The Uses of Poetry in the Classroom

Introduction

Self-esteem is defined as "how much a person likes, accepts, and respects himself overall as a person"1 There are two schools of thought concerning self-esteem. The first thought advocates what is called Global self-esteem. Proponents of this view support the belief that a student must possess a sense of pride in self before he or she can achieve academically. The second school advocates what is called Earned self-esteem. According to this view, a student must first find success at home and in academics in order to develop positive self-esteem.2 Is academic success a necessary prerequisite for student self- esteem or is self-esteem a necessary prerequisite for academic success?

• This question is at the heart of an important educational controversy.
• Traditionally, schools have thought that students' satisfaction will follow on the
• heels of their academic success. In other words, children who perform well in
• class will consequently feel good about themselves. But more recent educational
• theories reversed this logic. They say that students must secure high self-esteem
• before they can hope to achieve. In other words, they must feel good about them-
• selves before they can perform well in class.3

Many of the students whom I teach come from single parent homes where the primary caretakers are single mothers, grandparents, or foster care placement providers. A few students live in assigned group homes. Parental involvement in our students' academic lives is far below expectations. A majority of our students fail to take books home for study or assignments outside of the classroom. Our school is one of the few middle schools that have not met our state's accreditation standards. These are some of the factors that contribute to our students' low self-esteem. I agree that, "there is a direct relationship between self-esteem and academic achievement. Over four decades of research has shown a clear relationship between levels of self-esteem and academic achievement." 4

• It is the key to student learning. . .Positive self esteem is the immune
• system of the spirit…the more successes we educators can build into
• a student's learning experience and a student's capacity to feel self-
• sufficient, the more opportunities we will have to increase their self-
• esteem.5

It is the premise of this unit that educators can perform the important task of increasing self-esteem with the help of poems that are concerned with this theme.