Poetry: Metacognitive Hero of the New
by Brian Horner
Poetry is one of the most undervalued vehicles today used to enhance metacognitive thought within the classroom. It’s understandable. Most teachers (not all—but yes, most) do not understand how to incorporate poetry into their lesson constructs, or they just flat out do not understand it.
On top of that, one of the biggest mistakes teachers make when teaching poetry is teaching structured poetry. This is an especially significant mistake when the first experience we give students (typically at the elementary level) is structured rhymed poetry—including the usage of acrostic.
The reason these types of structured verse do such a disservice to students early on is that they put a limitation on thought itself. Poetry becomes a task in finding words to fit into a structure or form rather than allowing students to explore their thinking free of the chains of formal verse or syllable.
There is a huge difference.
For a moment, pretend to forget everything you have previously learned about poetry. Throw it all out the window and start over. Start fresh. Start NEW. Every single step we take in the world of poetry should be different and new. That is the beautiful thing about it. Poetry involves manifesting new perspectives and ideas to the world—things the world has never seen or even considered.
First of all, the foundations of poetry do not lay in writing.
So let’s get that straight right off the bat. Poetry is about IDEAS. It’s about LIFE. It is about creating your own ideas about LIFE. NEW ideas. Yes, we obviously know that in order to convey your ideas through a poem, writing is involved.
But consider this. Poetry itself is not a form of writing. It is a form of THOUGHT.
To be a good poet means that you are able to understand LIFE—to analyze its intricacies, its wonders, its secrets, its overall patterns, and be able to articulate these things for others to understand. This is what we want our students to be isn’t it? Wonderers? Questioners? Analyzers? Engagers in the world around them? Dissectors of the past day’s events—AND—providing meaning or significance to them?
Start with free verse when you teach poetry.
Forget the limericks and forget the acrostics. Forget the sonnets and forget the haikus. Free verse is where it’s at, baby. Free. I mean it’s right in there connected with the word “verse”, right? Your mind is FREE. No chains. No restrictions. Your students are free to focus on thought itself.?
New thought.?
New ideas.?
Analyze concepts such as “knowledge” or “art”. Analyze beauty such as “waterfall” or “rain forest”. Analyze the mundane such as “pencil”, “student”, or “truck”. Look at all these things in a brand new way and make your reader see these things in a brand new way as well.
As you get your students to start up their poetic engines, it is time to get them to take responsible risks . Writing is typically voted the “least liked” subject area of the core subjects. So taking a risk if you think you are a poor writing is essential. Never criticize during the first few times your students share some of their work and do not offer advice.
Instead, highlight and applaud when a student writes something that gives you a new outlook on the subject. And when you do this, your class as a whole will begin to take more risks as well. They will slowly begin to see what you mean by “NEW”.
As time goes on, you can sprinkle in mini lessons on various “literary weapons” (as I call them) which slowly begin to build your students’ poetic arsenal. Introduce simile, metaphor, personification, and alliteration.
Show them exceptional examples from literature and classic poetry where these techniques are used and why they are effective. Invite students to take more responsible risks in attempting new techniques and applaud success.
Applaud risk!
As time continues to move, constantly challenge students to dissect the world at the metacognitive level.
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Poetry becomes a gateway for the mind to dissect the world in myriad ways and it gives our students a springboard into their meta-emotional thinking as well.
As teachers, we do not want our students to learn OF knowledge.
In other words, effective educators do not spend their days pouring random facts into students and moving on quickly.
Student A: “I know my square roots!”
Student B: “I read that book in two days!”
Student C: “I know the layers of the atmosphere!”
Student D: “I know what a metaphor is!”
These statements are all dead end pathways to thinking. All these statements mean is that a student knows OF it. They are versed in the definition but fail to extend it to any other area of life.
In contrast, effective teachers teach their students to learn FROM knowledge.
They take information and ask themselves how they can grow as a learner because of it. How can using relevant metaphors in my writing not only enhance the level of my writing but provide new insight to my audience? How does metaphorical thinking force me to create unlikely connections between different aspects of life?
Learn of knowledge, and you are a memorizer. Learn FROM knowledge, and you are a dissector.
Big difference.
And a true poet continually learns FROM knowledge.
That is why their eye is so much more powerful than the average person’s. A poet will see things that the rest of us do not.
What we need to understand about poetry is that it is much more than just throwing a bunch of words together. It is not about rhyming, tone, structure, or beat. It is not about being silly, sad, or upbeat. It is about transforming our perspective of the world and challenging others to consider that there is always something new to discover. It is about bringing metacognitive thought to the forefront of the mind and having our students discover who they are through this process.
Teacher to Student:
While others around you remain passive, swaying in the breeze as the world passes them by; you need to be fearless. You must inject yourself into the world around you.
Dissect it. Transform it. Create something …
New.
About Brian Horner
Brian Horner has been a classroom teacher for almost 30 years and has been systematically incorporating the Habits of Mind into daily practices across the spectrum of curriculum for just as long. He currently teaches in a gifted magnet program in Naperville, Illinois and is the founder of Kid Innovation College , which offers academic enrichment to students throughout the Western suburbs of Chicago.