Rationale
After teaching both literature and creative writing courses, I saw the need to link the reading, writing, and creative processes in the minds of my students, who often enjoyed poetry more when they were writing it. For me, enjoyment of poetry is a primary goal. Too often, students don't see the point of reading literature, especially poetry. They view language study—and specifically poetry study—as rigid, boring, and difficult. Students often want a "practical" application for all they do in school, and many do not initially see enjoyment of poetry as a meaningful goal. In all my teaching I challenge the idea that education is merely preparation for employment. Enjoyment of poetry, while perhaps not a marketable skill, actually confirms the power of language, enhances analytical skills, and affords reader and writers new ways of seeing the world. While my students will most likely not become poets, their ability to think critically and solve problems creatively will benefit them regardless of their professional or personal pursuits.
I also saw the benefit of exposing students to a diversity of poetry rather than focusing on a few popular poets. (At the same time I use multiple works by the same poet so students can see stylistic patterns of individual poets.) Analysis and the ability to explicate poetry are undeniably beneficial skills, but they will not develop unless poetry is directly relevant to the lives of my students. Using a variety of poems helps facilitate this goal. This unit thus attempts to develop students' analytical skills as well as encourage creative expression by generating excitement about language—its complexity, its flexibility, its form, and its sound.
As a writing teacher I've learned that many students do not believe they have anything of value to write about or share. Many students don't think of themselves as unique beings, often because they are hyper self-conscious, only viewing themselves through the lens of a dehumanizing and disempowering media. Often I read painful "teen-angst" poetry that, at some stage, is probably healthy and even essential for some students. However, students need the encouragement to explore themselves in more complex ways, free from the grip of trite expressions. I want them to use more concrete diction and avoid impersonal abstractions that ultimately devalue their uniqueness. Students also need a poetry unit to help them see their daily, "ordinary" experience as worthy of poetic expression. I invoke Whitman's phrase "and your very flesh shall be a poem" to remind my students that they must not be poets, but they must attempt to live "poetic lives" of true engagement with themselves and their world.
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