I have to admit that in the past one of my least favorite topics in school was poetry. Not only did I not understand what the author was trying to communicate, but from a technical standpoint everything we talked about went way over my head. I remember becoming easily frustrated by the abstract qualities within a poem, which was very discouraging as a student. At a young age I decided poetry just wasn't for me. As I grew older and discovered my passion for teaching language arts, I began to wonder how I was going to fake my love for poetry so that my own students did not develop the same negativity I did.
Luckily, in an english course I took last semester the dreaded topic of poetry was revisited, but this time in a different manner. Instead of focusing on the specific elements within a poem, the professor allowed us to explore our own mind to interpret different meanings ourselves. Eliminating the questions and answers, lectures and note taking, and painstakingly tedious quizzes allowed me to see the benefits and inspiration poetry can instill. In chapter 9 of, "The Joy of Children's Lit," Denise Johnson addressed poetry in much the same way my professor did. While the elements of poetry are introduced throughout the chapter, she makes it clear that teachers should not make poetry terminology the focus of poetry lessons. I think the reason a lot of students find themselves lost and uninterested in poetry is because of the way it is taught. In fact, I don't think poetry should be something that is taught at all, I think it should be more about thinking and feeling. If teachers are uninterested in poetry themselves, what makes them think a student is going to find joy in the topic either? On page 237 Johnson quotes, "It is essential that teachers reacquaint themselves with the power and pleasure of poetry." As with any area within the curriculum, educators need to have a love and passion for what they are teaching if they hope to instill that same love within their students.
I found this love for poetry once I realized the emotional connection one can make with a poem. Unlike my belief growing up, I realized that poetry is not a scientific equation or exact recipe, but instead it offers an emotional appeal that should reflect the real emotions of its readers.
Like you I did NOT like poetry in high school , and I worried about how I would teach it without sharing my distaste or projecting it on them. I have found, now that I actually enjoy teaching most poetry in my classes. Unfortunately, I have little control over what and how much poetry I teach in my freshman English class. There are certain poems that we have to teach, whether we like them or not and there are so many reading a writing requirements in the curriculum that I have little room or time to supplement the poetry that I'd love to teach. But I think I've found a way to focus on the positive aspects of teaching poetry, even the poems I'm not fond of. I focus on a reader's response approach and to an extent, I let each student derive whatever meaning is significant to them, to their lives and experiences. I do try to help them make textual and world connections as they work. I do disagree with the claim that poetry should be about thinking and feeling ONLY. Much thought and work goes into the creation of poetry, each word and line is carefully considered by the author, metaphors and imagery are often painstakingly created. In, A Family of Readers, Alice Schertle says about writing poetry, “There's nothing like laboring over one or two lines for a few hours to foster that respect” (229). I don't think this should be ignored. I don't think we should pore over every literary element or test them on identifying or memorizing metaphors and similes (this is probably where our distaste for poetry began), but to ignore the elements would do a disservice to both the readers and the author.
ReplyDeleteI too hated learning about poetry in school. Teachers would go so in-depth, dissecting each poem so intensely that I lost interest. Having to learn all the little elements in poems, I never enjoyed poetry. I believe that many other students feel this was and think that this is kind of sad. Students are unable to read and enjoy poetry in the way that an author meant it to be enjoyed. Also, Many of the teachers that I had growing up would ask us what we thought the author was trying to say in the poem, but if you said something else besides what they thought it meant, you were automatically wrong. They wouldn’t accept any answer aside from the one they said was correct. This really turned me off to poetry. As we discussed in class, a person’s background and experiences shape their response to literature, poetry included. This would indicate that each person could have a different reaction and interpretation of each poem. I believe that teachers should consider each students response to poems as representing a part of who that person is, and by doing so, more students may enjoy poetry as well as other types of literature.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I think that it is necessary to teach students about poetry. From my understanding, a lot of times people would carry some kind of stereotypes or prejudice about things into the classroom and somehow refuse to learn about them. Or, students can a lot of times simply be very lazy to learn new things. By requesting each individual to learn about poetry and create them, each student can have an opportunity to explore whether they may have the interest in poetry whatsoever. And my impression about learning English poetry was that my teacher just threw us a poem and asked analysis as a class with a lot of open minded spaces to think. Almost since the first time I had contact with poetry, I thought they were very interesting. Ever since I moved to the US at the age of 14, my passion about writing poetry almost came naturally. Just like what the book talked about, I think it is fairly important that parents started to expose their children in the rhythm of poetry. The purpose of having children learn and have a taste of poetry is not to expect them to become poets or writer. It is simply because the power of poetry can sometimes be very influencing to various stages in a child’s life. If we, as teachers, ruin our students’ interest in poetry because we want them to win the school poetry contest; we should never do such a thing to discourage them by trying to encourage them through contests. I personally think that poetry is very subjective, just like music; there’s no absolute right or wrong. Those are just ways to express one’s emotion and life.
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