Lydia Noland
Integrating Poetry into the Writing Classroom: Analysis, Emotion, and Identity
Overview
The instructors writing these articles come from various teaching backgrounds; some have experience in writing centers, while some have strictly taught composition, rhetoric, literature courses, creative writing, or some combination. All come to the agreement that poetry is useful in writing instruction. Each offers activities they’ve done in class to incorporate poetry into their classroom, ranging from looking at strictly verbal modalities to the inclusion of visual and multimodal poetic compositions. They find poetry helps students understand metaphorical language and to better grasp how to approach analysis, in addition to persuasion techniques and language control.
McVey and Litten implemented creative writing exercises as a part of these lessons, which they found encouraged students to find their voice and explore their sense of identity. Martinez and McVey find text messages to be an approachable starting point for this type of self-reflection, moving from short texts students create every day into short texts that they are less familiar with. Each of these scholars found students were more willing to engage with the shorter reading assignments and often had more to say regarding them, than longer articles or textbook readings. An increase in student reading then promotes better writing practices and attitudes.
Possible challenges to this shift could be a higher workload for instructors to find and cultivate the materials. It may also be challenging for students who either don’t have much experience with poetry, or who already have negative experiences with it. Martin in particular acknowledges the many obstacles instructors experience when trying to incorporate poetry into the classroom, namely that professors of literature might not be the greatest composition instructors and vice versa. However, I think highlights a unique opportunity we have as GTAs who are perhaps trained in literary studies and are now teaching composition. I think it presents a bridge to blend the two usually opposed modes of writing into one class that can efficiently and effectively incorporate creative exercises, specifically poetry, into first-year writing courses.
Annotated Bibliography
Leporati, Matthew. "William Blake's Emoji: Composite Art and Composition." CEA Forum, vol
49, no.1, 2021, 69-94. ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2022.
Leporati uses text messages to bridge the gap between Romantic poetry and modern communication, allowing students to understand the relationship between texts and the images that accompany them. He combines brief literary analysis with pedagogical insights to create a structured lesson about how the use of images alters the meaning of the texts they accompany. Leporati uses Blake’s “Songs of Innocence & Experience” as examples with the illustrations Blake provides as a literary window into this relationship. He then progresses into contemporary uses of the same basic concepts, using text messages and advertisements to bring the concept to life in the students’ world. These activities would be a perfect fit for our multimodal projects and Leporati finds that they provide students with more evidence to analyze and develop. I could see this extending past text messages with emojis and perhaps into social media captions or comments, or as Leporati suggests, into memes.
Litten, Jonathan. "A Girl Facing Home with Tears: Expressivism and Identity Construction in L2
Writing." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 65.5 (2022): 399-407. ProQuest. Web.
7 Oct. 2022.
Litten discusses the benefits of creative, personal poetry and prose in the writing classroom, finding it helps students construct their identity and define their world. He uses these exercises specifically in L2 classrooms, where he finds that language barriers can dissolve through personal expression and vulnerability. Creative writing, especially poetry, functions as a safe way for students to navigate their past and look to their future writing abilities. Though this does not exactly fit the mold of our ENGL 101 class, I think having smaller personal writing activities could help students engage with their own voices and experiences in ways that would transfer nicely to the larger projects.
Martin, Jane Bowers. ""the Rightest Order for Words": Modern Poetry and Rhetoric Programs."
Teaching English in the Two-Year College, vol 7, no. 3, 1981, 227-35. ProQuest. Web. 7
Oct. 2022.
Martin addresses the divide between composition and literature courses, suggesting that poetry, specifically modern poetry, provides the ideal way to bridge the gap. Since the language is still recognizable to students, they are more willing to engage with the texts and Martin finds they often end up framing their questions and observations in terms of rhetoric without even fully understanding the concepts. Martin acknowledges that this approach to teaching composition requires more of both student and teacher, but also suggests that graduate teaching assistants are perfect for this role, as most have training in literary analysis. This suggestion seems logical, although I’m sure most cohorts, just as ours is, are composed of students from multiple disciples so a literary basis is not going to be a perfect fit for everyone. Martin also suggests bringing in published poets to answer student questions about composition and word choice, so they can see both sides of the creative process of poetry.
Martinez, Valerie. “Missing Link: Metacognition and the Necessity of Poetry in the Composition
Classroom.” Writing on the Edge, vol 12. 2001, 33-52, ProQuest. Web. 6 Oct. 2022.
Martinez uses her experience as an instructor in both composition and poetry to examine how poetry serves as a new way to foster skills taught in first-year writing courses. Through her own implementation of these ideas, she finds that poetry, though daunting to some students, provides an “easy” way to have students begin metacognition with their writing processes. The shorter reading requirements make the students more likely to do the readings and increase their willingness to engage in discussion about the source materials. Martinez discovers that poetry interpretation and analysis invoke the same kinds of reflective and critical thinking we are requiring of our students in most of their assignments. In her experiences, this helps them become more conscious of how language works, sounds, and looks as we interact with it and encourages vivid, concise language use- and usually more interesting papers. She also makes the case for not only reading and interacting with poetry but having students engage in the creation of poetry to help refine their linguistic abilities. Several of the exercises Martinez proposes would fit with the assignments we’re already having students complete. I can even see using some more multimodal poetry as the projects progress, to keep a consistent theme for the course.
McVey, David. “Why all writing is creative writing.” Innovations in Education and Teaching
International, Vol 45, No. 3, 2008 August. Proquest. Web. 6 Oct. 2022.
McVey stresses the importance of making the writing process enjoyable for students by approaching the assignments creatively. Breaking down language use in terms they understand, such as text messages, gets them to see the craft that goes into each piece of communication. This can then be worked into larger aspects of the class. McVey also suggests a higher reading load to provide linguistic interaction for students, and hopefully, help them find enjoyment in reading, and creating. He proposes small, timed, regular writing assignments in class to get them to express themselves openly- through journal entries, blog posts, short analytic exercises, or traditionally “creative” writing.
Teaching Application
Based on the research I explored, I have created a Unit 3 Assignment that focuses on multimodal production. The goals of the project are as follows:
To start the assignment, each student will identify a broad emotion located at the center of the feelings wheel. Based on this emotion, they’ll find a poem of at least 20 lines that they think creates this feeling. They’ll then have to deepen the definition of that feeling, based on the poem they find, moving outward on the feelings wheel and expanding their understanding of the song. This will be done through a close analysis of the poem, as students will highlight/annotate/mark up a printed copy of the poem to be turned in with the final project. They will also be asked to reflect on their personal connection to the poem throughout the project. This will be done through a couple of journaling prompts throughout Unit 3. (This is part of my plan for my poetry-based composition class proposal for the fall, in which students will have a creative writing journal that they’re required to write in throughout the semester.)
Overview
The instructors writing these articles come from various teaching backgrounds; some have experience in writing centers, while some have strictly taught composition, rhetoric, literature courses, creative writing, or some combination. All come to the agreement that poetry is useful in writing instruction. Each offers activities they’ve done in class to incorporate poetry into their classroom, ranging from looking at strictly verbal modalities to the inclusion of visual and multimodal poetic compositions. They find poetry helps students understand metaphorical language and to better grasp how to approach analysis, in addition to persuasion techniques and language control.
McVey and Litten implemented creative writing exercises as a part of these lessons, which they found encouraged students to find their voice and explore their sense of identity. Martinez and McVey find text messages to be an approachable starting point for this type of self-reflection, moving from short texts students create every day into short texts that they are less familiar with. Each of these scholars found students were more willing to engage with the shorter reading assignments and often had more to say regarding them, than longer articles or textbook readings. An increase in student reading then promotes better writing practices and attitudes.
Possible challenges to this shift could be a higher workload for instructors to find and cultivate the materials. It may also be challenging for students who either don’t have much experience with poetry, or who already have negative experiences with it. Martin in particular acknowledges the many obstacles instructors experience when trying to incorporate poetry into the classroom, namely that professors of literature might not be the greatest composition instructors and vice versa. However, I think highlights a unique opportunity we have as GTAs who are perhaps trained in literary studies and are now teaching composition. I think it presents a bridge to blend the two usually opposed modes of writing into one class that can efficiently and effectively incorporate creative exercises, specifically poetry, into first-year writing courses.
Annotated Bibliography
Leporati, Matthew. "William Blake's Emoji: Composite Art and Composition." CEA Forum, vol
49, no.1, 2021, 69-94. ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2022.
Leporati uses text messages to bridge the gap between Romantic poetry and modern communication, allowing students to understand the relationship between texts and the images that accompany them. He combines brief literary analysis with pedagogical insights to create a structured lesson about how the use of images alters the meaning of the texts they accompany. Leporati uses Blake’s “Songs of Innocence & Experience” as examples with the illustrations Blake provides as a literary window into this relationship. He then progresses into contemporary uses of the same basic concepts, using text messages and advertisements to bring the concept to life in the students’ world. These activities would be a perfect fit for our multimodal projects and Leporati finds that they provide students with more evidence to analyze and develop. I could see this extending past text messages with emojis and perhaps into social media captions or comments, or as Leporati suggests, into memes.
Litten, Jonathan. "A Girl Facing Home with Tears: Expressivism and Identity Construction in L2
Writing." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 65.5 (2022): 399-407. ProQuest. Web.
7 Oct. 2022.
Litten discusses the benefits of creative, personal poetry and prose in the writing classroom, finding it helps students construct their identity and define their world. He uses these exercises specifically in L2 classrooms, where he finds that language barriers can dissolve through personal expression and vulnerability. Creative writing, especially poetry, functions as a safe way for students to navigate their past and look to their future writing abilities. Though this does not exactly fit the mold of our ENGL 101 class, I think having smaller personal writing activities could help students engage with their own voices and experiences in ways that would transfer nicely to the larger projects.
Martin, Jane Bowers. ""the Rightest Order for Words": Modern Poetry and Rhetoric Programs."
Teaching English in the Two-Year College, vol 7, no. 3, 1981, 227-35. ProQuest. Web. 7
Oct. 2022.
Martin addresses the divide between composition and literature courses, suggesting that poetry, specifically modern poetry, provides the ideal way to bridge the gap. Since the language is still recognizable to students, they are more willing to engage with the texts and Martin finds they often end up framing their questions and observations in terms of rhetoric without even fully understanding the concepts. Martin acknowledges that this approach to teaching composition requires more of both student and teacher, but also suggests that graduate teaching assistants are perfect for this role, as most have training in literary analysis. This suggestion seems logical, although I’m sure most cohorts, just as ours is, are composed of students from multiple disciples so a literary basis is not going to be a perfect fit for everyone. Martin also suggests bringing in published poets to answer student questions about composition and word choice, so they can see both sides of the creative process of poetry.
Martinez, Valerie. “Missing Link: Metacognition and the Necessity of Poetry in the Composition
Classroom.” Writing on the Edge, vol 12. 2001, 33-52, ProQuest. Web. 6 Oct. 2022.
Martinez uses her experience as an instructor in both composition and poetry to examine how poetry serves as a new way to foster skills taught in first-year writing courses. Through her own implementation of these ideas, she finds that poetry, though daunting to some students, provides an “easy” way to have students begin metacognition with their writing processes. The shorter reading requirements make the students more likely to do the readings and increase their willingness to engage in discussion about the source materials. Martinez discovers that poetry interpretation and analysis invoke the same kinds of reflective and critical thinking we are requiring of our students in most of their assignments. In her experiences, this helps them become more conscious of how language works, sounds, and looks as we interact with it and encourages vivid, concise language use- and usually more interesting papers. She also makes the case for not only reading and interacting with poetry but having students engage in the creation of poetry to help refine their linguistic abilities. Several of the exercises Martinez proposes would fit with the assignments we’re already having students complete. I can even see using some more multimodal poetry as the projects progress, to keep a consistent theme for the course.
McVey, David. “Why all writing is creative writing.” Innovations in Education and Teaching
International, Vol 45, No. 3, 2008 August. Proquest. Web. 6 Oct. 2022.
McVey stresses the importance of making the writing process enjoyable for students by approaching the assignments creatively. Breaking down language use in terms they understand, such as text messages, gets them to see the craft that goes into each piece of communication. This can then be worked into larger aspects of the class. McVey also suggests a higher reading load to provide linguistic interaction for students, and hopefully, help them find enjoyment in reading, and creating. He proposes small, timed, regular writing assignments in class to get them to express themselves openly- through journal entries, blog posts, short analytic exercises, or traditionally “creative” writing.
Teaching Application
Based on the research I explored, I have created a Unit 3 Assignment that focuses on multimodal production. The goals of the project are as follows:
- Students will be able to demonstrate a deeper understanding of pathos
This addresses issues I’ve had with our current WP 2 & 3 projects, where students are unable to clearly identify and describe specific emotions. - Students will identify appropriate genres/audiences for their message
- Students will compose multimodal works
To start the assignment, each student will identify a broad emotion located at the center of the feelings wheel. Based on this emotion, they’ll find a poem of at least 20 lines that they think creates this feeling. They’ll then have to deepen the definition of that feeling, based on the poem they find, moving outward on the feelings wheel and expanding their understanding of the song. This will be done through a close analysis of the poem, as students will highlight/annotate/mark up a printed copy of the poem to be turned in with the final project. They will also be asked to reflect on their personal connection to the poem throughout the project. This will be done through a couple of journaling prompts throughout Unit 3. (This is part of my plan for my poetry-based composition class proposal for the fall, in which students will have a creative writing journal that they’re required to write in throughout the semester.)
Once students have completed an exploration of their chosen poem, they’ll move from textual modality, into auditory and verbal, by turning their poem into a song. Students will look at musical genres the poem could fit into, choosing one they think best fits the tone of the poem and the emotional direction they wish to take. The text of the poem will be taken as song lyrics, or perhaps just accompaniment, whichever the student chooses to do. Next, students will produce the song, either of their own composition or using some form of AI music generator (boomy.com). This will include instrumental choices, and even vocal styles they think would work well, perhaps choosing an artist they wish to include in the project. From here, they will expand into an ethos analysis of the artist they’ve chosen and how that could impact their message.
The final step of the creative process requires students to incorporate visual modality in their projects as they create a music video to accompany their song. They will first storyboard their ideas, coming up with at least 5 different scenes they wish to include. The creation of these images will include the formal and social layers of images discussed in class. They’ll also have to explain the logos behind their chosen arrangement. Based on this outline, students will then film their video, whether it be live-action or animated. Students can also sequence images together, rather than trying to record things and edit, depending on skill level and time for the project.
In keeping with our other projects, students will also complete a written reflection on this assignment. They will analyze their choices throughout the process, including but not limited to, choices of poem, genre, instruments, artist, images, and style. They must be able to explain their reasoning for each choice and create a case for how that stylistic decision furthered the emotional message of the original poem. I’m considering having students write this portion as a letter to their chosen artist, as a way to convince them to join the project. This will allow students an opportunity to try their hand at persuasion, now that they are skilled at finding evidence and analysis to back it up.
Additional Sources
Callahan, Meg, and Jennifer M. King. "Classroom Remix: Patterns of Pedagogy in a
Techno-Literacies Poetry Unit." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 55.2 (2011): 134-44. ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2022.
MacKenzie, Sarah K. "Circles of (Im)Perfection: A Story of Student Teachers' Poetic
(Re)Encounters with Self and Pedagogy." International Journal of Education & the Arts 12.7 (2011): 1-18. ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2022.
The final step of the creative process requires students to incorporate visual modality in their projects as they create a music video to accompany their song. They will first storyboard their ideas, coming up with at least 5 different scenes they wish to include. The creation of these images will include the formal and social layers of images discussed in class. They’ll also have to explain the logos behind their chosen arrangement. Based on this outline, students will then film their video, whether it be live-action or animated. Students can also sequence images together, rather than trying to record things and edit, depending on skill level and time for the project.
In keeping with our other projects, students will also complete a written reflection on this assignment. They will analyze their choices throughout the process, including but not limited to, choices of poem, genre, instruments, artist, images, and style. They must be able to explain their reasoning for each choice and create a case for how that stylistic decision furthered the emotional message of the original poem. I’m considering having students write this portion as a letter to their chosen artist, as a way to convince them to join the project. This will allow students an opportunity to try their hand at persuasion, now that they are skilled at finding evidence and analysis to back it up.
Additional Sources
Callahan, Meg, and Jennifer M. King. "Classroom Remix: Patterns of Pedagogy in a
Techno-Literacies Poetry Unit." Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 55.2 (2011): 134-44. ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2022.
MacKenzie, Sarah K. "Circles of (Im)Perfection: A Story of Student Teachers' Poetic
(Re)Encounters with Self and Pedagogy." International Journal of Education & the Arts 12.7 (2011): 1-18. ProQuest. Web. 7 Oct. 2022.