FOR-PD’s Reading Strategy of the Month

Rationale:

Robert Frost once wrote, “a poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom” (1973).  Mr. Frost had exactly the right idea. Poetry cannot only bring joy to the reader, but it can leave an illumination of the content on the minds of the reader. Plus, the writer of poetry also benefits from a deeper understanding of material in order to be able to compose a cohesive poem. The above summary and poem represent two ways for students to express their knowledge and comprehension of the chemistry topic of entropy. While the summary on the left provides insight and an example, the poem on the right offers an insightful look at the students' understanding of the topic. It also requires critical thought by both the reader and writer of the prose.

Poetry is a multifaceted tool that can provide students opportunities to reflect on literature, content area subjects, or their own feelings, while increasing their understanding of the material being covered within classroom instruction. “Poetry is instructionally sound not only because of the reading-writing connection, but it also helps develop fluent and expressive readers. Using poetry is an excellent way to support oral language development and reading fluency (Vacca, J., Vacca, R., Gove, M., Burkey, L., Lenhart, & McKeon, C., 2006). Poetry assists students with making aesthetic connections to topics and provides them a personal relationship to the content material they are examining (Dunning & Stafford, 1992).

How to Use the Strategy:

Reading Poetry

Poetry can be an effective tool for instruction in both the realm of reading and writing. Reading poetry can offer students insights into the author’s thoughts and feelings and apply it to their own life. Critically reading a poem that is connected to a topic or theme can open doors to understanding that may have been closed or only cracked before the reading of the text.

There are many forms of poetry available to students on a wide variety of topics. Lyric poetry, narrative poetry, ballads, concrete poems, and limericks are just a few types available. When choosing a poem to incorporate into your instruction, think about how the poem or poet will enhance the focus of the lesson. You may want to use a poem as an opener to engage or motivate learners. You might also consider comparing and contrasting the text you are using with the poem you’ve selected.

Understanding poetry elements can be helpful in assisting students with exploring a poem and visualizing the meaning of the text. Rhyme, rhythm, shape, and imagery provide ways that the poet is trying to connect with the reader. Imagery is especially important because it encourages the reader to use their senses as they read.

Analyzing a poem can provide the reader with further insights into the subject, topic, theme, and author. When analyzing a poem, you may want to use the following suggestions.

One way to help students consider their own feelings towards poetry is to have them participate in reader’s response. Students may want to write a letter to an author about how the poem enlightened them or helped them make a personal connection to the text. http://forpd.ucf.edu/strategies/stratReader_Response.html

Writing Poetry

Writing poetry provides students with another type of response that can increase their understanding of a concept or text. When considering the type of instruction for poetry writing, author Donna Norton suggests the following sequence.

Poetry Writing Assignments

Acrostic

An acrostic poem is one in which each first letter of the line forms a word, phrase or sentence when read downwards.

Surely it will be cooler today.

Usually I put sun block on my skin so I won’t burn.

Noon is extremely hot to my skin.

Biopoem

Biopoems are great to use with characters or even authors. You can change it around for content areas by using personification of objects or concepts.

Line 1 First name

Line 2 Three or four adjectives that describe the person

Line 3 Important relationship  

Line 4 Two or three things, people, or ideas that the person loved

Line 5 Three feelings the person experienced

Line 6 Three fears the person experienced

Line 7 Accomplishments 

Line 8 Two or three things the person wanted to see happen or wanted to experience

Line 9 Where they are from or live

Line 10 Last name

Cinquain

Cinquains were originally formed as a five line poem with two, four, six, eight, and two syllables in lines one through five, respectively. Later they were changed to reflect having a certain number of words per line. Cinquains can be very useful for summarizing a character or concepts traits. View the following activity sheet for more information.

Cinquain Graphic Organizer

 

Diamante

This seven line poem allows the author to create a contrast between two concepts. It follows the following arrangement:

• One noun
• Two adjectives
• Three participles
• Four-word sentence
• Three participles (opposite of line 3)
• Two adjectives (opposite of line two)
• One noun (opposite of line one)

Example

Love

Warm, sweet

Sharing, caring, helping

The meaning of life.

Hurting, frustrating, lying

Pain, longing

Hate

Poetry is one way to enhance the learning and understanding of text. It bridges across classroom content and content area subjects. It is useful in fluency, comprehension, and engagement. Consider using some this April, National Poetry Month, or any month of the year.

Assessment:

Assessing student poetry can sometimes be a tricky situation. While the use of a rubric or checklist may be useful, judging a student’s writing should involve either a teacher-student or a small group approach to evaluation. Writing workshop will work extremely well for assessing poetry as it provides both the teacher and students time to reflect on what is truly meaningful and why.

Resources:

Poetry Portfolios: Using Poetry to Teach Reading and Writing
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=152
Student objectives and an instructional plan are outlined to support students’ exploration of language and writing skills as they read and dissect poetry.

Teacher Created Resources
http://www.buyteachercreated.com/estore/product/3369
Teacher created resources offer books which assist with developing word fluency through poetry.

Dynamite Diamante Poetry
http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=823
Students review nouns, adjectives, and verbs and learn about gerunds in this lesson. Then after the review the students practice using them as new vocabulary words by creating structured diamante poems.

Teaching Poetry: Generating Genuine, Meaningful Responses
http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/ieo/digests/d39.html
This article focuses on how poetry and literature can be used to to promote student inquiry.

Using the VSC: Reading/ELA, Grade 4
http://mdk12.org/instruction/curriculum/reading/standard3/grade4.html
This website is a great tool for teachers to use in classroom instruction. A section is offered to use poetry to facilitate understanding.

Grade 6-Comprehend and Respond (Comprehension)
http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/elak7/6comcom.htm
Instructional and assessment strategies, as well as learning resources, are available for classroom use such as using poetry across the curriculum. 

Building Classroom Community Through the Exploration of Acrostic Poetry
http://wwww.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=807
Student objectives and an instructional plan are outlined to explore the genre of acrostic poetry. In this lesson, students will use an interactive online tool to write their poem and then share with the class.

References:

Borgia, L., Horack, D., & Owles, C. (2005). Terrific teaching tips. Illinois Reading Council Journal, 34(2), 56-60.

Cramer, R.L. (2001). Creative power. New York: Longman.

Dunning, S. & Stafford, W. (1992). Getting the knack: 20 poetry writing exercises. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English.

Lye, J. (2000). Critical reading: A guide. Retrieved March 8, 2007, from http://www.brocku.ca/english/jlye/criticalreading.html

Norton, D. (2007). Through the eyes of a child: An introduction to children’s literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Go to Adobe PDF instruction page.

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Last Updated March 8, 2007
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A project funded by the Florida Department of Education and Just Read Florida! housed at the University of Central Florida.