Teaching poetry could be so much fun, but it also difficult to really dig deep into the meaning of poems. Often, students just enjoy the rhyme or imagery of a poem but miss the message behind it. In order to facilitate comprehension, this we decided to focus in a lot of discussion, observation and then let the kids try it out.
The Poetry Menu started with a Sort and Talk activity; students were given several poems and they had to categorize them and justify their thinking. Some students grouped them by type, whether they were lyrical or free-verse, others grouped them by topics like countries, friendship or languages. After each team finished, they presented their grouping to the whole class. Students had meaningful conversations and it was very interesting to hear their reasoning.
The next day, students had the option to view an Edpuzzle about figurative language or start with their Scavenger Hunt. Students worked at their own pace, and if I notice a student struggled with identifying or finding examples, I suggested them to do the Edpuzzle first. Also, some students were assigned different tasks, the minimum requirement was a metaphor, a simile and personification. Other students had additional missions like hyperboles, alliteration, assonance.
The last task was to become a poet and write a poem about themselves. We read "My life" as a class, I modeled writing one myself and they were free to go. Students enjoyed writing their poems, they struggled for a while, but were to do it. I think the activities helped them identify or recognize poetry forms and devices, but we are still struggling with understanding the message and imagery. When we review poetry, I think we will be better prepared to write and analyze the meaning.
