Poetry

Student teachers' poetry support needs

Many of the student teachers you work with may well have had limited experiences of poetry. They may have had infrequent opportunities for writing and performing their own poetry and little experience of hearing poetry performed by others at school or subsequently. They may well not consider reading poetry as a pleasurable, out of school activity and, whether they studied English at degree level or not, they could have avoided poetry through careful selection of modules.

In research conducted with secondary PGCE English student teachers about their developing subject and pedagogic needs at different stages of their training (Dymoke 2009), I identified pre-course subject knowledge support needs connected with:

extending knowledge of specific poets, periods, groupings of poets (such as contemporary and children's poetry) and moving beyond canonical texts;
technical aspects such as improving understanding of structure, poetic terminology, stressed and unstressed syllables and forms (including ballads and sonnets);
analysis and appreciation of poetry texts.

Aspects of poetry teaching pedagogy that they required support with at the beginning of their courses reflected their concern with developing effective classroom practice and, especially, with aspects of differentiation:

(the most pressing need) finding ways into teaching poetry which would support specific groups of learners (such as boys or those within a particular ability range) and choosing approaches linked to teaching and assessment objectives;
selecting appropriate poems for specific age groups/abilities;
support with teaching poetry writing.

If some of your student teachers have subject knowledge concerns with poetry (or any other aspects of their English/Literacy teaching) then it will be helpful to draw on the expertise of other student teachers in your group. I find it is crucial to establish the idea of peer support and shared professional development at an early stage with each new cohort of student teachers. Not only does this enable them to develop their pedagogic skills and to draw on their prior learning but if you tried to support every student teacher with every need yourself you would be exhausted! One simple way of beginning this process is to ask each student teacher to identify 3-4 topics or areas of expertise from their previous studies which they would feel confident offering support on. These could be matched to aspects of the National Curriculum or be more broadly based. (Our previous student teachers have identified topics including high level sub-editing skills, dissertations on aspects of Linguistics, Blake, Dickens and Carol Ann Duffy, expertise in use of PowerPoint and knowledge of use of code-switching amongst young Asians in Leicester.) Ask the student teachers to advertise these topics either electronically or face to face depending on time/group size.

In terms of supporting poetry specific subject knowledge needs, you might also want to draw on some of the activities suggested in Table 1.

Table 1
Supporting poetry subject knowledge development

Area of need	Suggested Activities	Resources
Extending knowledge of specific poets, periods, groupings of poets (such as contemporary and children's poetry) and moving beyond canonical texts	Develop your confidence and tastes by reading a wide range of poetry from single collections, anthologies and poetry magazines. Use guidance about what to read from themed library lists, poetry reviews, poetry texts included in exam specifications, specialist guides	Poetry library: www.poetrylibrary.org.uk Scottish poetry library: www.spl.org.uk/ (These fantastic libraries are well worth visiting and also have excellent on-line resources.) Reviews in professional journals like Books for Keeps, English Drama Media, NATE Classroom, Secondary English Magazine.
	Talk to your local librarian about popular texts & asking children about their favourite poems	Universal Verse: Poetry for children (guide edited by Hallford & Zaghini 2006)
	Listen to poetry on internet, radio, CD	www.poetryarchive.org www.poets.org/ Radio 4's Poetry Please & Radio 3's The Verb CD recordings borrowed from libraries.
	Go to poetry slams, readings and other performances	Look at local listings for events in your area. www.applesandsnakes.org Find out about GCSE Poetry Live events.
	Browse poetry sites on internet for historical information, critical readings and links Read introductory guides to poets' works and literary periods	www.thepoetryhouse.org www.contemporarywriters.com Lives of the Poets (Schmidt 1998) Strong Words: Modern poets on modern poetry (Herbert & Hollis 2000) The Deregulated Muse (O'Brien 1998)
Technical aspects of poetry such as improving understanding of structure, poetic terminology, stressed and unstressed syllables and forms (including ballads and sonnets)	Make links between reading aloud, listening to poetry and experimenting with writing. Experiencing poetry in these varied ways will help to develop understanding.	Poetry in the Making (Hughes 1967) - observing & writing Writing Poems (Sansom 1994) - excellent writing activities Jumpstart (Yates 1999) - writing in the classroom
	Consult a well written guide to poetic forms	The Poet’s Craft (Brownjohn 2002) - very helpful glossary The Forms of Poetry: A practical study guide (Abbs & Richardson 1990) Poetry the Basics (Wainwright 2004) Metre, Rhythm and Verse Form (Hobsbaum 1996)
	Try out a writing workshop	Try local arts listings or on-line workshops. The Arvon Foundation and The Poetry Business run courses pitched at different levels of experience.
Analysis and appreciation of poetry texts	Read aloud one new poem a week. Reflect on how it is written. Analysis of how its language works should link with why the language has been chosen & the impact this has on you and other readers. Develop confidence and your tastes in poetry by trying out activities listed. Share knowledge and identify ways to support each other in all 3 areas.	52 ways of looking at a poem (Padel 2004) - an accessible collection of short critical readings of contemporary poems. Poem for the Day One (Albery and Ratcliffe 1994) - a varied and interesting selection each with a brief commentary. Subsequent volumes are also worth a look.

Table 1 (from Dymoke 2009)

The pedagogic needs identified above inform many of the approaches and activities suggested in the following pages.

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