Strategies
An educated relationship must exist between the reader and writer of poetry. The relationship lends itself to a need for an intense, analytical study of reading and writing. Studying in such a fashion will undoubtedly help to produce more capable readers and writers. So, how do we help students learn to read and write poetry? In order to construct meaning, students must not merely absorb the teacher's statements, but must be given the opportunity to churn and produce. To churn and produce requires analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. They need experiences in all levels of communications, including reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
In a lecture at Yale, Langdon Hammer raised the point, "Sound cannot be stopped. It is physical. It is both material and immaterial." Sound is not merely a vibration. Students need to be aware that sound exists when words create patterns. These patterns help to slow or move the reader along when he or she is reading a poem. Poets intentionally create these patterns to enhance the effectiveness of the poem. A guiding question will be continually posed to the students throughout the unit so that they will focus on this notion: How does the poet create sound? Why do the patterns support the meaning of the poem?
Each of the poems chosen for this unit will be used in a routine. Every two weeks, the students will be given two similar poems, one the first week and one the second. A quadruple-entry journal method will be used so that the students can first explore the poem independently, reading and reflecting first without background so that the students have no preconceived notions regarding the historical context of the poem. In the second entry, the students will have the opportunity to look-up new vocabulary and information about the author and add to the reflection. As prosody implies, poetry should enter the ear. It is important for students to hear poetry. The group will do a third reading orally, with a note to pay attention to a particular prosodic element.
The fourth part of the quadruple-entry will be the reflection of what the students have learned about the poem as a result of creating a write-like, which is an original poem based on the author's techniques. This is often called a Read-to-Write Approach or Author Interactive.
When students are beginning to write a poem, they will be guided through the Creative Thinking Model, which is a procedure for ‘brainstorming.' The first step is to have the student list as many ideas as he or she can think of about a particular subject. The second step is to have the student group similar ideas from step one. Step three requires the student to choose the most appropriate idea and write a statement as to why it is the best choice. The final step is to have the student elaborate upon the idea.
Who has the greater responsibility, the writer or the reader? Once a piece of writing has left the final-edit of the poet's pen, it is only in the educated mind of the reader that the poet's true intent can be uncovered. For this reason, students will use a guided response evaluative method to edit each other's work. This method uses constructive criticism in a set pattern. First, the students simply edit for misspellings and grammatical errors. Next, the students write reflections by answering: "What is good about this writing? Here is the textual evidence that supports my statement..." and "What may improve the writing? Here is textual evidence and/or an example of my idea..."
The long-term project is based on a district-wide initiative in which the students read several selections from the same author, as well as the gifted model for education that requires that the students learn to independently develop and compete projects. I am offering two possible long-term projects. The first uses the guiding question: How does popular music reflect the genius of poetry? The second is slightly more structured and will require the students to select a favorite poet of whom to thoroughly explore.
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