Today is National Poetry Day and it’s got me thinking about the value of sharing poems.
Children instinctively love poems. They enjoy the rhythms, the humour, the sheer nonsense of nursery rhymes and their early introductions to poems. Then, something happens. For most older children poetry becomes academic, boring, uncool. It’s something your teacher might force you to study, but not something you would actually choose to read, even if you still think of yourself as a reader, which, sadly, many children don’t by the time their first year at secondary school ends.
When teaching, I tried various methods to help students appreciate and become enthused by poetry, and found one of the most successful ways to create enthusiasm was simply to ask students to share their favourite poem. Even the naughtiest class clown can usually be encouraged to remember and find a cheeky rhyme they enjoyed in primary school or at nursery. They might think they’re “acting up” when they select a nursery rhyme like Humpty Dumpty, or insist that a poem about farting really is the best thing they’ve ever read, but they’re inadvertently becoming involved with language and rhythm and playful enjoyment of English, regardless of their own intentions. Much like those students who insist they don’t read, but, when pressed, will admit to reading blogs, web pages and magazines, students who don’t ‘do’ poetry often find themselves chatting excitedly about, er, poems.
So, completely ignoring the official theme of this year’s day (light, in case you were wondering), I thought I’d share some rather silly poetry with you in the form of poetry posters. Enjoy!
Photo credit: http://thenextbestbookblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/poetry-for-masses-our-celebration-of.html