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Poetry Alive and Well
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From: Linnea Hendrickson <lhendr>
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 19:56:18 -0600
I'm sorry I haven't written in response to this fascinating thread -- but I've been eagerly reading all. I have to say that the poetry section of my children's literature class has long been one of the most successful parts of the course. If anyone wants to take a look at the main assignment, there is a link to the handout from the website in my signature.
The handout doesn't reflect, though, that we do lots of reading and reciting out-loud, choral reading, and talking about our previous experiences with poetry -- good and bad -- and in and out of school. We start with babies' first enjoyment of making sounds, then move to nursery rhymes -- even some in foreign languages -- partly to demonstrate that knowing what a poem "means" is not really what it is all about.
In my other job (this is the fourth year I have been in my elementary school library) I've been buying as many poetry books as my budget will allow (which isn't much $$, but I am always picking up wonderful bargains from places like Bookcloseouts.com, apparently because, sadly, it must be true that there isn't much of a market for poetry. Plus, I donate review copies and books I get from award committee duties (if I can bear to part with them). So we now have a pretty nice collection -- in contrast to the tattered and weary-looking stuff that was on the shelves when I arrived.
There are always kids in the library looking at the poetry books and checking them out -- and not just Prelutsky and Silverstein, although those go out, too. I often share poetry books, and sometimes we memorize a poem together. As with my college students, I may start by asking if anyone knows a poem or a nursery rhyme by heart. Although I have heard other grown-ups complain that children don't know nursery rhymes any more, this doesn't seem to be the case in my school.
Our school district (the huge Albuquerque Public Schools) sponsors a program called Words and Images each year, in which a theme is selected
-- this year it was Voices of the Earth -- and students are encouraged to write poems and create accompanying art work. The librarian at each school is charged with selecting no more than 12 works to represent the school -- in my case a difficult job, since there were many wonderful submissions. These are exhibited in a central location for the month of April. Each child whose work is selected receives a printed invitation to attend the opening of the exhibition. The children were really thrilled to receive these invitations.
This Wednesday after school was the opening of the exhibition, and all 12 children from my school, and most of their parents, and several teachers were there to see the exhibit and hear the children read their poems. It was truly wonderful to hear children as young as first grade and as old as middle school patiently wait, and then proudly read their poems to a packed room. They were of many ethnicities and there seemed to be an equal number of boys and girls.
I once took a course in contemporary poetry from poet Richard Shelton, who, when asked how he would present poetry to children, said that he would make available a huge quantity of books, put them in a big vat, and stir now and then. I suspect that if we put poems where kids are, and stir both the kids and the poetry now and then, they will find each other.
Apologies for going on so long -- I see now why I had to wait for a Friday night to find time to write!
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 19:56:18 -0600
I'm sorry I haven't written in response to this fascinating thread -- but I've been eagerly reading all. I have to say that the poetry section of my children's literature class has long been one of the most successful parts of the course. If anyone wants to take a look at the main assignment, there is a link to the handout from the website in my signature.
The handout doesn't reflect, though, that we do lots of reading and reciting out-loud, choral reading, and talking about our previous experiences with poetry -- good and bad -- and in and out of school. We start with babies' first enjoyment of making sounds, then move to nursery rhymes -- even some in foreign languages -- partly to demonstrate that knowing what a poem "means" is not really what it is all about.
In my other job (this is the fourth year I have been in my elementary school library) I've been buying as many poetry books as my budget will allow (which isn't much $$, but I am always picking up wonderful bargains from places like Bookcloseouts.com, apparently because, sadly, it must be true that there isn't much of a market for poetry. Plus, I donate review copies and books I get from award committee duties (if I can bear to part with them). So we now have a pretty nice collection -- in contrast to the tattered and weary-looking stuff that was on the shelves when I arrived.
There are always kids in the library looking at the poetry books and checking them out -- and not just Prelutsky and Silverstein, although those go out, too. I often share poetry books, and sometimes we memorize a poem together. As with my college students, I may start by asking if anyone knows a poem or a nursery rhyme by heart. Although I have heard other grown-ups complain that children don't know nursery rhymes any more, this doesn't seem to be the case in my school.
Our school district (the huge Albuquerque Public Schools) sponsors a program called Words and Images each year, in which a theme is selected
-- this year it was Voices of the Earth -- and students are encouraged to write poems and create accompanying art work. The librarian at each school is charged with selecting no more than 12 works to represent the school -- in my case a difficult job, since there were many wonderful submissions. These are exhibited in a central location for the month of April. Each child whose work is selected receives a printed invitation to attend the opening of the exhibition. The children were really thrilled to receive these invitations.
This Wednesday after school was the opening of the exhibition, and all 12 children from my school, and most of their parents, and several teachers were there to see the exhibit and hear the children read their poems. It was truly wonderful to hear children as young as first grade and as old as middle school patiently wait, and then proudly read their poems to a packed room. They were of many ethnicities and there seemed to be an equal number of boys and girls.
I once took a course in contemporary poetry from poet Richard Shelton, who, when asked how he would present poetry to children, said that he would make available a huge quantity of books, put them in a big vat, and stir now and then. I suspect that if we put poems where kids are, and stir both the kids and the poetry now and then, they will find each other.
Apologies for going on so long -- I see now why I had to wait for a Friday night to find time to write!
-- Linnea Linnea Hendrickson Albuquerque, NM Lhendr at unm.edu http://www.unm.edu/~lhendrReceived on Fri 11 Apr 2003 08:56:18 PM CDT
