The Power of Poetry Through Online Interaction

Writing poetry can be considered a challenging effort, even more, when it is not your first language. In this article, you will know how a teacher motivated her students to write poems as an activity that goes beyond the classroom that connects them with their thoughts and feelings.

The Power of Poetry Through Online Interaction
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“Writing poetry, students develop persuasion skills to write more effective and inspiring essays or speeches.”

Writing effectively in order to express a point of view is a competence that can be developed through the production of argumentative essays, which require good analysis and synthesis of information. In this sense, writing poetry is also an exercise of reflection that allows students to explore their thinking processes, vision, creativity, and feelings. Through poetry writing, students can develop their persuasive skills in order to write essays and speeches that are more effective using metaphors, synecdoche, or figurative language in a meaningful manner.

Creation is a complex process that requires higher-order thinking abilities, according to Anderson’s revised version of Bloom’s taxonomy (Iowa State University, 2019). After comprehension, analysis, and evaluation, creation is the next step in terms of cognitive skills. And writing poetry is quite effective for practicing this skill.

“Students explore the impact of their poetry by sharing what they wrote with their American classmates. The result has been poetic expressions that are very powerful and inspiring.”

As a part of the literature component of my International Baccalaureate English class, my students are encouraged to write poems as an activity that goes beyond the classroom and connects them with their feelings and thoughts at a deeper level. Given that English is not their first language, writing poetry could be thought of as a very challenging effort. However, I am always awed by the way they connect to that experience, which Ethel Krauze, an extraordinary contemporary Mexican writer, calls “finding the poetic word that inhabits our body.”

Over the last few years, in our school, we have had the opportunity to have online connections through Zoom and Skype with other students in the United States. In these interactions, students are able to talk about their likes, interests, and challenges at school. I decided to allow some of my students to explore the impact of their own poetry by sharing what they wrote with their American counterparts. The result has been poetic expressions that are quite powerful and inspiring.

By having the opportunity of being read by native teenage speakers, the students can receive a clear sense of audience that an adult can very possibly not give them. Only a listener their own age can provide them with the confidence and support that a burgeoning writer needs. My students’ essays and speeches have greatly improved as a result of creating poetry, and their writing has become more compelling and persuasive, which has been reflected in their external examinations such as Pearson and the International Baccalaureate.

Here are two examples of the poetry that some of my students have written:

These poems were inspired by the recent Syrian migration:

Get Ready, Fly High

Somebody once told me

To turn my future brightly

But how was I supposed to know?

How can I be shiny?

People have future, people have rights

But sometimes obstacles arise

The wheels of justice turn slowly

And we feel like we’re burning in our own country

 

But you have to fight

You have to make them proud

The ones who got lost

And the ones who got found

 

So get ready, get ready

Set your wings on fire

Show them you can deal

With this little gift called life

 -Ana Victoria Chávez Ochoa

 

Morning Glory

 Never give up when the way is dark

When the rain is rough and heavy

Never give up your dreams at the half of the road

 

At hard times you will never walk alone

You must walk on through the wind

And through the rain

Though your dreams may be tossed and blown

 

Keep walking with hope in your heart

Because at the end of the path there will be the light

Walk on through the dark with light in your heart

 

Fight with toil, tears, blood, and sweat

To wake up at the field of dawn

To enjoy the breeze of the wind and the cherry blossom

While waiting for the sun seeking for the morning glory.

 -Arturo González

Creative Exercises to Stimulate Poetry Writing

The following are three examples of the kinds of exercises that can be done to stimulate creativity in your students so that they can prepare before they write their poems.

  1. Be Walt Whitman for an Hour!

Walt Whitman was a keen observer of humanity and nature. Norman Foerster, in his article “Whitman as a Poet of Nature,” comments on Whitman’s detailed description of trees, animals, and insects in his poetry.

  • Take a few moments to observe nature around you. Sit quietly and observe anything you find interesting. If you want, you can take a picture or record a brief video of what you observed.

  • Write a poem about it.

  • Upload it to the discussion board of our course along with the picture or video of what you observed.

2. If You Were…

This exercise is adapted from a task included in a writing workshop offered by Patricia Laurent Kullick, author of “La Giganta.”

Complete the following phrases:

If I were a color, I would be…

a song…

a painting…

a flavor…

a drink…

a plant…

a planet…

a book…

an animal…

Read your responses aloud or share them with other classmates.

3. Peer Feedback

Students can ask these questions to each other to give feedback about their poetry and make it more expressive. This exercise was adapted from young poets network (2019):

  1. What do I think this poem is about?

  2. What is most interesting about this poem? Do I have any questions or uncertainties?

  3. Are there any verbs that could be stronger?

  4. Are there any synonyms that would be more musical than the ones present in this version?

  5. Could you suggest a change in grammar or lineation anywhere to improve the poem’s fluency?

Once students have gone through this creative and reflective process, make sure they proofread their poems to work on the necessary improvements. This practice allows them to develop independent skills in editing their own work, as they exercise critical thinking when they analyze and ponder the expressiveness of their writing.

Results

Students report a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction after writing their poems. Below you may find some of the opinions they have expressed:

“I love this class; it is the one I await more eagerly every day. It has motivated me and taught me a lot about poetry.”

“Writing poetry has been a way of sharing my point of view in such a way that people can easily understand it, but also see the deeper meaning behind it.”

“Poetry in class is an opportunity to set free our inner artist and to feed our souls.”

The poems some of my students have written are now published in a plaquette produced by Poetazos, a light-hearted humorous editorial concept that aims at promoting a positive and delicious contact with literature in the form of poetry and short stories. You may find further information about this plaquette here.

If you are a teacher who believes in the power of poetry, I invite you to participate in this collaborative exercise of creation by signing up here. Additionally, if you know other ways to engage students and harness their creativity, feel free to share them in this link or in Observatorio de Innovación Educativa.

About the Author

Carmen Benítez (benitez@tec.mx) is the Head of Foreign Languages at Prepa Tec Garza Lagüera and Team Leader of the English Area of Prepa Tec Región Norte. She is a graduate of the master’s degree program in Education Technology by Tecnológico de Monterrey and the University of British Columbia (UBC). She graduated with honors in English Language and Literature from Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua in 1998.

 

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This article from Observatory of the Institute for the Future of Education may be shared under the terms of the license CC BY-NC-SA 4.0