The Power of Poetry

Once upon a time I did a poetry unit at the end of the school year. We wrote cinquains and diamantes, and other patterned poetry. Every teacher I knew tortured their students in this way. It’s no wonder so many people hate poetry.

During high school I discovered free verse, and spent part of high school and college writing poems that reflected the many emotions and decisions of that time in my life. I wrote poems with joy and passion. I played with the language, letting it roll off my tongue and onto the paper. Poetry was therapy, and my first real glimpse into the beauty and power of words.

Teaching poetry was a different matter all together. How on earth did I translate a love for language and the passion to pen a poem to my students? I didn’t. Instead, I fell into the trap of doing what was done to me, and what everyone else was doing. Poetry became an end of the year filler unit after all of the important stuff had already been taught.

As time went on I had the opportunity to attend sessions on poetry at conferences, read a couple of books, and listen to the queen of poetry teachers, Georgia Heard. I began to think that my approach to poetry was wrong. I decided to include more poetry throughout the year. I searched for poems that enhanced social studies and science curriculum. My students studied poems by Robert Frost. They wrote Bio-poems, I Am poems, and Found poems. We were on our way to incorporating poetry throughout the curriculum. The huge collection of poetry books that had lived on my personal book shelf came out of hiding. Soon I added the reading of daily poems. I invited students to bring in poems that they enjoyed and read them aloud to the class. The excitement of this forced me to set up a schedule to accommodate all of my readers. The next natural step was to add a poem of the week. My students loved chorally read and dramatize our chose poem. I added poetry centers to my classroom. We moved from literature circles to poetry circles. Art became a springboard for writing poetry. I read Georgia Heard’s book, Awakening the Heart, and then taught my students to use her 6 Room Image Poem to help them brainstorm and write poetry. My classroom became consumed with poetry.

Poetry awakened a miracle. Students began writing poems on their own in their journals. They noticed the figurative language in poetry and transferred it to their story writing. My end of the year poetry unit emerged into an end of the year Poetry Elocution. Students read and performed their poems for delighted parents. We began a school tradition by hosting a Barnes and Noble Open Mic Poetry Night. Every year students bring their original poems and read them over the microphone in our community bookstore. The power of language has taken hold of my students, and from that has emerged amazing pieces of writing. The following three poems were written as a collective effort by former classes:

WHO ARE THEY?
In the misty air
The morning star climbs over the horizon
Kissing Mother Earth as it awakens
Who are they?
The wind tumbles and falls
As it sails past the mysterious faces
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Shadows on the ground
Keeps Mother Earth warm
Who are they?
4th graders, 2003 – 3004

In the mist
of twilight,
the whispering wind
welcomes
the waves
crashing, crashing, crashing
against the shore.
Joyful and free
the sea turtles come
to lay new life in the sand.
4th graders, 2003 – 2004

Peaceful
deep, dark orange sunset
like butter melting on an earthly pancake
Reflection
of blueberry syrup on the ocean’s water
Seagulls
waiting for morning’s fill
2nd graders, 2005 – 2006

These poems are a sampling of the type of language that has occurred in the writing of my students. I believe that in order to get the language out of students, you must first get it into students. This can be accomplished through the power of poetry. Georgia Heard says that there is a poet in everyone. After immersing my students in poetry throughout the year, I have come to believe it with all of my heart.

©2006 Effective Teaching Article Reprint for Teaching eVentures Archives
Lisa Frase