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Tatjana Atanasoska
University "St. Kliment Ohridski" - Bitola
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Abstract
Poetry writing in the elementary classroom is an issue that is always challenging to both students and
teachers, because of the creative processes that have to be employed in order to get the final
products. It takes time, and cannot be prompted without putting creative efforts of the teachers
themselves. The aim of this paper is to answer several questions regarding teaching poetry writing in
the classroom and the teaching methodology that need to be practiced in order to do good poetry
writing practices with small children. The sample is purposive and is consisted of elementary
classroom teachers that practice poetry writing activities with the students. In depth interviews are
conducted with the sampled teachers in order to obtain the necessary data for analysis. Discussion
about the results of the research is based on descriptive analytics, and on the qualitative descriptions.
The results show that the teachers use variety of techniques for the purpose of motivating poetry
writing in the classroom, which are presented in the discussion of the results.
Keywords: Poetry writing, elementary classroom, creative writing.
1 INTRODUCTION
Poetry writing in the elementary classroom can be seen as an activity within the frames of the whole
teaching lesson, but also as an activity that takes part of the lesson, i.e. the introductory part or the
ending part of the teaching lesson. It is very important to accentuate the fact that the structure and the
content of the poetry writing lesson cannot be taken as universal model that functions in every time
and everywhere. Poetry as a type of creative writing offers many options regarding the methodological
approach to teaching poetry writing in the elementary classroom. The phases of the poetry writing as
classroom activity are elaborated in the text below.
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writing with rhyme and rhythm, writing with neologisms and inventing words for the purpose of
expanding the vocabulary of the students. There are also fun word games that put students in a
situation to compile words and stanzas, i.e. the whole poem. The exercises could also involve writing
by using various model-poems and patterns for writing that are derived from famous poems or from
students’ poems etc. [19] [20] [21].
Teaching poetry writing may also involve computer-assisted poetry writing [22]. Computer programs
are developed for the purpose of guiding the students in the process of poetry writing. Such programs
help students in creating poems with special form, or they are simply directing students to use
figurative language devices.
2 METHODOLOGY
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2.3 Data collection
In-depth interviews with the teachers taken as a sample were used for the purpose of answering
research questions about what is the best time to start with teaching poetry writing in the elementary
classroom, whether it is justified or not practicing poetry writing in the elementary classroom, what kind
of teaching styles can be used in order to teach poetry writing in the elementary classroom, what kind
of strategies can teacher employ for the purpose of practicing poetry writing in the classroom, what are
the structural elements of the teaching poetry writing lesson, what kind of obstacles do students face
with during poetry writing in the elementary classroom, how do teachers inspire students to write
poetry, and what do teachers understand under the term teaching poetry writing.
Fig. 1. How often should elementary classroom students write poetry in the classroom?
42.86% of the teachers (N=18) think that the best time to start with poetry writing activities in the
classroom is when the students are in the second grade, because that is the time when they gain print
literacy, but also there are 40.48% (N=17) of the teachers who claim that poetry writing activites can
be organized even with the first graders, inspite of the fact that they do not know how to read or write.
This group of teachers believe that children at this age respond very positively to the rhythm and
rhyme, and thus they can be guided and motivated for creating rhythmic poems as part of the didactic
games that the teachers organize in order to develop students’ sensory perception and sound
discriminating abilities. The teacher can organize shared poetry writing activities with the whole class.
The teacher can write on the board the verses that the whole class produces with his/her guidance
and support. Only 16.67% (N=7) of the sampled teachers think that the best time for starting poetry
writing is when the students are in the third grade, because this is time when the students are about to
finish the first out of the three cycles of primary education, and that is the time when they gain basic
language arts literacy.
We can see from the fig. 2 that most of the teachers think that poetry writing should be practiced with
students who show interest - 50% (N=21) or with the whole class - 35.71% (N=15).
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Fig. 2. Teacher should practice poetry writing in the elementary classroom
We can see from fig. 3 that students’ biggest problem regarding poetry writing is to convey the
message with small amount of words, to write about their deepest feelings, to start poetry writing and
to maintain the auditive side of the poem. There are also students who have dificulties in editing,
revising and sharing the poem. 3 teachers only stated that students often have problems to write with
a rhyme. They also added that writing with rhyme is not obligatory, but it is fun in the elementary
classroom.
Fig. 3. Difficulties that the students face with in the process of poetry writing.
All of the interviewed teachers presented several strategies that they are using in order to inspire
poetry writing on the part of the students. Most of the teachers offered similar ways of prompting
poetry writing, and the most used ones are as following: discussion (N=42), publishing (N=42), reading
and discussing a poem from famous author (N=40), photography (N=37), painting (N=36), writing with
model poem or formula poem (N=29), music (N=23), reading and discussing poems written by their
peers (N=16), and shared poetry writing (N=9). Only a few teachers (N=3) mentioned computer as an
assistant in the process of poetry writing, and all of them had in mind different use of the computer
(computer as a tool for writing and editing, educational software that guide students in the process of
poetry writing, and searhing the Internet as a source of inspiration for poetry writing). A movie scene
(N=2) and a poem written by the teacher (N=1) are also among the presented options.
All of the sampled teachers think that individual poetry writing is the best option for practicing poetry
writing in the elementary classroom, but they also presented group work (N=32), tandem work (N=17)
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and shared writing (N=7) as options that may give positive results regarding the motivation for poetry
writing on the part of the students.
The last open question was about the teachers’ understanding of the term teaching poetry writing. The
teachers were asked to give statements about what teaching poetry writing is. Many of them had
similar thoughts, and as a result we have made categories of different statements. Most of the
teachers gave more then one statement, thus we have come up with 29 statements which are
presented in the table below:
Fig.4. What do teachers understand under the term teaching poetry writing?
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We can see now, that most of the teachers (92.86%) see teaching poetry writing as a process of
teaching students how to use poetry devices such as figurative language, versification features and
code of the poem first [19] [20] [21], but they also think that by teaching poetry writing they are
encouraging the creative side of the students by exploring the relationship between the “I” as a subject
and the world as an object. Many of the interviewed teachers see poetry writing as an activity that
motivates students to look for their inner “I”, to think about the message that want to send before
coding, i.e. before poetry writing.
Down below, we are giving some of the teachers’ original statements regarding the teaching of poetry
writing in the elementary classroom, because they throw different light on the role of the teacher in the
process of poetry writing in the classroom.
a) Students need to acknowledge and appreciate the poetry from great poets first, and then to be
asked to write a poem.
b) You cannot ask from a student to write a poem if you cannot write one.
c) Students have to acknowledge poetry devices first in a practical manner by reading various
types of poems and discussing about what they have observed.
d) Discussion is the most exploited method for teaching poetry writing, but only if the students are
the main actors in the discussion. The virtue of the teacher is in his/her ability to pose the right
questions in the right time. If the right questions are put on the table, then magic will happen!
Students will do the rest of the job: planning, writing, editing, revising and sharing.
e) Poetry writing is art, as much as painting, photography and composing music is. You cannot
teach students to write poetry unless you open the door to the imagery side of their perception.
You cannot teach students to write poetry unless you make them see the world from different
perspective.
f) All children are creative. That is what we should have in mind all the time when we are planning
poetry writing lesson.
g) We don’t have to ask children to see the world differently, because they do so, as part of their
nature. They see the world from the child’s perspective. We have to learn from them to see it
like they do! Teaching poetry writing is seeing the world with child’s eyes and having fun!
h) Students have to be familiar with the basic versification elements such as verse, rhyme, meter
and rhythm prior to poetry writing activities. They learn them without too much effort, because
they feel the rhythm and rhyme naturally. In fact, they are all permeated by the musicality and
the auditive elements first, and then they seek for the meaning of a poem.
i) The teacher musn’t insist too much on the motif that the students are expected to write about.
Poetry writing needs space and freedom to decide and to act upon that decision.
j) We have to build alluring and supportive enironment if we want for our students to feel safe
enough to be able to express their feelings in a lyric poem. We shouldn’t make them vulnerable
for expressing their emotions in front of the audience, nor make them feel as they are doing
something that is unpleasant for them. Teaching poetry is teaching the youngsters to be
themselves and to be proud to be different.
k) We have to teach our students to think of the audience that they are addressing, even in the
small ages.
4 CONCLUSION
Poetry writing is not part of the official curriculum in the Republic of Macedonia, but this fact doesn’t
stop elementary school teachers to practice poetry writing with the young students, because they
believe that every child is creative. This kind of practice can be obtained even for the first graders by
shared poetry writing and word games with neologisms and rhymes, but it is also acceptable to start
teaching poetry writing with second graders, because they become literate (they gain print literacy) by
the end of the first semester. It can be practiced once a week with the students who show interest, but
the optimal frequency of practicing poetry writing in the classroom is approximately once in two weeks,
because students may become bored, and poetry writing may become routinized practice.
Students are not very confident while writing poetry, because they lack experience and they don`t
have enough knowledge about the theory of poetic expression. The most difficult things regarding
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poetry writing for the students are saying what they want to say by using little words that are related in
a non-expected manner, and to write about their deepest feelings. It is also difficult to start writing the
first verse, which is happening all the time even with the famous poets. Teachers and students don’t
have to worry too much about this, since it is proven that poetry writing is a creative process and it
takes time for the inspiration to come. This leads us to conclude that teachers should pay much more
attention to the preparatory phase in order to create safe and inspiring environment. Teachers should
not neglect the phases that come after the poetry writing, such as editing, revising and sharing [6] [7]
[10], because these phases are very important for the students to become more responsible for their
poems, and to feel the poems as part of their inner “I”, but also to share them with their peers and the
broader audience. We believe that the various forms of publishing will motivate students to write more
poetry and to share more frequently what they have written, because the humans are social beings.
Students will understand that we shouldn’t keep the poem only for ourselves, because it is kind of
selfish act. In addition, we have to share what we have written, because we may help others to
connect with us in an indirect way and to solve their problems eventually.
Inspiring environment, according to the interviewed teachers, can be moulded by organizing
discussion on a topic that is interesting and appealing, reading and discussing poems that are
carefully selected by the teachers, or the students, writing by using model poems and creating visually
appealing environment by the assistance of paintings and photos [1] [2] that the students and the
teacher have chosen or have created.
Teaching poetry writing has to do with teaching students about the poetry devices, such as
versification elements and figures of speech [19] [20] [21], but it has much more to do with the process
of opening ourselves to the world that we see every day and look at it in a different kind of way, like we
are seeing it for the first time. It will help us to feel as children again and it will bring us opportunities
for rewriting and resaying what is already written and said, i.e. to give names to the common and
familiar objects or things, and to define things by using words that have come out of our unconscious
state of mind. It can be very fun, but also very responsible thing to do, since we are acting as creators
and authors of poetic messages. Thus, we cannot put aside the potential audience as users of our
poetry.
This is what teaching poetry is about, and this is what teachers feel about poetry writing practice. Only
the teacher who is courageous enough to start a poetry journey with his/her students and who is
prepared to follow as much as is prepared to lead, will bring inspiration for poetry writing among the
young learners. Only the teacher who is not afraid of making mistakes and who can see the world
from various perspectives will provoke creative students’ thoughts.
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