How to Build a Joyful School Culture — Through Poetry!

In a Success Academy classroom last Friday, teacher Rachel Weinstein gathered her third graders in a circle on the rug, and told them to close their eyes, listen carefully, and think about the meaning as she read them the following poem:

As the students opened their eyes, Ms. Weinstein asked them, “Who will tell us what you were thinking?” Students shared their thoughts about the poem: “It made me feel joy. Because when people are dancing and beautiful it makes you feel happy,” said one student. “I thought it was odd but wonderful. They are dancing and they are all together,” said another.

Ms. Weinstein’s co-teacher, Page Kahle, jumped in: “What does the “thanks” in the title mean? The author uses the word ‘circle’ over and over, but I don’t see the word ‘thanks’… or do I?” The following discussion ensued among the students:

“I think the author doesn’t use ‘thanks’ because he wants to show not tell. It might be the deeper meaning. We have to think hard about it.”

Another student jumped in: “How can just one word be the deeper meaning? There has to be more to it than just one word!” Some students nodded in agreement, and one offered: “I agree with that. I think the speaker really cares about the earth around him because he keeps repeating lines about the trees, the stars, the sun.”

A girl pushed the idea further, “I want to add on to that: I think the speaker’s really thankful because he keeps saying they’re beautiful and when something is beautiful you feel thankful.”

The discussion continued for several more minutes, then students moved to their desks to write their own poem about something they felt thankful for. This lesson was part of a new initiative we introduced this year, Poetry First Fridays. Poetry First Fridays aims to deepen a communal love of poetry among our scholars and teachers by allocating time on the first Friday of each month. During Poetry First Fridays students and teachers across all 31 Success Academy elementary schools, read and discuss the same poem, and then work on a creative project in response. Creating this kind of shared literary experience builds community at our schools — students and teachers building authentic engagement with literature, with one another, and with peers outside their classrooms as they exchange thoughts and opinions about a text they have all read and thought deeply about.

If you follow me on LinkedIn, you probably already know how much we value poetry at Success Academy. We weave poetry throughout our literacy curriculum not only because poetry is a beautiful form of literature, but also because we care above all about ideas. Great poems express powerful and poignant ideas with very few words and are thus uniquely suited for close, critical analysis of how authors build meaning through word choice, rhyme and rhythm, and other literary techniques.

Poetry is sadly neglected in the curriculum of most public schools. Many teachers give poetry only cursory attention, saving if for a rushed, final unit in the school year. We have found that our new teachers don’t feel confident in teaching poetry: often they haven’t had much exposure in their own schooling.

We use our training to help them learn to unpack meaning and find the joy and beauty in poems, so they become confident readers, analyzers, and teachers of poetry. For the poetry lessons in our curriculum, we give teachers purposeful sample questions that reveal craft and structure moves, so teachers aren’t left on their own and can gain confidence and expertise in leading rich analytical discussions. At the same time, we ask our teachers to bring their own vision and passion to these lessons — for Poetry First Fridays, teachers develop unique creative projects for their students to engage in after discussing the poem, and these have ranged from collages to a classwide poem. We also build our teachers’ exposure to and appreciation of poetry, by using Poetry First Fridays as an opportunity to select and share out gorgeous poems just for our teachers and staff.

At Success Academy, we are always seeking out new ways to build a joyful academic culture that cultivates critical thinking, a love of reading, and a palpable sense of community. Poetry First Fridays helps our entire school and network community appreciate the pleasure — and fun! — that comes from delving together into a powerful piece of literature.