Poem Selection
For the introduction of poetry at any grade level begin with riddle poems or humorous poems.
Riddle poems have an answer; students must evaluate the poem lines to figure out the answer.
Humorous poems are usually short, engaging, and filled with imagery.
Reading the Poem
The teacher reads the poem to engage the students by modeling excellence in her voice, stance, posture, movement, and gesture. It is important for the teacher to model how to read the poem and when to place emphasize on certain sounds or words in the poem. As well, the teacher will demonstrate the appropriate speed to read the poem to keep the students engaged.
After the teacher reads the poem, he will have a discussion on the poem and what they liked or disliked about the performance of the poem.
Next the teacher will read the poem in a slow, monotone voice with little movement. Her stance will be a little slouched and she will make almost no eye contact with the audience. The students will have an open discussion on the teacher’s performance.
For the final performance the teacher will read the poem quickly in a very excited voice. The teacher will scan the audience often and will sway while reading the poem. The teacher will provide an open discussion on his performance.
Reading the poem in 3 very different styles will exhibit to the students the power of their stance, posture, gestures, and voice in performing a poem. Each time the poem was the same but the feel of the poem changed dramatically based on the performance.
Questions to Ask Before Reading a Poem to an Audience
Students must first read the poem silently to introduce themselves to the theme of the poem. After that the student needs to read it again out loud to get a better understanding of the poem.
Then the student must ask questions about the character in the poem.
What is the character feeling? Are they sad, happy, confused…
What does the character look like? There may not be a physical description but by the words used in the poem and the theme of the poem, you may get an image of the character. Is the character young, old, mean, nice, big, small…
What does the character sound like? Is the character a girl with a soft voice or a slow menacing voice? Deciding on the sound of the character will greatly change the feel of the poem.
What is the movement of the character? Does the character move quickly or are the words slowly pronounced?
Students should have someone read the poem to them and they should close their eyes to see the character of the poem. Once the student has an image of the character it is easier to answer the above questions.
Once the student has a good mental image of the characteristics of the character, they can do a performance. The student will have to tweak their performance several times before they feel they match the character in the poem.
Have all students do the same poem and be amazed at the different interpretations of the same poem. After all poems are read, students write a small report on which students’ performance was excellent and which were not and why. Students will critique other students to get an understanding of good poetry performance.
Debbie DeSpirt - Debbie DeSpirt is an Elementary Teacher for the York Catholic District School Board in Ontario, Canada. Her post secondary education ...
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