Lisa, where do you teach?
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-----Original message-----
From: "Ward, Lisa" <[email protected]>
To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Mon, Jan 30, 2012 18:20:42 GMT+00:00
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Awakening Heart poetry discussion
Wow Jennifer! I want to teach in your school...would love to hear their
work.
I remember growing up without poetry, got out of it every chance I had. I
never felt I understood exactly what the author meant, and never took the
risk to ask. It wasn't until these last few years that I feel poetry. I was
in a 2nd grade classroom recently and was blown away at the depth of
students understanding toward "friendship" as they were expressing it with
"friendship" poetry, it really does "break through the skin of suffering in
which children are often imprisoned: silent, confused, scared" (pg. 3)
Our district got involved with the PEBC out of Denver a few years ago, so
Poetry is the 3rd genre for every Thinking Strategy study, kids are so smart
and they seem to take risks with poetry deepening their understanding. This
is the "lens" I am looking through as we go through this book study: student
discourse and understanding. Thanks Jennifer, you have given me a lot to
think about with students and society and a way to express...
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of
Palmer, Jennifer
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2012 10:39 AM
To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Awakening Heart poetry discussion
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!!
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