Poetry in the new curriculum

Nicola Bloom

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

Aims

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

You will • have a selection of good poetry for use

with children from Y1 to Y6• understand different forms of poetry and

their key features• have an understanding of ways of teaching

children to read, write and perform poetry

Agenda

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

• What is poetry and why is it important?• Planning for poetry in the new curriculum• Types of poetry• Writing poetry

Why teach poetry?

Why is it important that we teach poetry in primary school?

Come up with the definitive answer to a teacherwho asks you this.

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

What is poetry?Poetry is “simply the most beautiful, impressive and widely

effective mode of saying things.”Matthew Arnold

“Language is the naming of experience, and what we name we have power over.”

Kingman, 1988“Practice in such discourse is the only way of making sure one

says things right and powerfully and courteously to oneself.”Jerome Bruner, 1967

“Choosing words is at the heart of what a writer does... Poetry is where you learn how to choose words.”

Pie Corbettchallenge learn inspire grow bloom

Why is it important to teach poetry?• It concentrates and encapsulates thought• It provokes• It entertains• It makes you see things differently• Children won’t meet it unless we introduce it

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

Why is it important to teach children to write poetry?

Learning to write poetry involves learning skills which are important for all writing • observation • visualisation• precision

in vocabularyin punctuation

• use of imagery and figurative language

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

Why is it important to teach children to write poetry?

And it sometimes involves additional skills more specific to poetry• using and understanding the effects of rhyme

and rhythm• using scansion and metre• understanding the effect of structure on the

page

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

Planning for poetry

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

Look at Poetry in the new curriculum handout.• Consider your long-term planning. Are there

any opportunities where you could sensibly link poetry with a theme or topic? (Without having to look for a poem on...)

• Where will you bring in poetry for reading?• Where will you bring in poetry for reading

and writing?• What kind of poetry?

Clouds

Sunset

Sea

Snow

Rainbow

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

challenge learn inspire grow bloom

If you believed in it I would come hurrying to your house to let you share my wonder,but I want instead to see if you yourself will pass this way.