Learning to Appreciate Poetry

“Poetry is boring!” at least, according to many fourth graders.  Or should I say, it WAS boring.  Our class is wrapping up a unit of study about poetry, and it’s been a terrific experience!  Fourth graders often dislike poetry, and I think one of the biggest reasons is that poems tend to be shorter and more artistic, which causes them to often offer fewer ways in which students can connect to them.  We like texts to which we’re able to relate, and that often comes as the result of detail and elaboration, something often scarce in poems.  Mrs. Dolch and I wanted to change the kids’ feelings, so our classes teamed up for this unit.  Two weeks ago, we started our study of poetry by comparing it to traditional writing, called prose.  Students learned about the kind of writing that makes poetry poetry, including the use of similes and metaphors, hyperbole (exaggeration), personification (giving human-like qualities to a non-living thing), rhyme, repeated language, rhythm, stanzas, and much more.  We also learned that all songs, when spoken without musical notes, read like a poem.  (This made a few poetry converts, I think.)

Last week, Mrs. Dolch and I merged our classes to start a poetry interpretation project based on the book Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart.  This book tells the story of two sisters, but it does so in the form of over a dozen poems.  Unlike stand-alone poems, these poems ffit together to give us more and more insight into the two girls, allowing the students to make more connections to the text.  As we hoped, kids reported enjoying these poems more than others they’ve read.  After we read the first five poems in the book, students split into groups to focus on one of the other terrific poems from the text.  Each student focused on a particular area of the poetry interpretation, and those students met in “Expert Jigsaw Groups” where they shared their poems but focused in on their one areas.  For example, several students who focused on theme met and discussed each of their poem’s theme, while other students met to discuss similes and metaphors in their poems.  Following these discussions, the “Home Poem Groups” reconvened, and each expert reported out on what he or she learned about the poem while in their Expert Jigsaw Group.  (Jigsaw groups are a form of instruction in which students work together to focus on one area, in order to build expertise, and then they come together with their other peers to each share their knowledge, which fits together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.  Credit to Mrs. Dolch who turned me on to this idea!)  The Home Poem Groups discussed each expert’s ideas and have worked this week to develop a Google Slideshow about their poem.  Later this week (hopefully) and next week, the groups will share out about their poems by reciting the poems and presenting their impressive slideshows.  We have been so impressed by the students’ work and the depth of their thought!  They did such a great job that we invited Mr. Giannini to join us last Thursday to see the kids in action, and he was proud of how well the kids shared their ideas and collaborated with one another!

Posted in Class Updates|By Jon Moss