T.O.C by Artifact
These poetry examples were created during the Teaching the Language Arts as well as Reading and Writing Instruction for Intermediate and Advanced Learners courses.
Context: Before taking this course, I was an extremely "anti-poetry" person. Like so many of my students, I was unable to understand many of the poems that I read from lauded authors such as Dickenson or Whitman; therefore, I was turned off from the genre all together. However, I learned that poetry can be enjoyable to create when a variety of formats are used, and I even felt a sense of pride when viewing my work. Since taking this course, I have included lessons on concrete and found poems which included showing my students the drafts and final copies of ones I created and then have them compose their own. I also plan to have my students complete Poems for Two Voices later on in the year.
Alignment: In completing this activity, the following Standards for the Master's Degree program were met:
B. Knowledge of Learners
The candidate incorporates knowledge of the nature of the learner, learning processes, variations in learning abilities and learning styles, and strategies for evaluating learning into the planning, delivery, and evaluation of instruction.
Showing students my rough drafts of poetry attempts along with the final draft, they feel more comfortable to experiment and make mistakes before creating their own final copies.