Poetry is a fertile platform for literacy instruction. Poetry has the potential to teach deep comprehension. Poetry has the potential to teach synthesis. Poetry has the potential to teach inferencing and vocabulary. Poetry has the potential to teach spelling and grammar. Poetry has the potential to teach about syllabication and morphemes. Poetry has the potential to teach structure and writing in general. Poetry can teach these things simultaneously.
Most poetry has a sense of abstract. Poems usually have an unseen message. The reader has to think, make connections, and make conclusions. Most poetry includes words that relate to human senses that helps the reader to better process and understand written words. Abstract writing often feels jagged – unfinished. This often leaves the reader wanting to fill in the unwritten words. This usually has students coming up with different conclusion – dependent on their background knowledge.
Poetry usually builds student lexicon. Each student has a built-in dictionary that grows richer each day to reference spelling and meaning of words. This is called a lexicon. Each poem creates the opportunity for student lexicon growth that usually leads to stronger comprehension. Student lexicon is part of student background knowledge that is necessary for deep comprehension.
Deep comprehension of poetry also needs good inferencing skills. Inferential comprehension requires students to make connections of stored knowledge to make logical conclusions. “Time spent on inferential comprehension leads to greater reading gains than time spent on literal comprehension” (Kelly & Moses, 2018, p. 21).
Some styles of poetry are written in a syllabic form that gives opportunity to study syllables. Knowledge of how words are broken down into syllables, gives students a tool to increase reading fluency and spelling of unfamiliar words. Some syllables are also morphemes that usually change the meaning of words when added and subtracted. Knowledge of both syllable types and morphemes increases comprehension of written language.
Most poems have a unique recognizable pattern. The following are some examples of poetry that are usually taught at the primary and elementary school level.
A cinquain contains five lines –
line 1: subject/noun – one word
line 2: two words that describe the subject – adjectives
line 3: three words that state the action of the subject – verbs
line 4: four-word phrase that describes feelings or a statement about the subject
line 5: synonym of the subject
The numbers of lines in the poem and subject of each line remain the same.
A haiku poem has only three lines – line 1: five syllables, line 2: seven syllables, line 3: five syllables. Haiku poems are usually about nature and are often deep in meaning. The following poem is an example of a Haiku poem. If your unfamiliar with a pond or frogs this poem might be hard to understand.
The Old Pond
by Matsuo Bashō
An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pond—
Splash! Silence again
You might ask yourself or students the following questions.
- Can you hear the splash?
- Can you feel the stillness?
- Can you smell or see the “old”?
- Can you feel the momentum?
- Can you see the frog?
Limericks poems are usually funny and include five written lines. A limerick poem is known by the number of dictated syllables and rhymes that are included within each written line. Lines one, two, and five have eight or nine syllables and end with a word that rhymes with lines one, two, and five. Lines three and four feature five or six syllables and rhyme.
Rhyme poems are usually longer, have complete sentences that end with a patterned rhyme, like AABB (bat, cat, blue, flew), ABAB (bat, blue, cat, flew), ABCABC (bat, blue, more, cat, flew, tore), etc. The combinations are many. I recommend beginning simple and including a few times for practice.
An acrostic poem deepens the understanding of the subject that is written vertically on paper. Each letter becomes the beginning letter of a word or words that helps to describe the vertical word, like the letter B might become beautiful or beautiful nature. Student name is often used to teach an acrostic poem. Student might also use other words that they are familiar with, like cupcake or frog. This style of poetry describes the details of a word.
Shape poems fill in the shape or outline the subject of the poem. Shape poems are a novelty – creative bringing in visual direction and subject that usually sets the tone of the poem. These poems are usually fun and engaging to read and write.
Writing poetry helps students to better understand the format/structure of a poem. Writing a poem also assists them in how to comprehend the type of poem that they are writing. Students usually gain better understanding of what the other writers are trying to convey.
I recommend using a graph or a scaffold the first few times you have students write a particular style of poetry. This eases the anxiety and frees up the cognitive load to give room for more creative thinking.
Any form of written language gives the opportunity to discuss/teach spelling; phoneme-grapheme correspondence, syllables, morphemes, and letter formation.
References
Kelly, L. & Moses, L. (2018). Children’s literature that sparks inferential discussions. The Reading Teacher, 72(1), 21-29. Doi.10.1002/trtr.1675.
