Teaching Love of Poetry

When I first started to teach at Drake Junior High in 1961, the only books available for my 7th grade classes was a set of grammar books, copyrighted 1941. I knew that teaching nothing but grammar would not only bore my students to distraction, but me as well.

So I began to create my own curriculum. One of the first was a unit on poetry. It is my belief that you need to teach students to love poetry before they learn to hate it. I incorporated instruction in poetic devices—not only rhyme and rhythm, but also metaphor,simile, alliteration and onamotopia.

To teach onamotopia, I recorded sounds such as ice being dropped into a glass, the gargling of a disposal, the slamming of a door. Students were instructed to write a description of the sound using alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhythm, etc.

Another innovation was to publish a booklet of students’ writing. Students were thrilled to have even a sentence or phrase published with their name.

I was invited by the district to spend two summers writing curriculum for junior highs. H-m-m, I wonder if after 60 plus years any of that curriculum I developed is still being taught?

Wilma Gundy