Poetry

In my second grade class we were given a new poem every week. We all read it together in class on Monday and by Friday for extra credit we could recite the poem in front of the class. The one thing was that we had to memorize the poem. That is one of my favorite memories my elementary schools and that is where my love of poetry began. I think that poetry is beautiful, amazing, dynamic. I love that a poem can only have a few lines yet say so much. I think that it is very important for children to be exposed to all different kinds of poetry. No matter what grade I teach, I will incorporate poetry into my lessons. If I do end up teaching sixth grade, I think that it is important for them to express themselves. These students are going through so many different emotions at this age, that it is important that they have a creative outlet. As a future teacher I will teach my students about the different types of poetry and require them to write their own poetry. I also think that it is important to read to your students frequently. I will try to read poetry in my class as much as possible. This will help for the students to see that there are so many different kinds of poetry. I also think that by reading poetry allowed, students will relate to it. Maybe reading a poem allowed will change a students life, just like it changed the students life in Love That Dog. I really enjoyed Wishes, Lies, and Dreams: Teaching Children to Write Poetry. It had some amazing ideas of poetry and how to teach children about poetry. I will definitely keep this book and use the ideas in my future classroom.

Useful Websites:

Poetry on PBS

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june00/poetryboxrules.html

Elements of Poetry

http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/virtualit/poetry/elements.html

Shakespeare Is My Homeboy

I have always loved Shakespeare. When I was in the 8th grade I had to do a final project and I chose the works of William Shakespeare. I have seen a few of his plays with my mom, and have always loved every minute of it. I love how different the language is from our modern day english. There is something so beautiful and unique about it. I think that it is important for children of all ages to be exposed to Shakespeare. Not only is he apart of history that all students should be aware of, Shakespeare can open the eyes of all children. They can see where all of the stories they know came from. I think that students would find it very interesting to know that many stories that they know and love are based off of the story line of Romeo and Juliet. Guy and girl fall in love, but cannot be together because of their families and their differences. I think that they would be able to relate to Shakespeare because some of the dilemmas that shakespeare's characters go through, they may as well. I think that the activity that we did in class was a great way for the students to relate to Shakespeare. We were required to break down the play and act it out in our own words. I think that this a very useful activity because it forces the students to understand what they are reading and put it in their own words. I have always thought that Shakespeare makes people's brains bigger. When people read I feel that they rush through, but with Shakespeare, people have to slow down and really focus on what they are reading. As a future teacher I will definitely introduce my students to Shakespeare. I will probably even have them work on an activity just like we did in class. Shakespeare is awesome and every child should be introduced to his plays.

Useful Websites:

Shakespeare for Kids

http://www.fireflybooks.com/Kids/Shakespeare.html

Tips for reading Shakespeare

http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/ndsu/maune/ShakespearePages/ReadingTips.html