How Do You Teach Poetry To High School Students?
My students always groan out loud when I happily announce, “Today we are going to learn about poetry!” I promise them that by the end of the unit, they will have a new appreciation for this form of the written word. And most of them do learn to love poetry! Here are ideas for making the learning of poetry a little easier. Read to the students. First and foremost, you want the students to do nothing but listen to the poem. Tell them to close their eyes and just listen to the rise and fall of your voice. Practice before you read aloud. Ask the students to immediately write what they are feeling when you are finished speaking. Tell the students that it is not just the words the poet writes that have meaning, but also the rhythm and cadence of the arrangement of words that also carries tremendous power. Ask them to identify what dominant feeling they had when listening to the poem–happiness, sadness, anger, loneliness, etc. Study the poem line by line. Help them understand words they are
