6 Tips to Bring Poetry to Life in the Classroom

 
We were so pleased to hear the news that the wonderful poet, playwright and author, Joseph Coelho has been named the new Children’s Laureate. We have had the pleasure of working with Joseph and seeing him in action during school visits and at our own Teach Through a Text events. We have been so enamoured with his work that we have written a planning sequence for his book If All the World Were…(see some work samples from this below) and a Literary Leaf for Overheard in a Tower Block, both receiving lots of positive feedback from teachers. 
 
One of Joseph Coelho’s main projects during his two-year tenure as Children’s Laureate, is to campaign to “make the reading and writing of poetry accessible to everyone.” Coelho has said that there is “a lot of baggage with poetry”, with children often feeling poetry was something “done to them” rather than a medium they can appropriate and shape. With this in mind, we thought we would add our two pennies’ worth and compile six tips we have found effective to help bring poetry to life in the classroom. 
 

Poetry on Public Display 
 
There have been a lot of engaging poetry collections published over the last five to ten years. Although this may seem obvious, it is important that we immerse children in poetry and that they have access to classic and up-to-date collections. Some of our recent favourites have been Poems Aloud by Joseph Coelho, On the Move by Michael Rosen and I am the Seed that Grew the Tree by Fiona Waters.  Children could post-it note their favourite poems and perform them in the morning or at home time. 
 
Poetry is Performance 
 
It is essential children see and hear a poem being performed multiple times as this will help develop their understanding. We use the word “performed” rather than “read” here as reading poetry is a performance, an event. Anything you do in the classroom to enhance this sense of occasion, will also enhance the general enjoyment of the poem. Try making the classroom feel like a café by diming lights, using lamps, creating a stage area, having snacks and playing some smooth instrumental music in the background. Children can come up on the stage, after a chance to rehearse with peers, and perform their choice of poem or the class could perform the same poem in different ways. Perhaps children can take a copy of the poem out at playtime to practise performing in groups?
 
Performing Prosodically 
 
The teacher can model this performance first and draw children’s attention to the prosody of the reading. Ask children questions like: what do you notice about the way I’m using my voice? How do I use volume? How do I emphasise the beat of the poem? How do I emphasise the rhymes in the poem? How did my voice support the mood of the poem? How did I use pauses when reading to build emphasis? Once children have heard you perform the poem twice, they can have a go and add their own spin to the way it’s delivered. Encourage children to comment on each other’s sense of prosody. 
 
Karaoke Poetry 
 
Play a game in class that we’ve coined Karaoke Poetry. Read through one poem with the class a few times and, on cards, record different ways the same poem could be read. A few examples of this could be: change the volume of your voice to build drama; clap a beat to the poem, take turns with a partner; think of dance moves that go along with the poem; one children will read and others in the group will jump in on the rhyming words; one children will read and others in the group will jump in on repeated lines. This activity is also a fun way to identify different poetic techniques. 
 
Unpicking Poetry 
 
Give children enlarged copies of a poem for them to make notes on, highlight and define vocabulary. Children, in pairs or groups, could also use different coloured highlighters to highlight the different poetic tools they see. Can children highlight any examples of repetition or similes? Can children highlight the poet’s use of repetition? Can children write their own summaries of each verse? Joseph Coelho’s poem MORERAPS and his book How to Write Poems is a fantastic and playful way of getting children into discussing and highlighting poetic techniques. 
 
 
Popstar Poetry 
 
Another approach to further support children understanding the mechanics of poetry is to compare poetry to music and song lyrics. Give children a Venn Diagram and see if they can discuss the similarities and differences there are between these two genres. Children will find that there are many similarities, such as: the use of repetition, rhyme and rhythm, a chorus (some poems have a repeated stanza), verses and themes. Choose to compare a specific song to a poem with a similar theme. For example, a Literary Leaf we have begins by comparing the lyrics in Sam Cooke’s A Change is Gonna Come to Maya Angelou’s Caged Bird. Even instrumental music can be used to enhance children’s understanding. Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for example could be used to enhance enjoyment of poetry about seasons. The link between musical technique and poetic technique is a strong one and should be explored where possible with children. 
 
We do hope these tips are helpful in the classroom when you are planning your next poetry sequence of lessons. 
 
 
 
 

Posted in: Poetry | Curriculum