The Power of Poetry
Infusing poetry to support literacy across the curriculum
When do we get to put the art back in language arts?
My curriculum didn't often call out specific times or ways to incorporate the amorphous beast and thus, it didn't get taught. I have many regrets about this, mostly for the students that I failed because of my own aversions. This is strangely ironic as I spent a great deal of my teenage years filling notebooks with with emotional verse instead of the traditional "Dear Diary" entries.
With so much content to cover, when do we find time to infuse poetry into our lessons in a meaningful way? How do we re-engage students who may have been similarly disenfranchised to find a new appreciation for the meaning to be found in a poem? Let's look at poetry differently. Instead of the drill and kill of cacophony and polysyndeton, how can poems bring context to our larger topics by setting up theme and tone? Pairing contemporary and historical texts is always a great way to build confidence in striving and reluctant readers. Poetry can serve as an entry point for either and models the power of the written language in a concise package. Can students examine how a poet challenges current social issues as a preface to claim and reasoning? How relevant can a study of author voice be by comparing the outpouring of poems after great historical moments, (take 9/11 for example). There is great power in the texts we put in front of students, especially those in the smallest packages.