On teaching poetry

Reflective Journal on

Teaching Poetry

Episode 41 is on Teaching of Poetry and of all the points imparted two things captured my interest. First is the reading of the poems by the host and the teacher. They were fascinating and I was made to think back of how I do it whenever I have poem in my lesson.  Unfortunately, I don’t read poems the way they do so I usually use the recorded reading of the poem found in the internet, that I present before the class. This strategy draws students’ interest especially when the material found is really good. However, not every poem has a recorded reading version and when this happens I end up reading the poem live in front of my students, an act which I think they do not take positively as I observe them looking at me blankly after my reading. Thus, I sometimes think they take our lessons in poetry out of compulsion rather than by motivation.

Another point is the way the teacher in the demonstration unravelled the sense of the poem by tackling the important words in it. The art of questioning was skilfully applied as she started from denotation to connotation. She successfully made the students understand the message that the poet, EmilyDickinson delivers through the words used in the poem. Her prompt questions – What do you think is common to these words? What do these words do that a book also does? The effect to the meaning if the words frigate, coursers and chariots be substituted with steamboat, horses and automobile; What do you think the word frigate, coursers and chariots make you imagine? were properly ordered that through them making out the sense of the poem became easy for the students. The answers of the students sounded scripted though as their manner of giving those seemed unnatural. Nevertheless, the teacher’s strategy, Socratic Method and her teaching style spelled the difference. 

Through the video I was made to understand that letting students make out sense of a poem requires good reading and a skill in ordering questions on the part of the teacher. Good reading of a poem by a teacher motivates students to learn and it sets their focus to what is presented as based on observation students tend to focus on the activity when they are amazed or fascinated by the teacher. Skill in ordering questions matters a lot for it makes the learners see the connections of ideas, thus leading them to understanding the entirety of the subject discussed.

 Hence, I consider adopting the strategy and all others presented in the video.

Reference:

Teaching of Poetry. (1998). Retrieved March 8, 2015 from www.youtube.com.