The amazing genre of POETRY

Blog # 8: 23rd -24th November, 2017.  

Putting words

On paper to

Express in part

Thoughts from me

Right to

Your heart

Last week’s session concluded our LIT 102 course and the lesson was geared towards poetry. Unlike our previous lessons where we were mostly familiar with the content, poetry was mainly 'uncharted territory'. From last week's lesson, we gained a lot of knowledge about poetry and developed a greater appreciation for the genre. Poetry is referred to as a genre of writing which involves a collection of poems. A poem is a creative piece like no other and someone who combines these creative, descriptive, persuasive and imaginative forms to produce a piece which is as unique as a fingerprint is called a poet. In last week's lesson, we learnt about a poet’s purpose, the elements of poetry, various types of poems and ways in which poetry can and should be taught to students.

We learnt that a poet’s purpose in writing a poem may be to share their feelings, tell a story, send a message, be humourous and/or provide description. At the beginning of the session, the lecturer had us looking at newspaper article and a piece of poetry that spoke about a particular event. She questioned us about the differences in both pieces and we were able to draw out the elements of poetry from this activity. The lecturer further provided more elements of poetry but we particularly liked the graphic organizer, ‘My Poet Tree’ which provided a more concise set of information than the lecture slides. This caused the information to be more understandable and easier to retain.  

Additionally, we were reminded that all poems do not have to rhyme, however, we as teachers should use these types of poems when teaching poetry to students.

Moreover, we learnt about some of the types of poems such as the cinquain, haiku, sonnet,  limerick and more. Our favorite types of poems were the bio and I am poems. They were our favorites because they allowed us to be more open and expressive about our personal thoughts, fears and aspirations. These poems help readers to know more about the poet as their personalities are expressed through these words.  

After learning about the genre, we learnt about the different ways in which we can teach poetry. We discovered that we should introduce poems to student and let them see the characteristics and note how they are different from a letter, story, essay and more. Also, we discovered that students come with the misconception that poetry is boring or hard to create. We as the teachers must show to our students that poetry is fun and it is great way expressing oneself freely. We think that incorporating the activities such as creating simple poems (the five liners, haiku, I am and concrete poems) would help the students to change their perspective on poetry and develop an appreciation for the genre just as we did.

In light of all that was said, last week's lesson was very interactive and enlightening. We could not think of a better lesson to conclude our LIT 102 course. As a result of this, there were many aspects of the class that captivated our attentions and held it hostage. We must say that we enjoyed our final session and must commend our lecturer for a job well done. To begin with, we liked that the lecturer provided multiple samples for the different types of poems as we learnt about them. By doing this we were able to get a better understanding of the different types of poems. Secondly, we liked that she gave us an opportunity to create our own pieces for a few of the different types of poems. This activity helped us to have a better understanding of each type of poem and their diversity. By incorporating these activities into the lesson, the session was active and engaging. We are certain that our classmates felt the same way as they all wanted an opportunity to share their written poetry pieces.

A Sample of an original bio poem

Lastly, we liked that the lecturer read poems to the class at the beginning of the lecture and asked questions to check for understanding and also to draw out from us the difference between poetry and other genres.

In regard to the suggestions for future sessions, we recommend showing the same zest and enthusiasm for the different genres of writing as well as the teaching of the LIT 102 course.

GOODBYE!!!!!