A teacher must find ways to be creative in order to encourage students to become more engaged in classroom activities. “I” poems: Invitations for Students to Deepen Literacy Understanding by Linda Kucan shows how teachers can incorporate “I” poems into pre-reading, during reading and post-reading activities. The “I” poem is very adaptable and can be structured in writing activities for students of all ages. By asking a student to write from the first-person point of view, you are asking the student to find the “essence” of the speaker whether it be a person, an inanimate object or a place. This requires the student to get to know their subject. The “I am” format is a great tool to help students ask themselves questions to get to know their subject in an intimate way. A great pre-reading activity to help the students develop a deeper understanding of their subject (the material), as demonstrated in the article, is to have the students perform research particular subjects of the reading material. I loved the idea of having the students do research on particular environments, including in the search animals, plants and weather. Each student’s individual research can then be collectively shared with all the students, increasing each student’s knowledge of the material.
I love how the article provided practical uses for the “I” poem in the classroom. I will definitely use it in my classroom.
Question #1
How can students benefit from researching the characters, setting, plot, etc. of the reading material to create an “I” poem?
Question #2
What are the benefits to teaching students to look at writing “as a knowledge transforming process, a process in which the writer’s thoughts come into existence through the composing process itself” verses the standard five paragraph essay taught in many classrooms today?
Question #3
If Dewey’s notion (1934) was right, that “learning or understanding depends upon opportunities to engage in reflective self disclosure”, then why is it we still look at standardized testing as the best fit for education since this type of testing promotes memorization and regurgitation of facts?
