Teaching Poetry

mariabecht
Mar 13, 2017
2 min read

This week in 3rd grade my students and I explored poetry. Poetry is a new unit for my students this year so to introduce the unit, my CT and I used a anchor chart and went over the objective with the students. This started off the week on a positive note and showed the students what they were learning. In Assessment and Student Success in a Differentiated Classroom, the authors states that an objective has student centered language. The poetry objective was student-centered. In addition, the objective was clear and specific as it states what the students will be able to do at the end of the lesson. This is a characteristic of a good instructional objective as it states in Chapter 6.

Next, we started to break down a poem in shared reading. I did margin notes as a group with students and then gave them hard copy of their own to transfer the notes onto. I encouraged the students to follow along, but to also add their own thoughts to the text. I tell my students to write down connections that they make while reading. Writing allows readers to really work out their thinking in relation to the text. According to Strategies That Work, this can help the students clarify confusion, record and answer questions, and notice the craft of writing. The purpose of this is to engage students' and help their understanding. I see the benefit of active literacy in the classroom almost daily. When my student interact with a text, I see gears turning in their head and the meaning of the text start to click with them. This interaction are done by talking about the text, doing margin in notes, filling graphic organizer and think sheets, among others.

Strategies That Work states that think sheets are open-ended forms that invite students to think deeply and widely about their own reaction and thinking. With a think sheet, information is merge and students can break down a text for understanding. I used a think sheet in a lesson to help the students break down a poem. Doing this chucked the poem up for students so it was easier for them to making meaning from.

To let my student explore poetry on their own, my CT let the students go of myon.com to read poetry. This made poetry to students, as they got to read poetry that interest them on topics they care about! Overall, I think my student go a firm grasp on poetry this week. They were able to break down a poem and they got a chance to see poem that about things that interest them. I am excited to keep exploring poetry with my students.