Page 34 - ELG2309 Sep Issue 486

RESOURCES .

On Poetry: Benefits for students and

implementation ideas for educators

Creativity in the classroom can come in a variety of ways.
Teacher, Matthew Kloosterman, gives his best practice on

how to incorporate poetry into teaching.

onnecting poetry, as a genre, to
other texts being studied invites
intertextuality and deeper reading
Cfor students. Poetry is also highly
personable and offers an avenue for student
agency. When students select their own
poems for poetry study, it encourages even
more personal connections to texts.
In this article I would like to share several
ideas on how poetry can be implemented and
why poetry is beneficial for students:

Bulletin boards
Bulletin boards can be an excellent medium
for posting published poetry as examples.
Educators can select their favourite poetry
lines from song writers or poets that they
enjoy, post the lines on the bulletin board,
and make reference to them in class. When Genre connections and punctuation
instructing students, referencing these poetry Seeing connections between different genres Some ways to connect poetry:
lines for their stylistic choices will give of texts is one of many ways to augment
students an expert visual representation. students’ reading motivation. Educators Common themes
Educators can also try to select from that are planning to study a novel for a unit Structure
a diverse range of poets so that several – or are in the midst of a novel study and Focus on a particular allusion.
countries are represented on the bulletin want to diversify the reading experience for
board. Encouraging global reading expands students – can sprinkle in poetry. Poetry can E.g. Greek Myths,
students’ perspectives on a variety of topics. be connected in a myriad of ways, providing Garden of Eden
As an example, the poem titled The Tale of flexibility for educators.
Ki ` êu shows the struggles of redemption and Poetry is flexible in many ways and can
love through a Vietnamese cultural context. also be helpful for teaching punctuation poem is better to advance to the next stage.
This poem is considered one of the major skills to students. Educators can use a poem’s Give students conditions to evaluate the
contributors to Vietnamese literature. punctuation to explore and connect it to a poems at first, and then to open this activity
Educators can even give students an current text being studied. How does a poem’s up with more agency. Students can define
opportunity to research a song that connects punctuation impact the reading experience the parameters for the poems in other
to the poetry lines on the bulletin board; and why does the usage of punctuation matter tournaments.
students cite the lines in their selected song, for readability? Reading poems aloud can also
then cut and paste onto the bulletin board show students the power of punctuation. The bottom line
next to the poem that they are finding Poetry is a highly personable literature
similarities for. This encourages students to Poetry tournaments experience; affording students an opportunity
bring in poetry personal to their learning Providing student agency with poetry can to engage with poetry in ways that are
experience and kindles student agency. help with motivation; educators can craft a meaningful to them is why this article was
poetry tournament and encourage students to devised. From providing students with
self-select poems for the competition. agency and an intertextuality experience,
Some poets I have used on For the tournament, students find poems the benefits of poetry are fruitful.
my bulletin board: that relate to the unit’s focus. Once students
have found these poems, they can then
Nguyê ˜ n Du – The Tale of Ki ` êu annotate the poems for unit connections Matthew Kloosterman has
taught internationally for
(Vietnam) or based on a prompt set by the educator. his entire career. Currently,
Edger Allen Poe – The Raven Options abound here to allow for flexibility. he is an MYP English
I have found that giving students a theme
(United States) is also helpful; ‘sacrificial love is able to language and literature
We All Lie – Ha Jin withstand any battlefield,’ as an example. educator at an International
(South Korea) Educators can set a limit on how many Baccalaureate school in
Sonnet 18 – William Shakespeare poems should be implemented into the Shenzhen, China. He is married to an MYP
(England) tournament per student. After tournament music educator, Yeji Kloosterman, and he has
commences, students then choose which a daughter named Eden.
34 September 2023