but there is not necessarily the biggest need for it either; I could be persuaded either way. However, I did always hate guessing what each line meant. I hate that there are no right and wrong answers in literature. It was always hard for me to come up with what something meant because I did not care about it. I could read the same thing over and over and get absolutely nothing out of it. Maybe it was my teachers or peers that were outside influences that encouraged my hatred for poetry. I never really thought about it because I do not like it. I am glad, however, that I had the chance to experience poetry and become a little knowledgeable. I think it would be a good idea to keep on teaching poetry just to give children the option of liking it.
As for my previous experience with poetry, I do remember reading poetry throughout my elementary years and then having to dissect it during my high school literature classes. I definitely think that there is a need for the discussion and reading of poetry in schools. As we talked about in class, I think some teachers get intimidated by poetry and are scared away from teaching it because they don’t feel confident in it themselves or they don’t enjoy it. We as teachers need to think about our students. I know that when I had a teacher who showed passion and enthusiasm for a subject, it helped make the subject that much more interesting. Teachers need to broaden our horizons and open our minds to help children get a good mixture of literature, including poetry, to give them the right tools to be able to read and create these different types of literature.
ReplyDelete