Educators demonstrate a broad knowledge base and an understanding of areas they teach.
When I stepped foot into my Education 490 practicum classroom as I met my coaching teacher for the first time, she had asked me if I have any subject areas that I am dying to teach. My response was English Language Arts – primarily poetry and writing! She gave me this opportunity and I was so excited to take this on!
I taught my grade 3/4 practicum students different poetry forms that ranged from haiku to cinquain poetry that consist of syllable counting. As haikus generally illustrate seasons in the form of words, I had students write haikus about winter because my practicum was in the winter time, getting close to Christmas! Students used the idea of senses to think of lines for their haikus such as “snow is white like clouds” and so forth. With cinquain poems that they constructed, students learned how cinquain poetry usually tells us a little surprising story and has the syllable count of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 per each line. After working with these poems, students wrote good copies of their favorite haiku or cinquain poem and created a “Poetry Art Wall” in the hallway outside the classroom.
One student approached me, and asked what I believe the meaning of Poetry to be? This student loves art, and so I responded with, “you know how you have a passion for art? Poetry is more so the art of words!” He was fascinated with this response of what Poetry means to me.
