Before reading the poetry readings for this week, I was thinking back to my days in elementary and high school when I was forced to read and write poetry. I did not particularly enjoy writing them at all. I could listen to poetry and to people sharing their creativity and emotions, but really did not care to ever participate in it myself. I was never a very good creative writer; I would rather write a research paper any day of the week and when my teacher told me to write a poem, that really sent me over the edge. The different kinds were interesting but I did not appreciate some of styles because I knew I enjoyed the typical rhyming pattern with a generally happy subject. I appreciate song lyrics and love music, but always had the worst time when my teacher encouraged my to go about it that way, in an effort to meet my incapacity.
After reading about the benefits and all of the really cool ways that poetry can be presented in schools from the readings this week, I quickly became a huge fan of poetry. I do not think it was presented in the best way at my school. The readings acknowledged kids who do not like or appreciate poems and gave some neat ways to incorporate it into the every day classroom. Students can learn so much from poetry and really get in touch with their own emotions as well as get to know their classmates so much better. It contributes to their literacy development as well as increasing their appreciation for different kinds of expression. In The Joy of Children's Literature when they said "one, two, or even a few poems every day throughout the curriculum over the course of a school year will make a difference" in regards to developing children's interest and literacy development.
As teachers, Reading and English are both very important subjects in school that we should spend sufficient time on, but working books and poems into the curriculum for all subjects can really enhance our students' learning and make them more well-rounded students. I think it would be a great idea to start and end every day with a poem because it could get their minds going in the morning and give them something to think about as they go on into the evenings. I found a really neat website about a movement called Poetry 180. It is designed for high school students and provides 180 poems so that students can have a poem every day of the school year. I think the benefits are limitless and that even if you are not the greatest at writing poetry as I am, all students can learn to appreciate and hopefully enjoy it, and maybe one day come up with their own that they are proud of.
http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/
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