Embracing Poetry As Both Reader and Writer

 I was recently interviewed to discuss how I embrace poetry as a reader, writer and educator. Here are my responses:

• How do we see a purpose for writing poetry?

It’s always been a smoother, more precise way of saying something. Poetry looks different on the page, and often sounds different to the ear. It is unique. It can makes us laugh, cry, take action. It embraces mud and flowers with equal fervour.  It informs, educates us by allowing the truth to sneak up on us.  The words endure long after the poet who wrote them. Memorable words that become engrained. That’s why it retains a special place in the literary framework.

• How do we make it a part of thinking/talking?

By setting it free-  releasing it from the narrow constraints of set work units and ‘poetry month’ and allowing it to spread out like honey to permeate and sweeten our daily existence.

By buying my own poetry books. By insisting our school libraries make a point of acquiring new, contemporary titles!

By agitating for it to be seen in our bookshops. By asking for it to be designated its own sections among children’s literature titles.

• How do we get kids choosing and using it?

We must embrace it in its many forms. Bring it into the classroom. Share it. Read it listen to it. Model it in our own writing repertoires. Be risk takers and explore poetry’s broad terrain, its lush landscape.

• How do we use it’s incredible qualities to support young writers?

In order to do this, those of us charged with teaching poetry must  curate our own collections. We must quarantine time to read poetry closely to extract a little of its magic.  Use think aloud strategies to highlight what we see and hear when poetry is made visible. Highlights it’s literary devices, use them ourselves. Write in the style of poets we ourselves admire. Write under the influence and invite the inexperienced poets in our care to follow our lead.

• How do we use it as a communication tool?

Poetry crosses many cultures and is centuries old. It has been used throughout time as a vehicle for protest, social change and education. It has multiple application from humour to illumination of societal issues. It has strong and enduring connections to music. Poetry has enable to experience its capacity to communicate with readers across this vast spectrum pretty much all my life.

• How do we link to the Classroom Library and great children’s literature?

Classroom libraries should be brimming with quality literature and this includes broad spectrum poetry. The titles representative of a broad range of genres. The library should be dynamic with titles changing and new offerings available to spark engagement. The diversity of the library should aim at meeting the diversity of the student’s lives. Young readers must be able to see themselves and their lives depicted across the literature

• How can we embed poetry writing more regularly into our classrooms? What is the best timing?

We begin to embed poetry by sharing our own writing of poetry. Teachers can have a powerful influence on how poetry is received. We can make it accessible and inviting.

 Attitude is everything. The best time is anytime really. To start and end the school day. To launch an investigation, shared reading, read aloud. To fill a time gap. To celebrate. To start a conversation.  Allow poetry to permeate the day and awaken the hearts of potential young poets. Link it to mathematics, science, physical education, sport. Every area of the curriculum can become a poetry receptacle.

• How do we develop Mini Lessons in writing poetry? 

We begin with immersion. Ted Kooser, American poet wisely said –'We need to read at least 100 poems before we write one.' You can’t write what you don’t know. Lessons documenting discoveries, documenting poetry secrets in notebooks and on charts. Identifying poetry patterns line breaks, repetition, refrain. Devices such as alliteration, assonance, rhyme, simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia. Shared reading, teacher modelling, shared writing, group and partner writing. Play word games. Develop vocabulary –synonyms, antonyms, verbs, adjectives ,nouns. Teach from general to specific.

Expose the inexperienced poets to a variety of short, accessible poetry forms such as list poems, lunes, haiku, tanka, question poems to ensure initial experiences are more likely to result in success. Avoid rhyme until such times as engagement is high, then work with rhyming couplets.

• How do we go about crafting poems?

We bring our very best words to the page and then try to squeeze them into tight spaces. It is this action that helps to create poetic sparks for the reader. Keep writing until your best words appear. Learn to distance yourself from the words and then review them through fresh eyes. We must be mindful in teaching the young writer to read their chosen words out loud. Poetry must look right on the page but it must also sound right to our ears. We must teach line breaks, white space.  Shared writing is an opportunity to highlight so many aspects of writing. Form and genre,  structure, word use, literary elements, pace, the notion of stanzas. It shines a light on writing craft, writing processes and alerts the young writer to style devices they might employ in their own writing. It makes the construction part of the process visible, digestible and accessible. It’s an invaluable pre- writing strategy.

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• Writers Notebook use, and tracking our writing

All the published poetry I have written first emerged in one of my writer’s notebook. It’s the place where I play with words and ideas. It’s where my fragile first words spread onto the page. They nestle there until they are strong enough to be moved into the light. It is a writing tool, a friend. A travel companion. It needs to be with you just in case an idea springs to mind. Most of our best ideas come to us when we are indulged in activities other than writing. Notebooks are not just for school. They are not just for English lessons or writer’s workshop.

• Reading like a writer 

It effectively takes years to develop this important skill. As teachers we must learn to use it in order to most effectively teach writing. It slows our reading down and it enables us to more clearly see the craft behind the words on the page.

• Poetry writing at different year levels

In the early years of poetry I focus on poetry’s recurring patterns. Short forms of poetry and the use of repetition. List poems, lunes and  are good to use at this point. We also have fun with creating whole class poems where each child contributes a line. We write object poems, Ekphrastic poetry, persona poems and poetry of place poems. Paint Sample poems are also introduced at this point.  We play with alliteration and words that rhyme. We read a lot of poetry out loud. Choral reading is a great way to encourage engagement and deepen understanding. We add sound, and focus on rhythm and beat. Read poetry aloud, share poetry for enjoyment

With older more experienced poets you begin to add more complex forms such as odes, ballads, narrative verse, free verse forms, Etheree and rhyming verse. Found poetry forms such as blackout poems, found haiku. Rant poetry, Emotion and Persona Poems and Six room Poems. Performance poetry and poetry jams also begin to be introduced.

What are the influences on your poetry?

 I highlight the influence of others on my poetry. Songwriters like Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Bruce Cockburn. The influence of poets like Kahlil Gibran, W, B Yeats, Christina Rosetti, Billy Collins, Brian Bilston, Seamus Heaney, Michael Rosen, Roger McGogh, Kit Wright, Sylvia Plath, Banjo Paterson. First we imitate, then we imitate. Poetry is personal like food preferences. Not every poem resonates or speaks to us. We continue to search. We must avoid poetry by autopsy.

• What were your favourite books as a child?

Blinky Bill by Dorothy Wall

Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain

Prisoner of Zenda, Anthony Hope

Robbery Under Arms, Rolf Boldrewood

The poetry of Banjo Paterson, Walter De La Mare

• What’s your most interesting school story?                                      

Having Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling read to us as a serial story. Being told in my first year of school, to change to writing with my right hand because you’ll never be a neat writer.                                                                                                           

• How do you think you learned to read?

I developed an early passion for sport and I read the sporting results in the daily newspaper with a zeal. Learning to read developed from a need to know. It had authentic purpose. I read to make meaning. 

• Best question you love to ask teachers?

What will your students see you doing and hear you saying?

• Best question you love to ask students?

What are you reading that is like what you are trying to write?

• Best tip for thriving in teaching literacy/poetry?

Become the living breathing embodiment of what you want young learners to become. Make your reading/writing life highly visible.

Alan j Wright