Hello colleagues, I came across a fantastic blog post today by teacher Jill Fletcher, "The Value of Teaching Contemporary Poetry." Fletcher discusses how using contemporary poetry in her class has fostered deep connections among the students and herself.
Here are a couple of excerpts from Fletcher's blog.
"Reading and analyzing poetry helps students have culturally responsive discussions because there’s usually no single correct answer to a poem’s meaning—since students will have many different points of view about an issue, poetry can give rise to riveting discussions."
"My students felt a deeper sense of connection to each other as they realized they all related to the poem on some level. Hunting for meaning for themselves on their own—answering their own questions instead of mine—strengthened their relationships with one another."
Included in Fletcher's blog post are links to contemporary poems organized around subject areas, i.e., history, science, English and art. Teachers who are looking to enhance their instructional units through lines of inquiry might be interested in checking out these contemporary poems.
If you use poetry in your teaching, please let us know how you approach this and how learners respond. If you have links you can share with us, please do.
Cheers, Susan Finn Miller
Moderator, Teaching & Learning CoP