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Common Core Connections: The Power of Poetry

Introduction

Has poetry taken a back seat in your classroom? You are not alone. For a variety of reasons, many elementary teachers relegate poetry to a four or six week unit once a year, or squeeze it in during National Poetry Month in April. Perhaps you never received formal training on writing poetry as a genre in Writer's Workshop, and you are not sure how poetry can fit into your work with reading comprehension strategies. Perhaps a teacher or professor “killed” poetry for you after dissecting poems you didn't care about ad nauseum.

The Common Core State Standards explicitly list poetry and its subgenres as an integral part of the range of reading experiences we want students to have. Many of the same literature standards therefore apply. Teachers need to assist students to recognize key ideas and details, to help them notice the craft and structure of poems, and to provide opportunities for them to read increasingly complex pieces of poetry.

Not sure where to start? This article, inspired by the work of poet and teacher Georgia Heard, puts the spotlight on poetry with resources, tech tools, and ideas for how to incorporate poetry into a literacy program aligned with the Common Core.