I know I have poetry inside...I have even written it from time to time, though I rarely, if ever share it. Poetry, at its very best, uses fewer words to express deep, rich emotion. I love the language of poetry...how so few words say SO much! I feel drawn to write poetry when I am feeling deep emotion, either positive or negative. Poetry is a fabulous way to get to the bottom of our hearts.
In my Title One school, so many of my students have had struggles. Almost 90 percent of the students are in poverty and don't eat on the weekends unless we send food home. Many of the students have seen violence...either in their home or from the neighborhood gangs and drug dealers. Some of the students feel abandoned, lost, hopeless from time to time. Yet, don't let any stereotype settle in your mind upon reading this... There is resilience...strength...even joy in their lives as well. We are an arts integration school...we have been learning how to integrate music, visual arts, photography, drama into our regular curriculum...and the results have been amazing. Our fifth grade classes had an opportunity to have a Slam Poet in residence by the name of Gail Danley. The results were AMAZING. Many students who struggle to write, to express thoughts, found slam poetry to be a fabulous way to become a writer. After the children wrote their own slam poetry, we invited parents in to hear the poems. The children saw the adults in the room moved to tears, to laughter, to fear...from their words. It was a wonderful way to help students understand the power of the written word and for some, it was also a catharsis, a way to express to the adults in their lives their pain, and the depth of their love for their families. If someone doesn't feel she has a poet inside, I wonder if that is because so many of us push our deepest emotions down deep... Writing good poetry is not just about choosing the right words... it is also about being real...about touching hearts as well as minds. To touch someone else's heart, one first has to be open about what is on your heart. It is that fearlessness in the face of your own pain, your own joy that aids in the selection of the just right words. Take it from my fifth graders in Title One. They fearlessly faced abandonment, hunger, fear, homelessness and the powerful words followed. Jennifer L. Palmer Instructional Facilitator National Board Certified Teacher Magnolia Elementary (home school) 901 Trimble Road Joppa, MD 21085 410-612-1553 Fax 410-612-1576 "In every child a touch of greatness!!' Proud of our Title One School Norrisville Elementary 5302 Norrisville Road White Hall, MD 21161 410-692-7810 Fax 410-692-7812 Where Bright Futures Begin!! ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Sally Thomas [[email protected]] Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2012 4:00 PM To: mosaic listserve Subject: [MOSAIC] Awakening Heart poetry discussion Some of my thoughts to start us off with the Introduction and Chapter 1..... Georgia mentions hearing a woman asking her husband if she has poetry inside her. Do you have poetry inside you? Do you think it¹s vital that a teacher has or learns to have poetry inside to teach children to love poetry?? If you don¹t think you have it, how would you go about growing it?? I remember writing kind of silly poems in elementary. Certainly not loving poetry. High school, hmmm not really. College I was an English major and did love the Romantics. But it¹s been since then that poetry has actually entered my life deeply. Think it was partly deciding to work with poetry with my high school students and later elementary students that dipped me in so deeply and passionately. My students enthusiastic response caused a reciprocal response inside me. So I would say I didn¹t originally have poetry in my heart. I think we can grow it as we experience it with our students!! I still feel unsure at times when I write poetry. It still feels like a risk. But my students demand that I take that risk. Georgia comments on the importance of listening deeply so we can hear the poetry seeds inside our students. I think about the pressures we are facing in schools at this point in time and that those pressures make me field hurried, and sadly that pressure seems to make me actually talk too much. How do we carve out that time to listen? And to see our children with new eyes that can find the important seeds that are theirs? Georgia talks about the importance of choice and time. She suggests poetry centers. I¹m wondering which center or centers would you start with and why? I do remember some powerful poetry my students wrote when I created a center (I didn¹t have this idea for regular centers then) around Georgia O²Keefe. We had studied her art a bit in my 5/6 class. I set up an art center which included a cow skull, a nautilus shell, and a red oriental poppy. Students observed first, just informally writing details they noticed. Then they sketched and/or painted. Then they wrote poetry. It was pretty amazing. It took well over a week but was one of the best experiences of the yearŠ.the kids said. Oh and I did use the poem that Georgia shares about looking at something carefully and deeply to introduce the whole thing. So I am eager to try some of the other centers here though some speak to me more than others. Grab onto any of these comments or start your own. HERE WE GO! Sally _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
