Holland Cummisford

CAS-214
Honors Paper

Poetry in the Classroom

Poetry has been one of the most important forms of literature for centuries. From the

beginnings of language, people have been writing things down, and poetry has long been a form

of expressing feeling through the use of beautiful language and minimal words. It began as an

oral art form, meant to be read aloud to groups of people, and it slowly transitioned into having a

variety of forms, some more focused on the written aspects of poetry. However, the main reasons

poetry has persisted as an art form still apply: it has a unique power to distill human emotion

and thought into beautiful language (Hillman 2003). Poetry exists as a more personal form of

language, allowing people to connect to each other, even if they are not physically together.

Furthermore, the underlying pulse or rhythm present in most poetry makes it enjoyable to listen

to, and can also emphasize meanings that may otherwise go unnoticed. Finally, poetry is a staple

in literature because it combines nearly all of our language patterns into one beautiful art form.

By combining rhythm, sound patterns, figurative language, and sensory imagery, poetry creates a

valuable reading and listening experience for all ages.

Clearly poetry is a cherished art form in many cultures. However, poetry has sadly been

going out of style in possibly the most important culture of all: the culture of American schools.

Poetry is used very early on, but as children grow older, it is used less and less frequently, and

children begin to dread reading and interpreting poems. This pattern needs to stop, especially in

the middle elementary grades, for poetry can be key in developing many important fluency skills
for children, and it is one of the most effective and most enjoyable ways to do so. There are a

variety of benefits to using poetry in the classroom, and these together can come together to

create better readers and writers as well as children more interested in literature as an art form.

One of the first benefits to using poetry as a stepping stone for fluency is its

unintimidating nature for children. Other types of reading can be daunting for young children,

especially those who are not confident in reading yet. According to Hadaway et. al. (2001), the

brevity and conciseness of poetry [can] provide helpful scaffolding to longer texts. By

introducing poetry to a classroom by using short poems such as Batty by Shel Silverstein

(1981), one can get rid of possible negative stereotypes about poetry and show students that

poetry is a fun activity that can be enjoyed by people with any reading level.

The baby bat

Screamed out in fright,
Turn out the dark,
Im afraid of the light.

Poems such as this are funny, short, and easy to read, and therefore can act as a perfect

introduction to poetry for a classroom of middle elementary school students, while still

illustrating the language patterns and rhythms that are characteristic of poetry as a genre. Clearly,

simple poems can easily be introduced into a classroom so that children can begin to acquire the

literacy benefits of poems at a comfortable pace.

After children are comfortable with poetry, they can benefit from it greatly, especially in

areas of oral fluency such as reading speed, accuracy, and expressiveness. By emphasizing the

oral aspects of poetry, teachers can help their students incorporate the heard and spoken word,

which is a key aspect of reading in elementary school aged children (Hadway et. al. 2001). When
children hear others read aloud and then follow by doing it themselves, they are able to hear and

imitate correct word pronunciations. They also practice the essential skills of phonemic

awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, when they read and perform

poetry with their peers (Faver 2008). Finally, when children become accustomed to reading

poetry aloud in class, their overall confidence levels increase with speaking and reading aloud.

Longer rhyming poems, such as The Moon by Robert Louis Stevenson (1913), are especially

suited for teaching oral fluency.

The moon has a face like the clock in the hall;

She shines on thieves on the garden wall,
On streets and fields and harbour quays,
And birdies asleep in the forks of the trees.

The squalling cat and the squeaking mouse,

The howling dog by the door of the house,
The bat that lies in bed at noon,
All love to be out by the light of the moon.

But all of the things that belong to the day

Cuddle to sleep to be out of her way;
And flowers and children close their eyes
Till up in the morning the sun shall arise.

When children read poems like this one, they are able to hear the language patterns while they

and others speak the words aloud. For example, the lines The squalling cat and the squeaking

mouse/the howling dog by the door of the house illustrate a very specific rhythm that can help

children learn the sounds of the English language. Also, the rhyming words mouse and

house in this case help children learn correct pronunciations. If a child already knows how to

pronounce one of the words, they may be able to determine how to pronounce the second in the

rhyming pair, since they are often aware of patterns like this that are present in poetry. Overall,
reading poetry aloud and listening to others do the same provides children with important

practice in oral fluency.

Reading poetry also helps students develop their vocabulary proficiency in a variety of

ways. First, children are exposed to a wider range of words in poetry compared to other types of

literature, simply due to the nature of poetry and its tendency to have rich and playful language

(Faver 2008). In order to write with the necessary rhyme or rhythm so often present in poems,

many poets need to employ unique and creative words that children may rarely be introduced to

in other contexts. Next, it is easier for children to decipher meaning of new vocabulary in context

of poems, for every word in every poem carries weight. Since poems are so short to begin with,

every single word in each poem has a meaning that is necessary to understand the poem as a

whole. Therefore, students, with the help of a teacher or peers, are often able to figure out what

new words mean based the rest of the poem. Finally, discussing poetry in the classroom gives

students a chance to use the new language they are learning immediately after learning it, which

is a key part of remembering the vocabulary for the future (Hadaway et. al. 2001). The poem

Pancake? by Shel Silverstein (1974) can be used to demonstrate how vocabulary can be

developed from reading poems.

Who wants a pancake,

Sweet and piping hot?
Good little Grace looks up and says,
Ill take the one on the top.
Who else wants a pancake,
Fresh off the griddle?
Terrible Theresa smiles and says,
Ill take the one in the middle.
There are a few words in this poem that may be unfamiliar to children, especially elementary

school students. Words such as piping and griddle are rather specific vocabulary words used

almost exclusively with cooking, but by using this poem, children may be able to learn their

meanings. By looking at the words around these two unfamiliar words, and also examining the

meaning of the whole poem, kids can see that they should be related to cooking pancakes. For

the word piping, they can see that the word hot comes directly after it, so it is probably just

intensifying that word. Griddle on the other hand, is something that a pancake comes off of, so

it is probably the object that a pancake is cooked on. In a class discussion of the poem, children

are then able to use the words piping and griddle in their own language, therefore

incorporating them into their own vocabularies. Clearly, poetry can be an important tool in

enhancing childrens vocabulary proficiency.

The final benefit for students that read poetry is that poetry can be used as a gateway into

other longer and more complex forms of literature. As stated by Hadaway et. al. (2001), poetry

provides an introduction of concepts and can serve as a brief but powerful anticipatory set for

other types of literature. Helping students decipher meanings of poems teaches them important

skills concerning how to read between the lines in other types of literature as well, such as

more complicated novels. The rhythm, repetition and rhyme accents in poems accent meaningful

words, making it easier to find meaning. Then, later on in their academic careers, students will be

able to recognize even more subtle patterns such as these in all types of literature, and be able to

use them to find meaning. Next, the new vocabulary that children develop when reading poems

is useful for other forms as literature as well. In a more general sense, however, poems can

simply spark students interest in literature. Since they are such a fun and unintimidating way to

begin looking at descriptive writing, many students may find joy in reading poems, and therefore
want to continue that experience through other types of literature as well. Overall, poetry

provides skills that students can use in the future on more complex literature, and can also simply

prompt a love for the written word.

Clearly there are a plethora of new skills that students gain from using poetry in the

classroom, and there are also a variety of ways that teachers can use poetry with their students.

One method, obviously, is reading aloud, but even this can be done in multiple ways. The first

step for having children read poems aloud, however, is teacher modeling. The teacher should

first read the poem with expression and enthusiasm in order to demonstrate proper

pronunciations and rhythm for the poem (Hadaway et. al. 2001). Teachers should also use their

voices in very specific ways, such as changing from louder to softer, or starting with a low pitch

and getting higher (Lynch-Brown and Tomlinson 2005). This makes the poems more interesting

to listen to, and also more easily understood by students. After children have heard their teacher

read the poem, then they can move into reading poems as a class, in small groups, or

individually. However, no matter which method is chosen, it is key that children practice

repeated reading and performance of poetry, for that is one of the most effective ways to

develop the types of fluency mentioned previously (Faver 2008). Giving children the chance to

read poems aloud multiple times provides them with a variety of language benefits.

Besides simply reading poems, there are other simple strategies that can also be used to

make poetry more enjoyable and understandable. Some of the simplest and most effective

additional assignments to include with poetry are writing assignments. These types of

assignments provide students with opportunities to process what they have read in the poems,

and also to utilize the new vocabulary and literacy that they have learned in their own work,

which further solidifies these skills. Another easy activity to incorporate into poetry lessons is
movement. Allowing children to move while reading poems provides them with many benefits

including putting them at ease, encouraging listening comprehension, and simply breaking the

stereotypical classroom routine.

In conclusion, it is clear that poetry should be a welcome and encouraged addition to

classrooms with students of all ages, especially in elementary school when students develop

many of the most important literacy skills. Children gain skills such as oral fluency, vocabulary

proficiency, and others that then become important for other complex forms of literature. There

are also a variety of ways that poetry can be used in the classroom so that any teacher can find a

way that will fit into their classroom routine. By bringing poetry back into the classroom,

hopefully teachers can work together to break the often negative stigmas associated with poems

and cultivate a new love for poetry in their students once again, while also providing their

students with numerous new learning opportunities that are found in very few forms other than

poetry.
 Bibliography

Faver, S. (2008). Repeated reading of poetry can enhance reading fluency. The Reading Teacher,
62(4), pp. 350-352.

Hadaway, N. L., Vardell S. M., Terrell, A. Y. (2001). Scaffolding oral language development
through poetry for students learning English. The Reading Teacher, 54(8), pp. 796-806.

Hillman, J. (2003). The pleasure and power of poetry. Discovering childrens literature. Upper
Saddle River: Pearson Education.

Lynch-Brown, C., Tomlinson, C. M. (2005). Poetry and plays. Essentials of childrens literature.
Boston: Pearson Education.

Silverstein, S. (1981). Batty. In A light in the attic. New York: Harper & Row.

Silverstein, S. (1974). Pancake? In Where the sidewalk ends: The poems and drawings of Shel
Silverstein. New York: Harper & Row.

Stevenson, R. L. (1913). The Moon. In A childrens garden of verses. Simon and Schuster
Childrens.
 Reflection

The experience of practicing and performing poetry to third graders was very unique and

exciting for me! I began the process by looking for poems, which was much more difficult than I

expected it to be. I wanted the poems to be cohesive and have a theme that tied them all together,

but it was tricky to found multiple poems that I enjoyed, that I though kids would enjoy, and all

tied together with the same theme. Eventually, I ended up just writing down poems that I liked

and choosing my favorite one, which happened to be about trees! This is how I decided on my

theme. After this, I just searched for poems about trees, and I easily found two more poems that

fit with this theme, were age appropriate, and fun. The next step in this was to decide what I

wanted to do with the poems during the actual presentation, and I wanted to give each poem a

unique way of presenting it. The first poem had a lot of visual imagery, so I chose to do a Power-

Point slideshow with corresponding images. The next one had a line that repeated many times, so

I decided to have the students say that line with me in order to get them involved in the

presentation as more than just listeners. The last poem was very much in the format of a story, so

I chose to tell it just like that without any extra props or additions. The final step in my

preparation was to simply practice my poetry presentation. In the weeks leading up to the

presentation, I tried to run through my poetry set at least once per day to simply get the words in

my memory. I knew that I was never going to memorize it, but I wanted to be at the point where

I could make plenty of eye contact with the children and know the poems very well without

looking at my paper for every line, which I think I got pretty close to by the day of the

presentation.
 I also think that the actual poetry recitation when pretty well! The children seemed to be

very well engaged in the poetry, and I think the variety of things I did with the poems helped

with that. By introducing the poems by asking them questions, I think that I also helped to be

personally interested in the poems that I was reading. They were all very excited to answer my

questions, which made me excited, too! Overall, the students participated wonderfully when I

asked them too, and were quiet and attentive when I was reading poems or talking to them,

which was great, and honestly not quite what I expected! Their participation could not have been

much better, in my opinion, and they seemed to enjoy the poems I shared with them as well.

I came into the event thinking I knew what it would be like, since I did speech

competitions in high school for many years. However, I had never presented to children before,

and I loved it! They participated much better than high schoolers ever did, and it made me enjoy

the experience so much more! I learned that if you allow children to relate to events and

participate in them, it will make the experience much more fun for everybody involved. Also,

kids do not dislike poetry as a lot of people say they do, and they actually can enjoy it in the right

settings.

Finally, I was also able to see some of the effects of storytelling that we have been talking

about in class through my last poem, since it was so much like a story. Many of the students said

that they had heard the story before, but they were all still very excited to hear it again and

listened intently while I shared it with them!

This definitely made me want to use strategies like this in my own classroom in the

future, since the children seemed to enjoy it so much. I hope that I can share poems with my

students on a regular basis and that they will learn to enjoy poetry as much as I do, and as much

as these students appeared to enjoy it! I want them to be able to get all of the important benefits
of regular poetry reading that I learned about while writing this paper, too. Hopefully I will be

able to fit this into my classroom routine on at least a weekly basis, and Im very glad that I had

this experience doing this project so that I could learn about the many different ways I can use

poems in my classroom. I am so excited to share my love of poetry with my future students!