Teaching poetry? Here is a great poem for starters and a helpful reading strategy from Sheridan Blau. The strategy is great for all learners in middle and high school, especially those not comfortable with poetry and/or not comfortable responding to literature. Plus, students are expected to read the poem at least three times, which helps with fluency. But before reading about the strategy, just enjoy the poem :). Some People Like Poetry Wislawa Szymborska Some people-- that is not everybody Not even the majority but the minority. Not counting the schools where one must, and the poets themselves, there will be perhaps two in a thousand. Like-- but we also like chicken noodle soup, we like compliments and the color blue, we like our old scarves, we like to have our own way, we like to pet dogs. Poetry-- but what is poetry. More than one flimsy answer has been given to that question. And I don't know, and don't know, and I cling to it as to a life line. -translated by Walter Whipple Reading Strategy 1. Provide student pairs with pens having three different colors of ink and a copy of the poem. 2. Provide directions to students for their first reading: a. Read the poem silently and individually, and as you read write responses about what you notice or questions you have in one color of ink. b. When you’ve finished this first reading, turn the poem over and write a statement saying what you think the poem is about. c. Share your notes, questions, and statement with your partner. 3. Provide directions to students for their second reading: Repeat step 3, using a different color ink for writing. 4. Provide final directions to students: a. Repeat step 3, using the final color ink for writing. b. In addition to writing a statement describing what you think the poem is about, make a comment on how your understanding of the poem changed with the three readings. 5. Have a volunteer read the poem aloud to the whole class and discuss readings; lead a whole class discussion about the poem and how multiple readings influenced the students’ understanding of it. When trying this out in a classroom, what challenges might arise? For more strategies like this, take a look at the following book:
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“The great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark.” – Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse When I first taught high school English, I wondered, like Woolf, why the “great revelations” never came for my students. I had great hopes for magnificent inspirations through literature, but these inspirations did not happen easily. I learned quickly that even “daily miracles” did not occur by standing in the front of the room and saying, “Okay, it’s time to be inspired.” As Woolf says, these matches are struck “unexpectedly.” With that in mind, I searched for teaching strategies that facilitated these critical moments for students so that they were able to not only become better readers, writers, and researchers but also learn about themselves and the world around them through. As I searched for a way to reach students, I recognized that when students had the opportunity to explore their identities within literacy events, learning became more relevant and meaningful to them. For example, in an undergraduate class that I am teaching called Integrated Reading and Writing, students spent the first month writing a personal piece on a topic of their choice. In these pieces, students wrote about meaningful aspects of their lives, such as a fiancé fighting in Iraq or a brother with Autism. After students shared their pieces aloud with the entire class, we talked about particular aspects of this assignment. Students commented that they rarely had the opportunity to write about a topic of their choice in their own school experiences. They agreed that choice and relevance in a classroom are one way for students to feel connected to lessons and become part of a classroom community. These are the aspects of teaching that I hope the preservice teachers remember when they enter their classrooms. My beliefs about the importance of relevance and choice in a classroom connect with sociocultural theorists who believe that children construct knowledge. This theory contrasts beliefs that teachers transmit knowledge to students. In addition, I agree with other aspects of sociocultural theories that state development cannot be separated from its social context and that language plays a major role in learning. I believe that it is important for teachers to provide opportunities for students to learn collaboratively and jointly construct knowledge from conversations with their social peers. My teaching philosophy has also been influenced by feminist theorists like bell hooks, who believe in the importance of egalitarian relationships in the classroom, making students feel valued as individuals, and the use of students’ experiences as a learning resource in the classroom. Writing is a significant skill necessary for college and career readiness. With that said, writing is used to support reading, learning, and displaying knowledge. Youth who write well can accomplish academic goals, shape their educational and pre-career trajectories, and advocate for themselves and their communities. In other words, writing well is a necessary requirement for success in the future. Understandings of a college and career ready writer have changed, however, with the increasing use of digital and social media as a composition tool. How, then, can youth prepare for successful writing in the 21st century?
This question is important for all Guilford County students, and is especially so for the increasing population of diverse language communities in Greensboro who are learning to write in a new language. To answer, I, a former teacher and current teacher educator in English education, have six points for individuals to consider. First, social media (e.g., Facebook) can be a comfortable space for diverse language communities to read and write in a new language. At the same time, social media might limit how diverse language communities learn and use more formal types of writing and has the potential to foster negative commentary from online viewers. Young writers need experience with critically examining what they read and write online, including how to recognize trustworthy sources and how to be mindful of what they post on social media. This means helping young writers to be aware of the author, accuracy, objectivity, currency and coverage of site. In addition, adults can help youth understand that what they post on social media now can impact the careers and opportunities they receive in the future. Second, youth can take advantage of the global community of writers online. There are several spaces for young writers to write, publish drafts, and receive feedback from more experienced writers, many of whom speak several languages. For example, many youth write Fanfiction, fiction written by fans about characters or settings from an original work. For young writers from diverse language backgrounds, Fanfiction is an empowering arena for them to develop their second-language skills because they are able to write in a familiar genre (e.g., anime) within a low-stakes environment. They are also able to receive comments from other writers, many of whom speak both English and their native language. With a larger community of writers comes easier access to authors. It is important for young writers to meet and interact with a variety of authors. This provides young writers the chance to build a relationship with a possible mentor. Online, young people can follow and potentially communicate with favorite authors via social media to ask them questions about the writing process, writing careers, and/or receive feedback on their own writing. To help young writers through the revising and editing process, there are many online resources focused on conventions, organization and word choice, such as quickanddirtytips.com written by Grammar Girl. Specifically for diverse language learners, sources such as the Purdue Online Writing Lab for ESL Instructors and Students focuses on grammar and workplace writing. To grow as a writer, young writers need the opportunity to publish their work for the public to read. For young writers learning a new language, publications that highlight writing in two or more languages can more fully celebrate their writing skills. Options, such as Flipsnack, offer such a space. For example, a young writer might write in English on the left page and then in their native language on the right page so that their work reaches a more global audience, including all members of their family. Finally, it is important to expand our notion of what it means to be a writer. Many people who make a career from writing, write with several other people, many of whom live all over the world. Much of that writing includes scripts for short videos, blogs, and/or informative material on websites, which is required to reach a global audience. Thus, it is important that young writers are exposed to various kinds of writing and writers so that they are knowledgeable about that variety. Not everyone has access to digital and social media. That doesn’t mean that young writers can’t develop the writing skills they need to succeed in the future. They can, however, practice writing through digital and social media by accessing free wireless at public libraries and/or taking advantage of community programs focused on writing (e.g., readings by authors at Scuppernong Bookstore or attending UNCG’s young writers’ camp: www.youngwriterscampuncg.com). In addition, parents can attend community classes focused on reading and writing in English with programs such as, Real World English. Parents can contact the Coalition for Diverse Language Learners for information about community-based programs and research related to this topic (https://cdlc.uncg.edu/). The Triad Teacher Researcher Conference in 2016 opened with Dr. Silvia Bettez talking about the importance of education. In reference to Textured Dialogues: A Tapestry of Immigrant Perspectives on the Meaning of Education (with Dr. Hardin), she highlighted how and why education was important to refugees and immigrants that she interviewed in the area. In addition, she made suggestions about how teachers might revise traditional practices in order to reach students. Specifically, she argued that opening opportunities for students to express their knowledge through creative projects was something she hesitated doing in a college classroom because they were difficult to assess. However, this year, a small group of students reminded her of the importance of that kind of work. After showing a hanging mobile made in UNCG’s SELF Design Studio, she illustrated how students’ complex understanding of the concepts in the course was illustrated in this project, made collaboratively in a group. These concepts align nicely with educators who argue for the importance of collaborative problem-solving and positioning students as producers rather than consumers of knowledge. After the talk, I was able to attend a few sessions. I had the opportunity to build a tall tower with spaghetti and marshmallows with three other people. After 20 minutes of attempting to construct the tower, we saw pictures of Kindergarteners building a tower using the same materials in a much more creative and stable way. This presentation taught me about the power of collaboration and the hindrance of background knowledge to creative thinking. In another presentation, I learned about the power of ecoaching and how it can provide the ongoing support of professional development that teachers need when learning and enacting new concepts in their practice. Finally, I learned from the wide range of poster presentations that preservice teachers know how to engage in mini teacher research projects that inform them about the learning and instruction that occurred during the 10 weeks of teaching they concluded this semester. Overall, the presentations reminded me that teachers are their own architects of transformation; they just need the time and space to do it. We hope to see you next year! I LOVED teaching poetry to my high school students. I'm not sure that they were as excited as I was about reading poems, but my goal was to show them that poetry is about playing with language in sophisticated ways, which is something that youth do daily. I encourage my methods students to start off reading poetry that is short and relatable with their students. Once students become more comfortable reading poems, teachers can help students transfer those specific reading concepts to more complex poetry. One of the poems that I have had success teaching is "This Is Just To Say" by William Carlos Williams. It's short, accessible, and relatable. For a lesson using this poem, I have done the following: 1. Listen to poem and ask students to underline any words or phrases that they think are important. This Is Just To Say William Carlos Williams I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold 2. Ask students to write down initial thoughts. Share. 3. Listen to poem again and add/change annotations and initial thoughts. Discuss as a whole class. 4. Share a few poems from This Is Just To Say by Joyce Sidman and illustrated by Pamela Zagarenski. The book is divided into two parts. First are the poems of apology followed by response poems. Each pair of poems reveal a relationship between a child and the person they are writing to. Here is an example from the book. To my Mom: Brownies - Oops! I smelled them from my room a wafting wave of chocolate-ness. I listened for movement, ears pricked like a bat's. I crept down, stepped over the sleeping dog. I felt the cold linoleum on my bare toes. I saw the warm, thick, brick of brownies. I slashed a huge chunk right out of the middle. The gooey hunks of chocolate winked at me as I gobbled them. Afterward, the pan gaped like an acusing eye. My head said, Oops! But my stomach said, Heavenly! by Maria 5. After students have read a few examples, ask them to write an apology poem of their own. Share in pairs or as a whole class.
6. Ask students to write their own response poem OR ask the other person to write a response poem. Share response poems in next class. 7. Publish poems on StoryJumper. My undergraduates are in the beginning phases of their student teaching experience. They will be in the classroom for at least ten weeks. Many of them are meeting new students and attempting to build community within the classroom. Building community is something that must be done throughout the semester or year. A first-day lesson can set the foundation by opening up conversation about literature and students. To model this kind of lesson in methods, we usually read an excerpt from The Things They Carried and have students share meaningful objects with the class. This lesson is typically successful because it fosters conversation about literature which we then relate to the lives of students. Thanks to Lynn Masterson at Texas State University who taught me this! Here is what we do: 1. Read excerpt from The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. I’ve included a quote from that excerpt: The things they carried were largely determined by necessity. Among the necessities or near-necessities were P-38 can openers, pocket knives,heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy,cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits,Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water. Together, these items weighed between 15 and 20 pounds, depending upon a man's habits or rate of metabolism. Henry Dobbins, who was a big man, carried extra rations; he was especially fond of canned peaches in heavy syrup over pound cake. 2. Ask students: What do you think of what we just read? What does it say about the connection between what we carry and what is meaningful to us? What would you carry? 3. Ask students to choose three things from their pocket, bag, or backpack that represent something about them. 4. Organize students in pairs and ask them to tell each other about the three things. The person talking should explain the object and what it represents about them. The person listening should take notes and be ready to share with the entire class. 5. The presenter should practice to make sure that they are appropriately describing the relationship between the object and the person. 6. Once the pairs are done sharing, students share with the entire class. To be clear, one pair talks about the other pair and specifically highlights the relationship between the objects and the person. While they talk, I take notes to help me remember something about the student. It’s a great way to build relationships from the start. Feel free to use this idea in your classroom. I saw this image in my Facebook feed the other day. Kid President is great because he offers some positivity to my feed which has currently been about the death of David Bowie or Donald Trump. I couldn’t help but wonder, however, if what Kid President was saying is always true, especially in situations when we are engaging in critical conversations. What I mean is that my students often hesitate to talk about things that they perceive might be interpreted as unkind or impolite. I understand that the above quote is promoting verbal kindness - and I agree with that 100%. What I’m thinking about is how educators might help our students disagree, share perspectives, and actively listen to each other that promotes kindness while at the same time opens space for people to be uncomfortable - a process that often indicates learning. These are the kinds of questions that prompted a current project that I’m working on with Melissa Schieble. For the past five years, we have explored how discourse analysis can be used as a tool in teacher education. Our students record classroom interactions, transcribe short segments, and engage in reflection that asks them questions about how they position themselves as teachers, how they position students as readers and writers, and how they think identity markers (e.g., race, class, gender, sexual orientation) shaped how they teach. These are tough questions and over the years we have become better at modeling conversations through our own analysis, practicing analysis through example transcripts, and engaging in multiple small and large group discussions. Overall, we have found this tool to be extremely helpful for bridging theory and practice because it asks students to think about how they are enacting practices through daily interactions. This project has made us curious about how current teachers might use discourse analysis to foster critical conversations in their secondary ELA classrooms. By critical conversations, we mean classroom discussions that attempt to foster dialogue about sociopolitical issues, disrupt commonplace notions, invite multiple perspectives, and promote change within the local or national community. From work in our own classrooms, we understand how difficult it can be to foster discussions that engage students in rich dialogue. Specifically, we understand that fostering critical conversations entails both the content (what is being talked about) and the process (how people talk to each other). To explore this, Melissa and I plan to recruit teachers this semester for a project that asks them to audio record and transcribe three classroom interactions. We will also meet in small and large groups to discuss reflections and future goals and engage in a few interviews about the process. Stay tuned for more information about this topic. I’ll blog with an update after our first meeting. Over my holiday break, a friend recommended that I listen to Magic Lessons by Elizabeth Gilbert. This podcast is based on a book (Big Magic) about pushing past the fear that blocks people from creativity. Although Ms. Gilbert focuses on musicians, painters, and writers, I see creativity much broader. For example, teachers use creativity when they plan lessons, academics think creatively when they conduct research, and even runners get creative when constructing a training plan. This podcast was a great recommendation and I listened to all of them in less than two weeks! The last podcast resonated with me the most because of one phrase: the arrogance of belonging. Elizabeth Gilbert argues that in order to create, people must believe they are entitled to do so. She says:
Creative entitlement doesn’t mean behaving like a princess, or acting as though the world owes you anything whatsoever. No, creative entitlement simply means believing that you are allowed to be here, and believing that — merely by being here, merely by existing — you are allowed to have a voice and a vision of your own. Elizabeth was inspired by the poet David Whyte who argues that “without the arrogance of belonging — you will never be able take any creative risks whatsoever. Without it, you will never push yourself out of the suffocating insulation of personal safety, and into the frontiers of the beautiful and the unexpected.” As an educator working with young writers in a summer camp, I was particularly inspired by this concept. For five years, I have collected and analyzed data from our young writers. Recently, I have been working on an article about how young writers use talk to think together about writing. This is particularly useful for teachers who use writing groups and peer conferences to help students learn more about writing. In the manuscript, I analyze transcripts that illustrate young writers learning together through talk that is exploratory, reflective, and content-oriented. I also explore transcripts that highlight talk that is either unresponsive or disputational. Although I don’t tackle creative entitlement in the article, I noticed that the young writers who talked in ways that helped each other improve a piece of writing, think differently about writing in general, and/or offer multiple ways of writing came to the conversation believing that they belonged in this community of writers. In addition, the language that they used with each other confirmed that belonging in each other (validation, constructive feedback). In the conversations where campers were unresponsive or argumentative, the campers did not appear to believe they belonged and they treated each other this way as well (pointing out irrelevant mistakes, moving on before someone is finished, not giving constructive feedback). This is particularly interesting to me when thinking about how educators can foster spaces for youth to situate themselves as writers. Maybe this is something to add to the manuscript draft that I'm working on or maybe this is a new lens that I can use to explore the data. Regardless, I think this is a refreshing way to think about fostering creativity in ourselves and others. |
AuthorProfessor in English Education at UNC Greensboro Archives
June 2016
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