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2018 Poem #27 -- Over Our Heads On Purpose

by Brett Vogelsinger

Teens have an complicated relationship with poetry. On one hand, we have some students pouring their hearts out in private, personal journals or publicly alongside the Instapoets without even an invitation from a teacher; on the other hand, we have students who perceive the genre as pretentious and irrelevant, who roll their eyes the first time a teacher mentions the word "poem." How do we bridge that gap and invite students from both ends of this spectrum to learn something new with us?

One trick is finding a poem with just the right level of challenge.

As teachers we are sometimes told to "pitch it where they can hit it," encouraged to give students reading and materials that allow them to experience success. We are also told to "scaffold" so that students can grasp challenging texts and tasks as we gradually reduce our level of intervention and support.

Students can also benefit by pitching a poem where they cannot hit it yet, as long as the poem is a brief one. We can then challenge them to join us in building a scaffold.

One such poem is "Landscape" by Robin Coste Lewis. The poem is approachable in that it is short and none of the words are, in isolation, unfamiliar or intimidating. The poem itself, however, is not completely understandable on the first read. Invite students to ask questions of the poem and determine how they might unlock more meaning.

For example, one of the first questions that arises with this poem for me and my students: Who or what is "Mamere?' Why the references to borders and fires? Is this a poem about an individual or history or a conflict? How might the copyright date of 2018 be significant? How might we find answers to these questions?

We talk about how we might research the meaning of "Mamere" and how the poet's background and biography might influence our reading of the poem. How might we connect this to something else we have read? How can we reach the poet to ask a question? Where is the poet being intentionally ambiguous? Where does she want us to be a little confused?

I will not share my own interpretation or research on the poem here. I invite you instead to explore it with your students and model with your students what it looks like to be a little bemused and perplexed in your reading and the joy of finding your way out of a more challenging poem. Both the natural poets and the skeptics may find this approach engaging in your classroom, especially when your own

2018 Poem #1- What's It All About?

by Brett Vogelsinger

Some poems are so simple and beautiful that overthinking them, as English teachers are prone to do, can risk losing the potent, raw effect of the words.

I first discovered Nikki Giovanni's poem "Quilts" in her illustrated children's book I Am Loved. I was next to my sons, reading them the book at bedtime, when the poem suddenly seized me, choked me up, sent chills down my spine.

To allow students to have this experience with poetry, it is sometimes necessary to minimize our intervention and discussion of the poems. We must also unabashedly share our own unexpected emotional responses to a poem. For me, it was the closing lines that move me the most:

When I am frayed and strained and drizzled at the end
Please someone cut a square and put me in a quilt
That I might keep some child warm

And some old person with no one else to talk to
Will hear my whispers

And cuddle
near.

So when I share this poem with students, I tell them it is new to me, and the first time I read it, it almost made me cry in front of my sons. I do not try to explain why this happened, just share that it happened, and that I hope they find a poem like this in their lives at some point, maybe even in the course of our class.

After hearing the poem twice, read aloud the first time by me and the second time by one of my students, I asked the class only one question: "What's this poem about?"

This simple but excellent question about poetry invites divergent thinking early in the class period. In this case, students brought up that the poem is about aging, usefulness, love, timelessness, change, and comfort. The question avoids killing the poem with over-analysis, and the student observations are varied.

Try this with "Quilts," or with a poem of your own choosing that speaks to your heart.

And welcome to our second year of Go Poems. I hope you find some intriguing ideas for reading daily poetry in your classroom.

Further Reading:

Go Poem #24 -- Sketch This Poem

by Brett Vogelsinger

We read the poem "Little Citizen, Little Survivor" by Hayden Carruth about a rat living in a woodpile, observed by a man starved of the natural environment he knew well as a boy. The only direction I give is "You now have three minutes to sketch this poem in your Writer's Notebooks. I will do the same in mine. Your time begins now."

Part of the fun of this challenge is its impossibility. There is too much to possibly sketch in three minutes, so each reader must decide where to focus, what images are at the crux of this poem. Moreover, they assume a certain perspective from which to view the poem. Sometimes I see a long view of the house with the woodpile; the rat is too small to be seen. Others sketch the rat's tiny nose from bird's-eye view as it peeks out from the woodpile. Some ignore the woodpile altogether. I once had a student sketch a bird feeder, zooming in on the detail that this speaker craves interaction with nature.

Sharing these sketches give us a natural entry point to identify what stands out to us in the poem and why, how we visualize as readers, and what matters most in this piece. I encourage you to enter this activity without too many scripted questions, but rather watch as the kids interpret visually and then explain their thinking. Questions and ideas emerge organically from these drawings.

Brett Vogelsinger teaches freshman English students at Holicong Middle School in Doylestown, PA where he starts class with a poem each day. Follow his work on Twitter @theVogelman.

Go Poem #23 -- Sense the Sarcasm

by Hilary Czaplicki

One of my favorite poems to use near the start of National Poetry Month is “Did I Miss Anything?” by Tom Wayman. As literature, the poem is a great study in voice, tone, and hyperbole. The visual structure of the poem makes it easier for students to understand the pendulum-like sarcasm of the teacher as he informs a student of what was missed during an absence. I often ask students to tell me what they notice and annotate the poem. Also, I insist that noticing everything is essential. In other words, they can’t assume that something is not important. This type of close reading builds great reading skills. Eventually, we find the tone, speaker, sarcasm, and message implied.

I usually ask students to consider the following three big questions as they read and annotate (I read once aloud, then they read to themselves and analyze):

1. What do you think the poem means? (or what’s at the heart of the poem?)

2. What makes you think that? (cite some specific ideas or reasons)

3. How does the author point you to your conclusions about the poem? (I ask students to use the language of literature and point out specific terms, elements, and devices)

As a way of connecting with students through humor, the lesson of the poem works as the concluding lines imply that something was missed (because of the absence), and that something can never be “made-up.” This is not my way of shaming students into better attendance. It is a way to send a clever and subtle message about the importance of being present, not only physically, but mentally and emotionally as well, a message that becomes an important intangible rule in the learning process. The poem then goes on to serve as a running joke for the rest of the year, whenever someone asks “Did I miss anything?"

Hilary Czaplicki is an English teacher and supervisor in Bucks County, PA. Follow him on Twitter @CzapHil.

Go Poem #14 -- Mythological Allusion

by Elizabeth Howlett

Students read the poem "Demeter’s Prayer to Hades" by Rita Dove silently as it is projected on the screen. Every time I present a poem to my students I explain that poetry is written to be heard, that the ear may pick up on what the eyes do not. Therefore, the second read is my vocal interpretation of this poem’s tone and fervor. Whether you do or do not know the story of Demeter, how does the speaker’s tone strike you?

As a poem about mythology, the first quest is to ferret out all of the mythological allusions. Who are Demeter and Hades? What is the nature of their relationship? Consider presentation of the myth as a paired text.

What if we take the mythology out of it? Is this not a mortal scenario?

If someone has wronged us, don’t we wish that they could have “knowledge” of the impact they have had?

Still, the poem does speak of both gods and mortals. Being a deity in mythology does not mean you are without flaws, and worshipping the gods means believing in those who are subject to the
weaknesses of man.

What are the consequences for anyone who attempts to “play god?"

This poem invites rich discussion and deep thinking about our own lives and the power of allusion.

Elizabeth Howlett is a seventh grade ELA teacher in San Antonio, Texas.

Go Poem #9 -- Name That Title

by Drew Sterner

My class reads the poem "My Father's Tie Rack" by Joan Larkin twice -- once aloud and the second time silently -- to enhance understanding. I share the poem on the screen up front without the title. Students write down a guess for what the title may be in their writer's notebook. They identify one or two lines from the poem that they have used as clues for the title they have written down.

My students gather in their base groups to share their ideas and then vote on the one they agree is worth sharing out to the whole class. After each base group shares out their title and rationale with the whole class, I reveal the actual title.

Further discussion can ensue with students identifying lines/words from the poem that clearly point to the actual title. Discussion may reveal that this poem appears to be someone going through the remnants of a recently deceased father’s closet and imagining the memories attached to the variety of ties he owned.

Other details that can be explored if time allows include the following:

Examining the use of fragments and word economy to create powerful images and suggestions. This is something that we often connect back to our style notes for narrative and other types of writing in our writer’s notebook. Students can create their own fragments in similar style for clothes that they are fond of wearing from these mentor text examples.
Analyzing how the author personifies the ties as memories.
Dealing with specific phrases like “the hole,” which implies the burial of the father or “Vishnu’s skin,” which is a reference to a Hindu god, often depicted with sky-blue skin, which symbolizes his formless and infinite power.

Students typically enjoy the use of powerful fragments found in the poem that personify the ties as possible memories in the father’s life.

Drew Sterner is a Middle School ELA teacher in Central Bucks School District.

Go Poem #5 -- Clear Rhythm, Ambiguous Mood

by Joy Kirr

I was first introduced to the poem “My Papa’s Waltz” by Theodore Roethke when Michael W. Smith (co-author of Literary Elements: How to Teach What Really Matters About Character, Setting, Point of View, and Theme) came to our middle school. We use it in our 7th grade ELA class just the way he presented it to us.

I have students read the poem once to themselves.

Students read the poem a second time silently, annotating something new that they notice the second time around.

Students listen as the teacher reads the poem aloud this time, taking note of the rhythm. The teacher opens discussion with this question: Does the rhythm remind anyone of anything?

Students note what they feel is the overall mood of the poem on this sliding scale, what Michael Smith calls a “semantic differential scale”:

The students circle or highlight three words from the poem to support their choice, and as a class we discuss, “What words contribute to the mood or atmosphere of the poem?”

Students can now take the time to move their mark on the sliding scale or not, depending on the evidence they hear in the discussion.

We use this poem to practice fishbowl discussions, so you could extend the sliding-scale question into a discussion of why it is considered “warm” or “cold.” I find I change my mind often during fishbowl discussions, depending on the background information students bring to the table.

Joy Kirr currently teaches 7th graders in Arlington Heights, IL and blogs at http://geniushour.blogspot.com. Follow her on Twitter +Joy Kirr