Teaching poetry in the digital age:
challenging,
but intensely rewarding for you and your students.
Teaching poetry well can be a daunting task in an age of students who often show little interest and possess poor attention skills. However, by following these guidelines, you can help open your students to the beauty and joys of poetry.
1. Your Attitude & Example:
The way a teacher interacts with the poem is rhetorical in and of itself.
The way a teacher interacts with the poem is rhetorical in and of itself.
- How much or how little a teacher appears to care about their subject matter will determine, for the vast majority of students, how much or little they care. This principle applies to all subjects, not solely poetry.
- Given that most modern students possess little inclination to study poetry, it is all the more important that a teacher, from the beginning, show that poetry is worth caring about.
- Simply put, the best teacher of poetry is one who already possesses an interest and love for poetry.
- When a teacher has affection for poetry, they will model a sense of respect for the poem, naturally exhibit the affective response that poetry is meant to evoke, and delight in the poem itself, in regards to both the poem’s construction and meaning.
2. Pick The Poem:
Choose a poem that has rewarding meaning when unpacked, but be careful to not give your students something too difficult or too easy. For instance, don’t start out with something like Eliot’s “The Wasteland.”
Pick a poem that:
Choose a poem that has rewarding meaning when unpacked, but be careful to not give your students something too difficult or too easy. For instance, don’t start out with something like Eliot’s “The Wasteland.”
Pick a poem that:
- is full of good meaning/insight
- dan be unpacked well in the time you have to discuss it
- will be rewarding after analysis
3. Create A Space:
A lot of students in their twenties and younger are not overly fond of poetry. So it is worthwhile to give the students a little speech before beginning the poem.
For example, a teacher might mention that poetry can be difficult to understand, and that it is ok if the students feel frustrated or confused by the poem. Vexation is common enough when working with any material one is unfamiliar with. A teacher might then go on to point out that, even though poetry can prove challenging, one can gain some of the best insights about life and what it means to be human from reading poetry.
Help your students assume the correct posture for reading poetry:
A lot of students in their twenties and younger are not overly fond of poetry. So it is worthwhile to give the students a little speech before beginning the poem.
For example, a teacher might mention that poetry can be difficult to understand, and that it is ok if the students feel frustrated or confused by the poem. Vexation is common enough when working with any material one is unfamiliar with. A teacher might then go on to point out that, even though poetry can prove challenging, one can gain some of the best insights about life and what it means to be human from reading poetry.
Help your students assume the correct posture for reading poetry:
- Ask them to be patient.
- Tell them it’s ok to read the same line over and over again.
- Point them to the genre of the poem: whether it’s a whimsical narrative or an earnest expression of sadness ought to have an effect on how one approaches the poem.
- Invite them to be open to how the poem affects their emotions/feelings.
4. Read The Poem Out Loud Multiple Times:
- Poetry is an oral art: poems are meant to be spoken out loud, to be heard.
- Have several students read the poem out loud.
- It’s ok if they trip over the poem, because they are trying to develop an understanding of how the poem works
5. Go Stanza by Stanza:
- The first question the class ought to address: What is there?
- What is the poem concretely doing and saying?
- Then students should look at the syntax, diction, and tone.
6. Go Image by Image:
- Work with students to establish what pictures the poet uses
- Encourage students to really visualize the picture the poet is creating
7. Affective Response:
As mentioned before, a poem is meant to elicit an affective response from its reader. The following questions may be helpful:
As mentioned before, a poem is meant to elicit an affective response from its reader. The following questions may be helpful:
- How does the poem affect their thoughts and feelings?
- What do they like/dislike/find interesting about the poem?
- Are they disgusted?
- Are they delighted?
- Are they surprised?
8. Unpack The Poem:
It is important to discuss a poem on its own terms. Don’t just read your projections onto the poem: read it itself.
A teacher should force his or her students to:
A teacher should also make clear what the context of the poem is:
A teacher should refrain from implying or outright saying that a poem only can have one meaning, however…
It is important to discuss a poem on its own terms. Don’t just read your projections onto the poem: read it itself.
A teacher should force his or her students to:
- use the language of the poem to discuss the poem
- point and refer to specific lines or stanzas when making a statement
- explain why they believe the poem, line, or image means x or y
A teacher should also make clear what the context of the poem is:
- Are you exploring what the poem means within the context of your 21st about the poem’s meaning century classroom or what it might have meant in the time period it was written in?
- It is the burden of the teacher to make sure the students know/keep in mind the special context or history of the words a poet may use.
- Don’t discuss it on the poet’s terms because we don’t know the poet.
A teacher should refrain from implying or outright saying that a poem only can have one meaning, however…
- Within the context of those 30 minutes in the classroom, a poem will certainly point to one or two meanings.
- The teacher should point students towards developing one shared understanding.
- Embrace the unique context and thus perspective of the class.
- BUT also remind students that a poem might speak to another person or group of people in a different way.
9. Reread and Rehash:
At the end of this long process, it is wise to have the students reread the poem with the new understanding they’ve gained. If the students have done a good job interacting with the poem, feel free to affirm them.
Your job is to help students learn to be comfortable working with poetry and to develop a posture of respect and humility when reading it.
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December 2013, by Rachel Thompson and Caitlin David
Thanks to Dr. Janelle Aijian, Dr. Monica Cure, Professor Chris Davidson, Dr. Marc Malandra, and Dr. Diane Vincent.
At the end of this long process, it is wise to have the students reread the poem with the new understanding they’ve gained. If the students have done a good job interacting with the poem, feel free to affirm them.
- Ask them what they didn’t notice the first time.
- Reinvite them to react to the poem.
- It might also be helpful to provide some feedback about what part of the process they could do better on next time.
Your job is to help students learn to be comfortable working with poetry and to develop a posture of respect and humility when reading it.
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December 2013, by Rachel Thompson and Caitlin David
Thanks to Dr. Janelle Aijian, Dr. Monica Cure, Professor Chris Davidson, Dr. Marc Malandra, and Dr. Diane Vincent.