In a short 6-week module like the one I teach at Harvard Ed School, time is the enemy. My quixotic goal for this too-short class is to expose students to all aspects of children's literature, in breadth and in depth. Of course, every year and there is something I wish we had discussed in more depth. To help amend this, I will begin creating posts on some of those topics that always seem to get short shrift.

First on my list is Poetry.

Most teachers already know how engaging humorous rhyming poetry by Shel Silverstein and Jack Prelutsky can be for students. But I want teachers to keep in mind all the benefits of serious poetry, too. When children write poetry themselves, free verse with a serious subject matter can be more rewarding than attempting to get the meter and rhyme just right. Too often, young poets add more and more words in order to arrive at the next rhyme. Good poets use fewer words, paring down language until they find exactly the right words. It takes a lot of practice and great facility with language to write a rhyming, metered poem that doesn't use lots of extra words.

For our next class on November 16, we're reading two books of poetry and also Susan Lempke's article, "Purposeful Poetry" from the May/June 2005 Horn Book Magazine. While I applaud teachers who read a poem to their class every day — one that fits the day's lesson — I agree with Lempke that this sometimes leads to problems. While you may be tempted to share a mediocre poem that reiterates your lesson to T, it would be better to read an excellent poem that is loosely connected to your subject. In fact, working with your class to comb out the meaning and determine how it applies to your lesson would be a great way to model different ways of analyzing poetry.

In her article, Lempke warns against all those poets who write with a specific educational purpose. But bear in mind that there are also some excellent poetry picture books that cover a single topic, for example those by Douglas Florian and Joyce Sidman.

•   •   •

Why read poetry written for children?

While nearly everyone agrees that poetry is an art form all children should be aware of, sometimes teachers need to defend their choice to share contemporary poems written for children when they could be sharing classic poems by Shakespeare, Dickinson, and others. I think a mix of classic and new poems is ideal, but if your principal is breathing down your neck, here are some responses you might give. (This list is partially adapted from past student projects.)

• Fluency
  
  
  
  • Students can read short passages aloud, either individually or in chorus.
  
  
  • Poetry increases fluency, especially when the focus is on reading aloud and not just on analysis and interpretation.
  
  
  • Many poems are short and have lots of white space, making them less intimidating to struggling readers.
  
  
  
  


• Phonemic Awareness
  
  
  
  • The International Reading Association recommends using nursery rhymes for developing phonemic awareness – i.e., how words are made up of sounds.
  
  
  • Children can anticipate rhyming words.
  
  
  
  


• Comprehension
  
  
  
  • Short poems can be used to teach comprehension more economically than long prose passages.
  
  
  • A child can read a short poem aloud, then discuss meaning, literary elements, and the poem’s intent.
  
  
  • Poetry is great for visualization exercises. The Developmental Studies Center has a printable exercise for this here.
  
  
  
  

•   •   •

Finally, we want to share some online resources that are especially teacher-friendly.

In the US, the Poetry Foundation selects a new Young People's Poet Laureate every 2 years — currently Jacqueline Woodson. According to their website, the goal of the Poet Laureate is "to raise awareness that young people have a natural receptivity to poetry and are its most appreciative audience, especially when poems are written specifically for them." Their website also includes the full text of 400 poems for children including famous classic poems and more recent poems written specifically for children. That list starts here.

Scholastic, Inc., one of the larger publishers of trade books for children, has an especially good website with resources for teachers who want to share poetry with their students.

• How to celebrate National Poetry Month (April) with various ages: http://teacher.scholastic.com/poetry/


• Ideas for helping children write poetry: http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/


• Ten free PDFs with suggestions and instruction for sharing different kinds of poems. Each is targeted for a specific set of grades. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/lesson-plan/poetry-printables

John Ciardi is a poet and also writes about poetry. Debra introduced me to his essay, "How Does a Poem Mean" which is available here: http://www.csun.edu/~krowlands/Content/Academic_Resources/Poetry_Instruction/ciardi.pdf