Fostering Poetry in Education - Small Steps, Big Leap Forward!

Poetry is regarded as the most creative literature. Even a single line can have several meanings. Neurons start running, and the mind starts wandering. Still, many people consider reading novels more than poetry. But including poetry in education can have unimaginable benefits on students’ minds. It helps to channel emotions.

As the world of hashtags trends, now is the perfect time to bring poetry into the mainstream and closer to the hearts of people.

Understanding the Meaning of “Poetry in Education”?

Do you remember your favorite lullabies from childhood? True, everyone does! Even before admitting a child to preschool, parents and elders use rhymes and chants to communicate with them.

Then, in the initial classes of schooling, poems and rhymes are essential parts of learning. Even if you opt out of Poetry classes in later classes, you will still find yourself closely attached to poetry in the form of songs and music.

So, in a way, poetry is not limited to education; it can be found in all walks of life. Yet the number of poem readers is very limited. And why’s that? Because people find reading poems difficult.

The irony is that it’s not only about the readers. It’s about the teachers too! Many teachers find it difficult to teach and explain poems. Well, to include poetry as a core part of the educational curriculum, let’s understand its importance and benefits in the first place.

What Students Can Learn From Poetry?

It is a fact that poems help minds to visualize things in a much better way. Visualization is key to retaining things in mind for a longer time.

• Writing and reading poetry develops a better understanding of language. Resultantly, it improves students’ literary skills and communication skills. Since poetry involves the expression of thoughts in a concise manner, thus teaching poetry to children can help to improve words of expression.

• Poetry is regarded as a summarized form of vast emotions. Thus, it can help students to understand and comprehend feelings in a much better way. A good understanding of feelings leads to the development of empathy. 

• Poetry speaks in terms of metaphors and symbolism, which can lead to creative thinking in students’ minds.

• Poetry involves manipulative structure and imagining of thoughts. Feeding poetry to young minds helps them to imagine the possible meanings and, thus, fosters creativity and imagination in minds.

• The writing process of poetry includes introspection of feelings and opinions. Therefore, writing improves us in terms of self-introspection and emotional intelligence.

Benefits of Teaching Poetry to Children

To see how beneficial poetry can be to children, try this experiment.

Read a paragraph in a monotonous tone in front of a child! 

Then, recite a poem but with rhymes and in a playful manner.

You will clearly observe that the child is more interested in the poem than the paragraph. Even if you read the same paragraph in rhymes and a high degree of expressions, you will find that they are taking more interest in later methods.

Helps in Developing Reading Habits

Poetry in education helps to develop reading habits. Reading long paragraphs can surely be a daunting feeling especially for curious minds like that of children. Poetry appears to be concise and feels easy to read. And within just a few lines, they will learn numerous things.

So next time when you start teaching your child, try a playful and rhyming method and see the magic.

Helps to Understand Word Families & Sounds

Try this playful stanza by Teachific Literacy about the letter “E.”

E was once a little eel,

Eely,

Weely,

Peely,

Eely,

Twirly, tweely,

Little eel!

This stanza explores the various sounds of the letter E and some of the word families. Teaching poetry to children this way can create a new perspective on teaching difficult things in a simpler way.

Improves Vocabulary

Poetry proves to be the most efficient way of learning new words and their different association with thoughts and feelings.  Poets cannot rhyme every second line of their poem. Sometimes, to express a certain thought, they have to break the restrictions. This way, children can learn how to candidly express themselves using non-traditional words.

Try reading Ode to the Things by Pablo Neruda! It’s an amazing read in this regard.

Develops Speaking Skills

Do you remember reciting or reading poems and paragraphs aloud in your elementary classes? You might not know, but this exercise in one of the most important exercises to develop a child’s literacy skills.

While reading aloud, the mind processes more deeply about what we are reading. Also, it helps to practice words and clarify our speech and pronunciation.

Methods of Teaching Poetry

Poetry needs creative methods to teach to children.

“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”

                                               -Socrates, founder of Western philosophy!

The Text Format

This is one of the most widely used methods for teaching poetry to children. In this method, teachers first break the writing style, then explain the structurization of sentences, and at last, take inputs from children and help them to create rhymes.

Pictorial Method

Another amazing method is the pictorial method. In this method, a teacher shows a picture to the class and collects the first ideas that come to mind, and then the whole class works as a group to create rhymes and rhythms.

Free Writing

As the name indicates, it involves writing poems and prose in your free time. Then, review and polish it accordingly.

Free writing can really be a creative way to teach poetry. Teachers can give a list of topics to choose from and then let students work as per their creativity.

Wrap Up

Poetry plays an important role in developing minds and understanding emotions. While the audience of poetry is limited, the scope for growth is unlimited. Including poetry in the education curriculum has several benefits in developing and educating young minds. Brian Taylor has authored fictional, thrilling works and poems for teachers. His Poetry for Teachers work has received many positive reviews from the audience. He talks about transforming his approach to poetry through a journey of self-discovery and creativity. Consider giving it a read!

FAQs

Q1. What is the role of poetry in education?

Ans. Poetry helps in developing literary skills, imagination, creativity, and emotional understanding.

Q2. What is the importance of poetry?

Ans. Poetry speaks in terms of metaphors and symbolism, which can lead to creative thinking in students’ minds. Also, it has been seen that poetry has great healing effects.

Q3. What are the five aims of teaching poetry?

Ans. The five aims of teaching poetry to children are:

1. Imagination.

2. Developing creativity.

3. Power of expression.

4. Improving reading habits.

5. Improving vocabulary.

Q4. How does poetry impact students?

Ans. Students can develop a better understanding of emotions, thus improving their social life.