Poetry - Lessons Learned

Ashes of the Heart 

Forest of the Heart
the gleam of dying embers
markings of love lost
a dream that seemed eternal
dashed under foot, ask and soot

A form of poetry called a Tanka. A 31 syllable poem divided into five syllabic units 5-7-5-7-7, all five lines should flow into one thought. I wrote this several years ago.

Here is one I wrote

Offense
Gossip like waves
billowing
found shore
the ropes between us
frayed
clutching another
we tire
and
shell

Free verse, Poetry in Motion (2006) [You only have so many tiles to use, it has to flow in to a complete thought, no meter, no rhymes, just write]

I decided for part of my ten lesson plans to dive a bit into poetry. After many hours of observation and conversations with my awesome cooperative teacher I leaned this direction.
They are reading "Tears of a Tiger"(ToT) and started their research on Perseverance, historical figures who exhibit this trait. In the book ToT, there is a section of poems written by the students. I suggested doing a lesson on poems, poetry, or some form of MLA for research. Then she suggested poetry versus prose or mixing the research and poetry with a bio poem. Since our lessons have to be developed around strategies, I dug a little deeper in to those strategies from our first text. [I find I spend a great deal of time reading, researching strategies and asking questions]

It took me two day to write one lesson plan. I used a template from out text KQR (KWL strategy) and after reading about it again decided to extend this lesson over a period of two days. I also used a Bio Poem template from Teachers Pay Teachers. My cooperating teacher(CT) gave me one from Read, Write, Think, both of them were very similar.

I taught my lesson today for observation.

Here are my takeaways -
Since I work there I decided to make my copies for the instructors critique this morning. What I did not take into consideration - a lot of teachers print in the morning, the printer may be out of paper, your lessons may end up lost. (All three happened to me) I loaded the printer and prayed as I walked to the classroom that the CT still had my lesson plan I gave her to look over the day prior. She did. Game back on.
Now in the classroom, teacher lets students know I will be teaching and turns the room over to me. I give an appealing opening, draw students in, even get a few laughs. I hand out KQR form and look down to see that my Bio form was not cut in half. I look at the CT and ask, before finishing she gets her scissors and cuts them for me. [kids have no idea, instructor has no idea - I am eternally grateful for her help]
I hand out the Bio poem forms and begin to walk them through it, suddenly realizing my personal bio poem is on my laptop in the room I am a para in...so I use the one on the first form the teacher gave me a week ago on Rosa Parks.
Today, the strategy was solid. The students had a working knowledge of poetry. They gave basic "Rules" that they knew. Mixing a biography and a poetry style that doesn't rhyme added to their working definition of poetry. Building and connecting their fiction and nonfiction work was bonus.

Today, I realized that even the best laid plans fail some times, I could have floundered, stopped teaching, made excuses, or a number of things but I kept teaching. I kept engaging and I taught the lesson.  The instructor who has observed me before said she could see growth.

Here is my instructors email to me this evening - "You did a great job and will be a wonderful teacher. Students will be lucky to have you. I meant to tell you that "Mrs. Teacher"  walked me to the room. She told me what a great job you were doing and how much everyone liked having you there."

Email from my cooperating teacher - "You did a great job today."

I hope to continue to grow and learn.