Quantcast
Channel: » teaching poetry
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9

Teach the Poetry of Gratitude

0
0

Writing and reading poetry can help students learn how to explore unwieldy ideas, how to look at things from a different perspective, how to approach challenges (like building a sonnet), and how to express feelings. When it comes to expressing feelings through poetry, people often jump first to feelings of hurt, sadness, depression, or upset. But the page is also a place to be positive, to share joy, to teach gratitude and appreciation. As helpful as poetry can be for letting out anger and frustration, it is an equally strong way to celebrate the important things in life.

Below are a few lesson ideas that focus on positive emotions, like gratitude. These are meant as outlines for lessons and will require additional research or preparation before being used in the classroom.

  • Odes of Gratitude: Ask students to write down three things that they feel thankful for. Take a few minutes to let the class share some of these things aloud, while you make a list on the whiteboard/blackboard/overhead projector. Next, read a poem that is an ode and work with students to define what makes a poem an ode, and to determine the common characteristics of that type of poem. Writing Prompt: Write an ode for one thing that you are thankful for in your life.
  • List Love: Read “Learning the Trees” by Howard Nemerov and talk about it with students. Writing Prompt: Pick something that you like a lot, or that you are very interested in. List what you know and like about this thing. Expand on what is in your list to write a poem that is all about the different ways you think of this thing. Consider, what does it mean for you to know so much about this one thing? What is it you don’t know yet but would like to learn about this object or topic? Note: This could also be turned into a small research lesson as well by asking students to pick something they want to learn about and then doing some research before writing poems.
  • Happy Narratives: Ask students to write down three good things that happened to them today (or in the last week). Writing Prompt: Write a poem that tells the story of something good that happened to you, or something that happened that made you feel happy. Be sure to include specific details and lots of descriptive language.

For other ideas and poetry of the happy slant, check out the Academy of American Poets webpage on poems of gratitude.

Reading, writing, and talking about gratitude and joy in poetry class will encourage students to pay attention to those things outside of class, too. In that way, every lesson taught is a small opportunity to influence the kind of people your students will become. While your students may not all come away from writing class loving poetry, at least you can help them leave armed to seek happiness and enjoy life.



Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 9

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images