Poetica Magazine

Selecting an appropriate topic is the first step in conducting a poetry workshop for youngsters. This was discussed in Part I. Of equal importance is the warm-up. To stand in front of a class and say, “Write about the color red,” won’t do the trick. Better to begin with a round of favorite colors from as many students as you can, talk about why a certain color appeals, how it makes you feel and what a color might say if it could speak. Generally this introduction serves as a warm-up and enough guidance to get the children going without inhibition.

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Another way to trigger the muse with young poets is reading the poems of others. A model poem on the theme of the day by one of the great poets of our time can set the bar. It’s not necessary to use poems for children. Some of the poems of Emily Dickenson, William Carlos Williams and Robert Frost and others are easily understood particularly when we discuss and explain the hard parts. For example, Margaret Atwood’ in her poem, “Dreams of Animals,” writes that animals dream “each according to its kind.” Pause a minute and talk about our kind, a pig’s kind, a dog’s kind and soon Atwood’s meaning comes through.

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But the model poem is not enough. Supplementing it with a few peer poems on the day’s theme gives the students a standard they know they can attain. Here is a typical poem on dreams of animals, written in terms of “wishes.” This fourth grader combined his general knowledge with his imagination to create a knock-out poem.

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A WHALE’S WISH

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I wish I was skinny and I lost weight

I wish there were no pirates

because I am an endangered species.

I wish that Moby Dick never existed

because they killed my aunt and sisters

I wish that one day my wish will be granted

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Although it is painful for some at first, every student should read his or her poem out loud. Sound is such a critical part of absorbing poetry that all of us who write poems need to hear what we have written. The youngest of the young poets, first through third grade, love to read their poems out loud. They beg to be the first to read and beam with pride afterward.

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Poetry lessons can be adapted to the needs of the teacher or the student. For example, classes can focus on themes that reinforce the information learned in other classes. One fifth grade was studying colonial life in early America. We adapted the “I Remember” theme to reflect what a child in colonial time might remember. Memories for this exercise included building a log cabin, stitching a sampler and shooting a bear with an arrow. Again, if teachers want the class to learn specific poetic forms it is easily done by simply attaching the term, simile, alliteration or onomatopoeia whenever such terms apply.

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Poetry classes can be effective with all levels of ability, from gifted to learning disabled students. Each child responds from his/her own level of experience and knowledge. Learning disabled children have written beautiful poems. Sometimes a teacher has to do the physical handwriting and even recite the poem but the young poet can still stand in front of the class with pride and pleasure. My observation is that this is the child who will get the loudest applause from the class.

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One class at Maryland Hall collaborated to express the importance of poetry from their collective point of view:

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ODE TO A POEM

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Oh poem, Oh poem

You have rhythm, rhythm, rhythm, rhyme

Happy, sad, jealous, mad

Pretty poem by proud poets

This is the essence of life.

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Thank you for reading JWorld Cafe, the Poetica Magazine Blog

Natalie Lobe, Guest Blogger

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Natalie Lobe’s poetry collection, Connected Voices, was published in 2006; Island Time in 2008. Her most recent publications are in Blue Unicorn, Iconoclast and Comstock Review. Ms. Lobe is a Poet in the Schools for Maryland and Anne Arundel County and teaches at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis, Maryland. She is also a reviewer for the on-line Montserrat Review. Ms. Lobe lives in Annapolis with her husband, Bernard.

Linda Pressman, Blog Editor