Post FOKI

WOW!  What a journey this class has taken me one.  I did not expect to learn so much in such a short period of time.  Prior to this class, I had an understanding of literacy as one’s ability to read or write.  However, I have learned that being literate extends beyond this.  While I learned a lot about literacy, I also gained an appreciation for the teachers who helped me work through many of the problems I developed as a young reader.  Looking back on my original FOKI, it was easy to conjure up the memories of my struggles as a learner and the teachers who influenced my insecurities.    However, I rarely looked back to find the pivoting points for which my love for reading and writing evolved. Even though I mentioned a time in high school that was the catalyst, there were more times that I had forgotten about. With the reflections of this class, I was able to give credit where credit was due.  My struggles as a learner have always been at the forefront for why I am in this profession.  

 Understanding the feelings shared by students who do not ‘get it’ allows me to be more empathetic and patient.  This in turn motivates me to create meaningful and engaging reading/writing experience for my students. With this in mind, I have been able to change the opinions of so many students who did not have a passion for reading in writing or who feel they will never get ‘it.’

This class reinforced the importance of broadening my students’ interaction with a variety of reading material in order to enhance their literacy experiences.  Students need to be immersed in an array of literature in order to enrich their perspective.  This needs to extend beyond the language arts setting.  Literature should be part of every subject area.  In my pre FOKI, I made mention to the memories of sitting in class and reading from the text book.  I firmly believe my lack of interest with literacy stemmed from my disinterest in the reading material.  Often, the only reading that was encouraged was from the language arts book.  We rarely used literature to learn about science and social studies.    While it was not only the reading material, or lack thereof, that was of limited interested to me (as an elementary student) it was also the lack of purpose for reading.  It is clear that being literate is having the ability to connect to the text.  This is vital in students developing an understanding and opinion.

 Another important component of literacy is the reciprocity of reading and writing.  Even though I knew this before, it was a refreshing to be reminded the importance it holds in student literacy.  Additionally, I was reminded the value that can be gained with the integration of writing in other subject areas.  Knowing the value that can be gained from encouraging students to write about their thinking has enlightened me to incorporate more of this in my own classroom.  The strategies gathered from many of the articles and textbooks have left me with a great resource and a wealth of strategies.  In order to excite the students about writing, I plan to incorporate blogs assist my students in producing their ideas.  I have used blogs in the past and was amazed at the response the students gave when they were told they would have to journal their reading 4 times.  Not one moan or groan, it was all because the excitement of being able to interact online with their peers by commenting provided them with such pride and responsibility.   

Furthermore, this class has enlightened me on the importance of meaningful vocabulary experiences.  While I did not mention this in my pre Foki, I did state in a blog the many opportunities students have to learn and practice their vocabulary words.  The text book offered plenty of ideas that I have to incorporate in my own classroom like the semantic analysis. One important component to vocabulary is scaffolding student connections.  It is important that students have an understanding of the connection between words.  This connection encourages a quicker recall which in turn makes the application of the word more frequent in his/her speaking/writing. 

Overall, this class has provided insight into 21^st century literacy.  Now, I firmly believe literacy is a component of all subject areas.  Being literate is one’s ability to interact with his/her text before, during, and after reading.  As a student interacts with any subject area, their discussions with classmates, independent reading time, or research are all components of literacy.  I do not see literacy as a separate entity; however, it is the foundation for which new learning is built on!

Powerful Position

Poetry in the primary grades is relied on heavily to teach students the general rules and codes of reading.   From early on in a child’s life, parents use poetry in the form of nursery rhymes to introduce their children to social surroundings (Cummings, 2007).  Understanding one’s surroundings and developing a foundation of literacy is important. Thinking back to my earliest memories of elementary school, I am brought back to the days of kindergarten.  Learning to read began with site words, extending into rhyming words, and then combined to create stories to build my fluency.  Poetry was the foundation used to develop these basic reading skills.  While this genre of literature was a resource used to establish my reading abilities, it rarely held more importance in my later reading experiences.  Unfortunately, teachers lacked to see the gold mine that could be found inside of it.  Teaching poetry to students helps them gain the analytical skills to approach reading in order to develop a perspective and opinion.

Essentially using poetry can assist students in breaking content apart to connect with and make meaning of it. However, it must be noted that interpreting the poem should not overpower the journey the poem takes its readers on.  During an interview with Billy Collins, he eloquently states how important it is for students to understand how the poem moves in order to enlighten their perspective (B. Collins, personal communication, n.d).  Poetry, like drama and other genres of literature, is used as a means of activating discussion in literature and “…encourages them to use their imaginations” (Vacca, Vacca, Mraz, 2011).  Imagination is one way that can improve a student’s perspective.  Encouraging students to integrate their understanding and perspective allows for deeper synthesis of information. It has been noted in Carol Clark’s “Why Teach Poetry?” that understanding the structure of a poem enhances comprehension (n.d.).  In order to understand poetry, we must be able to analyze its parts to understand the whole, while at the same time integrating imagination and prior knowledge.  Implementing this idea in comprehension of content area information can have a profound impact on how students interact with text in addition to the background knowledge they will bring to future lessons.  It is through this understanding college students have noted the importance of poetry exposure as they pursue advance literature courses. (Clark, n.d.) By analyzing poetry, students are able to make meaning through aesthetic connections in order to conceptualize conflict situations, ideas, and emotions.  While reading poetry can assist students in making deeper connections with text it can also impact how they understand themselves. 

Research performed by Rachel Cumming on language play in the classroom suggests that children from an early age have knowledge of poetry, but lack in the metalanguge for demonstrating an understanding.  The lack in development of this understanding can be detrimental in their ability to interact with various textual genres.  Identifying a perspective is necessary in developing connections with a text.  Using poetry to encourage students to identify a perspective in order to fully grasp an author’s message is vital.   In her research, she quotes that, “a vague underlying optimism that poetry could fulfill all kinds of expectations, if only one could learn to understand it” (Cumming, 2007).  To state that poetry could potentially be the key that unlocks a door to a strong metacognitive understanding for students provides a light at the end of a literacy tunnel.  Therefore, it is important that a re-establishment in the role of poetry, aside from understanding the process and skills, is necessary for understanding. 

Using poetry in the classroom to learn conflict solutions, ideas, and emotions is effective because it encourages communication in a socio constructivist way.  By using poetry to develop social interactions, is “enable(ing) the teacher and learners to communicate and test the fit of their knowledge with others’ representations” (Cumming, 1997).  Vygotsky proposed that development requires the teachings of other’s (Berger, 2008).   Through this teaching and support, a person is able to bridge knowledge from one concept to the next in order to form an understanding of his or her life.  Using poetry to support this idea is essential. Additionally, in understanding human development Vygotsky believed an internal process of one’s societal interactions helped form awareness of one’s self (Fox & Riconscente, 2008).  Using poetry to engage students in conversation encourage students to self reflect and draw on prior knowledge while at the same time developing a perspective which essentially encourage self awareness.  By using poetry to help students establish a perspective, the teacher is encouraging schematic building which in turn will assist in their ability to develop multiple perspectives.  Moreover, using poetry in a social constructivist manner can powerful impact the interactions among students. The language used in poetry can often be confusing; therefore, it is critical scaffolds are in place and the instructor is fully present and open to the students’ understandings and misunderstandings.  By using poetry to encourage communication, students learn how words can profoundly set someone free from the burdens of their world, thus students can conceptualize the effectiveness of poetry in describing one’s feelings and emotions. Jackson Spoon eloquently states, “I had mistakenly thought that poetry was beyond me, and only for women, squares, nerds, weirdos, professors, and high-brows: people caught up in some unreal academic world” (2007).   It is not uncommon for my own students to experience feelings such as those shared by Jackson.  At the start of each poetry unit, I find a majority of my students looking anguished.  They quickly realize through the level of engagement, social interaction, and self expression they learn more and more about themselves and others than they had original thought possible. One student is quoted saying, “I never knew how powerful poetry could be.  It is hard, but talking about it and inquiring meaning with my peers makes it fun.” This is a feeling shared by most students.  However, teaching poetry can build relationships among students that promote trust and encourage a reflective quality within oneself and others.   

Due to the complexity of reading and teaching poetry, in addition to the teachers need to make meaning of the poem, many teachers neglect to use poetry to help students connect to their text.  Teaching poetry will allow students to delve deep within them to make an emotional connection with text.  Through these emotional connections, they are able to develop a grounded meaning and perspective on the poem.  Clark states that, “understanding poetry demands that one pay close attention to text, especially to dictation, grammar, syntax; this process naturally strengthens reading comprehension skills” (n.d.).  While one’s reading comprehension is improving, he or she is able to extend beyond the printed text and acquire a perspective in order to produce a deeper meaning of the text.     It must be understood, that poetry is not meant to be torn apart in which ‘finding’ the meaning over powers the journey for which the poem is meant to take its readers on.  Finally, teaching poetry has the potential to increase a student’s self efficacy while motivating them to “engage them to read more deeply and with more personal meaning” This level of understanding will only enhance a student’s interaction with other forms of literature. 

References

Berger, K.S. (2008). The developing person through the life span. New York, N.Y: Worth

            Publishers.

Clark, C. (n.d.). Why teach poetry? Retreived from Clark, C. (n.d.). Why teach poetry? Retrieved from http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/downloads/articles/why_teach_poetry.pdf

Cumming, R. (2007). Language play in the classroom: Encouraging children’s intuitive creativity with words through poetry, 41(2), 93-101.

Fox, E. & Riconscente, E. (2008). Metacognition and self-regulation in James, Piaget, and Vygotsky. Educational Psychology Review, 20, 373-389. doi: 10.1007/s10648-008-9079-2

Jackson, S. (2007). Speaking in poems. Teaching Artist Journal, 5(1), 22-26

Stanley, N. (2004). Creating readers with poetry. Gainesville, FL: Maupin House Publishing.