Poetry Genre Study

• Visuals can be just as important as words to children. Concrete poems grasp children's attention and let them know what that specific poem is about.

• Author: Joan Bransfield Graham
• Illustrators: Nancy Davis, Steve Scott
• Flicker Flash - concrete poems about light and the sun
• Splish Splash - concrete poems about water
• Intended Audience: Grades K-2
• How to use these books in the classroom: introducing poetry or connect them to science lessons introducing concepts of light and water

Many students have difficulty expressing their thoughts and feelings. Some resort to violent ways of channeling emotion. We must teach a more creative, effective way.

"By emphasizing the sound and rhythm of language, poetry builds children’s phonemic awareness, or sensitivity to the smallest sounds of speech, laying a foundation for beginning reading."

"In the world of writing, one form stands out as different from all the rest: poetry."

-Melissa Donovan

• Increases the use of imagery
• descriptive or figurative language
• Enhances phoneme awareness
• Fosters creativity and critical thinking
• Allows the writer to express their feelings and emotions and desires.
• Gives writer the freedom to write about personal experiences.

"A poet must be constantly aware of meter and rhythm. Poems and song lyrics are often compared, confused, and intermingled, and with good reason. Both poetry and music must pay attention to cadence and melody."

-Melissa Donovan

Poetry Genre Study

Academic Benefits of Poetry

Improves Writing Skills

Promotes Musicality

Poetry Soothes The Soul

• Rhythmic
• Melodic
• Triggers feelings and emotions
• Creative use of language

Poetry for Children

Aurora Zamudio

• Author: Sharon G. Flake
• Audience: 12 years old or older
• Classroom Use: This poetry book is for an older age group. Therefore, teachers could use this book as a source for writing prompts.
• Analysis: Teenage African-American boys express themselves freely in these poetic diaries about their lives. They document their experiences and give the reader a glimpse of what they have to do to survive.

Author: Michelle M. Otte

Audience: 12 years of age or older

Classroom Use: Teachers could use this book to inspire their students to write their own poems about experiences they have had.

Analysis: Teenage high school students pour their hearts out into the pages of this poem book. They express their fears, dreams, and personal experiences.

Author:Nikki Giovanni

Illustrator:Michele Noiset and more

Audience: 7 years of age or older

Classroom Use:This book would be a great tool for collective reading. Students could also say the poems along with the music.

Analysis: This books is a collection of poems from famous musicians, poets, and song writers. Giovanni allows the readers to experience poetry physically through sound and feeling.

If adults have difficulty defining poetry, how can we as educators easily teach poetry to young children?

In New York, eighth grade poet, Aurora Zamudio delivered a powerful performance of her original poem in Northwood School's gym about the harsh realities of growing up Hispanic in America. She expresses her feelings on racism, stereotypes, and discrimination. The poem not only sheds light on the matter but brings relief to those in similar situations by letting them know they aren't alone.

We can start by teaching them....

• rhyme: words whose ending sounds are alike (ball, wall, tall, call, etc.)
• onomatopoeia words: words that sound like their meanings (pop, boom, crash, flip-flop, etc.)

"The right poem in a time of crisis is like a deep breath after exhaustion"

-The NY Times

Concrete Poetry

Also known as shape or picture poems, concrete poetry uses the appearance of words to create illustrations of the topic.

Books of Concrete Poetry

Improves Reading Skills

How Poetry Helps You Improve Your Writing

• Broadens imagination
• Enhances language, and vocabulary
• Creates foundation for early reading

-Celebrating Poetry

Article: Concrete Poetry and Visual Learing

by John Grandits

• Author: Tony Medina
• Illustrator: R. Gregory Christie
• Audience: 7 years of age and older
• Classroom Use: This book could be used to introduce diversity and discuss real life situations that students may go through.
• Analysis: 10-year old DeShawn Williams introduces himself and invites the readers to see the world from his eyes. He gives the reader a tour of his life by allowing them to meet his family, friends, and his environment.

Poetry for Middle- School Students

Bibliography

Poetry Makes Learning Fun

Since poetry is difficult to define, students at the middle school level should be able to define what poetry means to them.

The definition of poetry (from poetry educators):

The History of Poetry

Kelly Zen-Yie Tsai

Tara Betts

The beauty of poetry is that it can express anything. A teacher can take any subject and find a poem about it or simply create their own. When words have rhythm and/or rhyme scheme it captivates the listener in ways that an ordinary lecture could never.

Poetry is the space that is reflective of the human condition. Poetry is a reflection of what is relevant. It becomes a process of dropping hard questions into the world and trying to answer them.

Poetry Speaks Who I Am:

Poems of Discovery, Inspiration, Independence, and Everything Else

Poetry, for me, is largely a relationship with self and relationships individuals have with the outside world. Poetry is a form of public education to get people to start thinking about a topic.

Good teachers of poetry challenge young people to think how a poem can impact emotions

What is Poetry?

Stovall, D. (2006). Urban poetics: Poetry, social justice, and critical pedagogy in education. Urban Review, 38(1), 63-80.

Grandits, J. (2005). Concrete poetry and visual learning. Book Links, (14)5, 39-42.

Graham, J. B. (1999). Flicker Flash. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company Trade & Reference Division

Graham, J. B. (1994). Splish splash. New York, NY: Ticknor & Fields.

Paschen, E., & Raccah, D. (2010). Poetry speaks who I am. Naperville, Ill: Jabberwocky.

Donovan, Melisa. "How Poetry Helps You Improve Your Writing." Writing Forward: Write On, Shine On? Melisa Donovan, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.

Flake, Sharon. You Don't Even Know Me: Stories and Poems About Boys. New York: Jump at the Sun, 2010. Print.

Giovanni, Nikki, Tony Medina, Willie Perdomo, and Michele Scott. Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry With a Beat. Naperville, IL: Source Jabberwocky, 2008. Print.

Medina, Tony, and R. Gregory Christie. DeShawn Days. New York: Lee & Low, 2001. Print.

Otte, Michelle M. Melting Box of Crayons: True Stories and Poems by Urban High School Students. Aurora, CO: Aurora Central High School, 2007. Print.

PBS. "Celebrating Poetry." PBS Parents. PBS, n.d. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.

• Authors: Elise Paschen and Dominique Raccah
• Analysis: 108 poems written by a variety of authors. The poems define "Who I Am". There are poems about racial ethnic identity, love, friendship, family connections, compassion, anger, community, and more.
• Intended Audience: Grades 6-10
• How to use this book in the classroom: To engage students and to prompt writing and discovery of self in students.

• Our textbook, Literature and the Child, tells us that defining poetry is the most difficult thing about poetry. Poets are often the best source for a definition of poetry. Many poets can agree that poetry combines rich meaning of words with sounds of language arranged in unique and interesting forms.
• Poetry is literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm; poems collectively or as a genre of literature (Google).

Avery R. Young

Believes that music and poetry come from the same place poetry communicates what things mean in relation to what students see and do in their daily lives. He pushes for students to visualize their words.

Avery feels that educators should encourage the use of creative essays in their curriculum

Michelle Armstrong

Nicole English

Keira Stewart