So Cool 21: Poetry Fosters Poets!

So Cool 21

[Examples of Effective 21st Century Teaching & Learning (21CTL) From My Incredible Colleagues]

Model texts give young poets ownership of the craft as they explore & develop their skills – So Cool!

I was guest in Ann Rayle’s wonderful 3/4 Multiage classroom the other day.  It’s a great place to be for many reasons.  Chief among those reasons is that there’s always some dynamic 21CTL going on.  On this particular day Mrs. Rayle was using a poem called “The Red Wheelbarrow” by William Carlos Williams in which he writes:

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glassed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens.

She used the poem to model that poetry comes in different shapes and sizes.  She made it clear through her energetic and intentional modeling that every student on her team is capable of writing meaningful poetry just like Mr. Williams.  After reading and critically discussing the piece Mrs. Rayle gave her students an opportunity to compose their own “so much depends upon” short poem.  The students were enthusiastically engaged and thrilled to have an authentic audience to share their work with moments later.  Many of the students continued to write and decided to compose more poems in their free time.  So Cool!

Some footage of the super cool learning: