Teaching my First Poetry Program
A few weeks ago I was offered the chance to run a two week poetry program that will span the last week of July and the first week of August. This is part of a summer program the school runs and the students who will participate register based on their interest in the program.
They requested two hours a day from 10am to Noon and gave complete creative control of the content, the lesson plans and the overall direction the course will go in.
Now that I've laid out the context... wow. I'm understandably excited, but always aware of how terribly this could go. Before I delve completely into insecurities of communication, garnering interest in the subject matter or just a general fear that I have nothing of interest to say to these kids, I'll stop myself. These are all natural parts of the process, and the body of work I've put together over the last few years, my education and general interest in the topic myself should leave me confident in my ability, right? Of course it doesn't. But I'm going to do it anyway.
Let's get down to one thing I'm planning on working into the program. As a young writer I had a hard time relating to the classics. I didn't want to read long, epic romance poetry. I found Plath dull, Whitman a bit self-serving and what was the point of all that stuff about red wheelbarrows? Looking back, my ignorance is kind of cute, but as a constant reader in my youth, why was it so hard to relate to these writers?
Because when we're young our scope is so narrow and if it doesn't fit into our life experiences, often it's not that we can't understand something, it's that we don't want to. So if Dylan Thomas doesn't fit into a fifteen year olds life experience (which, God hopes it he doesn't) we have to find the bridge between the two.
My thought, while not original, is to comb through my library of great hip-hop artists, indie bands, and classic rock to illustrate examples of literary devices, why they work and how they make the art better. Doing this will hopefully create the bridge we need to then move in to talking about non-contemporary poetry.
If you've taught a poetry class or program and have tried this or something similar let me know about your experience and what worked and what didn't in the comments.
They requested two hours a day from 10am to Noon and gave complete creative control of the content, the lesson plans and the overall direction the course will go in.
Now that I've laid out the context... wow. I'm understandably excited, but always aware of how terribly this could go. Before I delve completely into insecurities of communication, garnering interest in the subject matter or just a general fear that I have nothing of interest to say to these kids, I'll stop myself. These are all natural parts of the process, and the body of work I've put together over the last few years, my education and general interest in the topic myself should leave me confident in my ability, right? Of course it doesn't. But I'm going to do it anyway.
Let's get down to one thing I'm planning on working into the program. As a young writer I had a hard time relating to the classics. I didn't want to read long, epic romance poetry. I found Plath dull, Whitman a bit self-serving and what was the point of all that stuff about red wheelbarrows? Looking back, my ignorance is kind of cute, but as a constant reader in my youth, why was it so hard to relate to these writers?
Because when we're young our scope is so narrow and if it doesn't fit into our life experiences, often it's not that we can't understand something, it's that we don't want to. So if Dylan Thomas doesn't fit into a fifteen year olds life experience (which, God hopes it he doesn't) we have to find the bridge between the two.
My thought, while not original, is to comb through my library of great hip-hop artists, indie bands, and classic rock to illustrate examples of literary devices, why they work and how they make the art better. Doing this will hopefully create the bridge we need to then move in to talking about non-contemporary poetry.
If you've taught a poetry class or program and have tried this or something similar let me know about your experience and what worked and what didn't in the comments.
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