Teachers’ Page

Teaching Poetry to Children

 I speak from experience when I say that you have the power to enthuse the children about poetry, as I only began writing as a result of a parents’ literacy morning that my son’s teacher put on at school and I attended.  Just one and a half hours of Mrs Gregory’s enthusiasm with a class of 8 year olds created some excellent poems and is to blame for my catching the contagious bug myself!  What fascinated me more was that, as an onlooker, it was evident which poem form was Mrs Gregory’s favourite as so many children shared her enthusiasm for kennings and did so very effectively.

You have the power to enthuse, so I aim to give you the tools!

Poetry can be such fun that children can learn valuable literacy skills without even realising it.  Therefore, my goal is always to focus on the fun of the poetry and develop the other skills alongside this, as the passion and enthusiasm that comes from a personal interest automatically flavours their writing and improves their confidence.  Poetry is too often thought of simply as a language skill, but it is actually very much a creative art form, meaning that creative children thrive at it regardless of their usual level of literacy.  This makes it a fantastic medium for mixing different literacy abilities and helping them to develop each others strengths by sharing ideas and maybe by writing collaborative poems.   When I do poetry competitions I am always amazed that, having deliberately judged the poems without prior knowledge of the children’s literacy abilities, there is always an across the board mix of abilities amongst the winners, which is a powerful confidence booster to children who previously considered themselves to “not be very good at literacy.”  There are therefore different ways in which you may choose to address the subject of poetry:

Different Poem Forms

 The National Standards states that “by the end of key stage 2, children should have a range of simple forms to draw upon for their own writing.

 The key forms for children’s writing are:

• collage or list poem
• free verse
• shape poems (free verse in a shape)
• short patterned poems, for example, haiku, cinquain, kennings
• simple rhyming form, for example, rap”

 From my own experience I am also aware that other favourite forms of poems are alphabetical poems and acrostic poems. However, I found limited resources available to teachers actually explaining each of these forms, or offering alternatives, and showing ways to inspire an overall enjoyment of writing poetry. Therefore I have described and explained each poem form on its own individual page on the teachers’ page menu, (ACROSTICS, ALPHABET POEMS, ALTERNATIVE NURSERY RHYMES, FREE VERSE, HAIKU, KENNING, LIST POEM, SHAPE POEM, TRADITIONAL NURSERY RHYMES) and then provided examples of each poem form in the POEM FORMS category. Some poems will, of course, be duplicated in other categories as well as the POEM FORMS, dependant on whether they use specific figurative writing techniques, or are written on a specific subject etc.

 I am also currently working on a purpose written book for teachers, which includes an entire chapter devoted to different poetry forms of which the above are just a few. My website provides a substantial taster, and my book will cover this and much more besides in a very unique and all inclusive way, although I must apologise for the time that it is taking to put the book together: my first collection of poems (The Good, The Mad and The Ugly) became prioritised at the request of the children! Meanwhile, however, the past 18 months has been a whirlwind of poetry workshops and writing and inspiring young poets, the plus side of which has left me with so much more material for the book, but no time to write it up until now, but the website has lots of information for now. Feel free to contact me by email if you would like to be advised when it is available.

Figurative Writing

Develop figurative writing through fun with poetry

I have explained several different figurative writing techniques on their own individual page within the teachers’ page menu(ALLITERATION, HYPERBOLE, ONOMATOPOEIA, PERSONIFICATION, SIMILES AND METAPHORS, AND WORD PLAY), and have suggested ideas of fun, imaginative ways that you could practice these skills in the classroom (or at home, if you are teaching yourself!)  When you have read this introduction to each element of figurative writing, look at the list to the right to find examples of poems using each individual writing technique.  Many poems will, of course, involve several techniques to varying degrees so will be included in several categories, but the introduction to each poem should help you to know  which techniques feature heaviest.

 
Creative Writing

Children, by nature are creative and imaginative, but we need to stimulate this imagination and encourage it to develop. 

The CREATIVE WRITING page offers ideas and ways of stimulating the childrens’ imagination and suggestions of poems which will lead to ‘sequels’ for the children to write themselves.  When children are encouraged to use their imaginations and creativity, their writing flows more freely making it easier for them to concentrate on writing and editing skills.  Having read the suggestions on the creative writing page,  you may find it useful to look at the funny and silly poems which are, after all, as a result of allowing the creative writing to flow!

One final tip:

Encourage the children to use the website http://www.rhymezone.com/ as they write.

It provides definitions, rhymes, synonyms etc for any individual word, and even separates the words into different syllable content so it is invaluable as a dictionary, thesaurus and rhyming dictionary at the touch of a button.  I have learnt and used endless new vocabulary just as a result of looking for a rhyming word and then looking up the definition, and the speed and novelty of the interactive element makes it very user friendly.

One last thing….

If any children want to progress further to develop specific rhyme and rhythm techniques in their poems, and to understand about rhyme patterns etc this is all explained VERY SIMPLY and effectively via the BEGINNERS’ PAGE.  I encourage children to see  themselves as ‘teachers of self’ when they want to know more as, being entirely self-taught, I recognise the benefit of going at your own pace as and when your interests lead.  Therefore, everything on this teachers page applies to everyone who chooses to ‘teach themselves’ : HAVE FUN!