Introduction to Poetry

    Poetry can sometimes be a more difficult genre for young adult readers than others. There is a great deal of power in poetry that young adults can connect with if guided by their teacher. Bucher and Hinton state that “When poem and reader connect, poetry has the power to elicit rich sensory images and deep emotional responses” (Bucher and Hinton 300). For this reason, it is important to incorporate a variety of poetry in the classroom. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson is a text that includes several types of poetry. Woodson tells the story of her childhood through a novel in poetic form. This text gives readers a unique perspective of Woodson’s life. While poetry can be daunting to some students, “ghosts” and “home” are two poems within Brown Girl Dreaming that evoke rich images and emotional responses while being accessible to young adult readers and providing for activities to engage in the poems themselves.

            If students are reluctant to engage in poetry, “ghosts” is a poem that will offer them an opportunity to become comfortable with poems. “ghosts” is a short poem that students can easily digest. First, I would have students read the poem silently and make notes of words that stood out to them, punctuation that they thought was creative, or abnormal capitalizations or bolded words that indicate emphasis. Since this poem doesn’t rhyme, we will begin with reading silently because Bucher and Hinton indicate that “poems that were serious, or without rhyme or obvious rhythm, scored highest when students read them silently” (Bucher and Hinton 308). Asking the students to save words and phrases that stuck out to them during their first read through not only causes them to engage in the text but helps them to be more aware of their thoughts about the poem. After this activity, we will break into small groups of three or four students. The groups will then take turns reading the poem out loud, emphasizing the parts that stood out to them. I will model how to read poetry by only pausing at punctuation marks instead of at the end of the lines. Once the students have had an opportunity to hear each other’s emphasis, we will discuss how the punctuation marks contributed to their understanding of the poem. We will also discuss why they think the author wrote “WHITE ONLY” (Woodson 73) in all capital letters. I also would ask what they think the author meant and what emotions they felt by the words “like a ghost standing in front/still keeping you out” (73).  From this poem, students will begin to be more comfortable reading poetry silently and aloud and engaging in the poem as well.

            Once students have become more familiar with Woodson’s poetry and engaged in the emotional nature of her poems, we would transition to “home.” “home” is an emotional poem because it is a memory of Woodson’s family life. There is a feeling of love and comfort from reading this text. Everything in the text shows readers that this is home. For example, “A front porch swing thirsty for oil./A pot of azaleas blooming” (27) indicates that Woodson felt welcomed at her grandparents’ house. She continues by describing tears being wiped away “And me,/the new baby, set deep/inside this love” (27). It is clear that this memory is positive. Students would start by reading the text silently. I would then ask for a volunteer to read the poem to the class. After this, we would discuss how the enjambment effected the reading of the poem. Finally, students would write their own poems, in a similar style, about a positive childhood memory. They would use “home” as their example. This would give students an opportunity to explore their feelings about “home” and create their own powerful poem.

            As Bucher and Hinton indicate in their text, poetry can be a difficult genre for students but by choosing poems students can relate to and understand and by creating activities that engage them in the texts, poetry can become a genre they appreciate. Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson is a unique text that incorporates a variety of poems, including “ghosts” and “home.” Both poems are emotionally based and can elicit similar emotions from students. By asking students to read silently, read aloud, and record the parts of the poem that stood out to them, students are not only engaging in the text but becoming acquainted with the constructs of poetry. Part of the battle of teaching poetry is showing students that it is a genre they can understand and tackle. Engaging in these activities will hopefully help my students enjoy poetry. (Woodson) (Bucher)

Works Cited

Bucher, Katherine and KaaVonia Hinton. Young Adult Literature: Exploration, Evaluation, and Appreciation. 3rd ed. Boston: Pearson, 2014. Print.

Woodson, Jacqueline. Brown Girl Dreaming. New York: Nancy Paulsen Books, 2014. E-book.