Poetry, how to engage your students in a lesson.

Before the lesson began on Poetry and how to effectively teach it. my initial response to poetry was,

"ugh, I do not like it, it is just too complex to enjoy," This really stems from my time having to do Literature in both High school and 6th form. But while there is the presence of a flippant attitude towards the literary form, I can say I found some beautiful gems throughout my literature lessons. Truly I believe that my teaching and the reader's teaching bring our students to a place where they can appreciate poetry for its beauty regardless of how grueling it is to actually understand what is said, and even eventually have someone become a poet in the making. 

In the lesson, I learned about rhyming patterns, literary devices which  taps into the senses while reading and expression through reading.

Rhyming patterns refer to the rhyming words that are found at the end of each line in the poem. For example in the poem The Flattered Flying Fish, seen in the first two lines the ending words are both rhymes. So to assist students identification of the rhymes they label both lines with a capital letter 'A'. When continuing the poem the next like that's not being rhymed will be labelled as 'B'. 

I gathered that this makes for an interactive lesson where students can engage with poem and be excited in locating the rhymes. It is worth noting that we are teaching Primary and so, students would definitely want to take part.

Literary devices. As the lesson progressed we analysed the poem including another poem. What I learned is that literary devices are like paint being added to a house that has just been built. These devices are similie, metaphor, onomatopoeia, imagery and more. Each one either creates an image of what is happening or makes you imagine the sound that the poet wants you to hear. Have a comprehensive understanding of these devices would enhance any lesson because when you highlight the presence of the device in the poem to students. You will observe that students would contribute to the conversation about other experiences that are similar or just share their collective understanding of the piece. For example in the poem above the the reader can make the Image in their head of a shark calling the fish to go out. While this is not true.

Last, expression,how the poem is read gives the poem more meaning/ clarity. During the lesson three persons read the poem at different intervals. One the narrator, another the shark and the other the fish. Each read with a reflection of who the character was. Therefore, I the teacher, who wants students to get excited about the poem can implement this practice for students to take part in the reading and it is an engaging activity.