Date of Award
2016
Type
Thesis
Major
Middle Grades Education
Department
Teacher Education
Abstract
This paper seeks to answer the questions “Why teach poetry?” and “How does one teach poetry? through research and personal experience in the classroom. Although many teachers struggle with teaching poetry, it is valuable in the classroom for many reasons: it is in the Georgia State Standards, it gives students a deeper understanding of the English language, and it provides students with an emotional connection to the world around them. This paper also explores the findings from my personal experiences in the classroom. My first experience included inviting a poet into my eighth grade practicum classroom and observing her interactions with the students; my second experience came from visiting and observing three classrooms (an elementary, middle, and high school classroom) in which the teachers were teaching poetry. Based off these experiences and peer-reviewed articles, 1 discovered that both analyzing and experiencing or connecting with a poem are valuable; however, helping students make an emotional connection to poetry first, before critically analyzing it, is key. Finally, teachers can help students overcome their fear of poetry by letting them read and write poetry, allowing them to become comfortable with the genre and as well as learn in a hands-on approach. I conclude the paper with a list of resources teachers can use as they explore the art of teaching poetry.
Recommended Citation
Funk, Rachel Knapp, "Poetry in the Classroom: The Why and How of Teaching and Inspiring Students Through Poetry" (2016). Theses and Dissertations. 283.
https://csuepress.columbusstate.edu/theses_dissertations/283
