Poetry In the Classroom

As modeled after Routman () and Heard ()

1. READ all types of poems and poetry
2. Make it available to students starting day one.
3. Show variations and how it is okay to borrow.
4. Write poems with your students
5. Introduce mentor text or poems that students can analyze
6. Discuss poems
7. Embed across content areas
8. Enjoy the experience
9. Take in the world with a magnifying lens
10. Stop and ponder

Poetry is important because it connects student to others and to their own feeling and thoughts. It lets us get our thoughts that are easy to say in our head out into the world.

Poetry is way to get words and feelings down that may often be more difficult to convey otherwise. Poetry is for all people of all types. Poetry is not subjective to a gender or an age but can be a way for people to connect across differences and who may otherwise never have had the opportunity.

When inviting students to start writing poetry for the first time - there are many strategies to engage them. As we know that poetry starts with us and our inner reflections and connections to the world. When we invite students to discuss and write poetry we have to show them where others are poets are coming from. We can do this by first showing our young poets what is in their heart and how those feels and connections can be reflected into the hearts of others.

We can do this by inviting students to create a heart map. These heart maps can "[Emanate] the jewels that lie within" (Heard, ).

We can do this by prompting students with questions like:

1. What people are important to you
2. What are some experience have you had that you may never forget
3. What secrets have you kept?
4. What small things mean the most to you?
5. What kind of memories do you have?

and we should first start by demonstrating what our own heart maps may look like.

From here students can have a collection of ideas to refer back to as they begin writing poems. They also have the opportunity to reflect back add on to their heart maps as the year progresses.

Transforming observations (Outer Vision)

• Reflections and thoughts: What are you thinking as you observe?
• Lists: Describe and list the details you notice
• Metaphor and Simile: What does you object look like or remind you of?
• Questions: What are you wondering about?
• Feelings: What feelings do you have about what you're observing
• Memories: Does it remind you of anything in your own life?
• The Larger Picture: What's the larger picture? Where did the object come from?

(Heard, )

Finding the inner Poet (inner vision)

• Heart Mapping
• Dialogue
• Connections
• Reading