At Churchfields Junior School we think the teaching of poetry is very important. As a result each year group has a variety of different poetry they study and perform. These poems include poetry from different cultures as well as classic poems. We believe it is important for children to understand different cultures and poetry allows a quick yet detailed portrayal of what life is like for the protagonist within their culture.
Over the years we have found that readers of all levels often engage more actively with poetry than novels. This is because they don’t need to be read in a particular order and the sense of achievement at completing and analysing a poem is available much quicker to the children due to the length. Additionally, the fact that poetry has its own set of rules which can be broken gives students the option to create their own unique voice and explore and play with language. This is not always available when studying a novel and allows pupils to get excited about a story and adventure in one or two verses instead of one or two pages.
Furthermore the performance nature of poetry allows less confident children the chance to perform and explore how words sound and sentences are constructed. The study of rhythm, repetition and rhyme we have found helps develop the pupils’ confidence in performing. Moreover, the analysis of what messages are being conveyed to the audience provides children with the transferrable skills allowing them to analyse other pieces of texts effectively.
Finally, poetry allows children to connect their own experiences with the poets and build an in depth picture of the themes that are present within the poem studied. This helps links to be made and helps the children across the curriculum in beginning to make links and relate to their own experiences.
