Thursday’s the day to pack a poem

Dodi, David, Gail, Wayne, Jan, Richard, Steve, Louie, Pam, Harlan, Maisie, Tim, Joyce, John, Karla, Paula, Craig, Patti, Tom, Bonnie and I were all gathered cozily around Jan’s kitchen table a few years ago. We were laughing, visiting, remembering past gatherings, telling jokes – old favorites and brand new ones – and enjoying one another’s company.

Someone – too much time has elapsed for me to remember exactly who – mentioned that April was National Poetry Month. People began announcing their favorite poets. Soon, lines of poetry danced through the conversation. Then, one by one, whole poems were resonating through the air as these friends pulled from their hearts and memories verses that they had memorized when they were students.

I was mesmerized by the poetry, by the facial expressions as the poems were recited, by the emotion of sheer joy – the joy of remembering something learned long ago; the joy of sharing a poem with friends; the joy of the music and emotions of the verse. And being the teacher that I am, I thought about the act of memorizing poetry as an educational strategy.

I went home and thought and did some reading and some more thinking. The next Monday morning, I read some poetry to my class. Nothing fancy, nothing particularly classic, but very playful and engaging. Then I told my class the story of being at a party with friends and how we ended up reciting poetry that had been learned in school.

Then I told them the story of how years and years ago, when I worked at the Bangor YMCA child care program, my kindergartners memorized Shel Silverstein’s “Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout.” I told my multiage class of first- and second-graders that we were going to memorize the poem, too. And memorize it they did, gleefully shouting the ending, “But children, remember Sarah Stout, And always take the garbage out!”

My initial efforts at making poetry part of the daily life of my classroom were stilted and formal. Fortunately, my teaching has evolved. Poetry is now an intrinsic part of our classroom. Students are asked to memorize a poem before school starts in the fall – anything from a nursery rhyme to a sonnet and everything in between, including song lyrics. Every year I’m amazed at the depth and breadth of poetry my students share with each other.

Soon the students start memorizing each other’s poems along with the poems I read daily to the class. Most students readily take the framework of a poem and change it to make it their own – “I know an old lady who swallowed a fly” gets restated as “I know an old lady who swallowed a school, I don’t know why she swallowed the school, perhaps she’ll drool.”

One or two students each year have a poetic voice that allows them to stand in front of the class each morning and compose an original poem that has rhythm and emotion and a lyrical sense. The trick for me is to get those students to put their oral creations in writing.

My students choose to peruse and read any of the many poetry books in the class. I use the poems to expand vocabulary, develop fluency and expression in speech and reading, recognize patterns in word sounds and in sentences, learn how to memorize and recall, play with words, listen to each other and to themselves, and to enjoy the power of words.

National Poetry Month was introduced in 1996 by the American Academy of Poets “to achieve an increase in the visibility, presence, and accessibility of poetry in our culture” (www.poets.org). This is accomplished by highlighting past and present American poets and bringing poets and poetry to the public in diverse ways.

This year the American Academy of Poets is joining New York City in celebrating Put A Poem In Your Pocket Day this Thursday. It is New York’s sixth year of celebrating this day, and the National Poetry Month’s first year. It is based on Beatrice Schenk de Regniers’ poem, “Keep A Poem In Your Pocket.”

It’s a simple poem and the idea for the day is also simple yet profound. Everyone is asked to choose a favorite poem and carry it on Thursday. When you meet with friends, colleagues and family, take your poem out of your pocket and share it. You may discover a new poem or poet; you may discover someone else who also loves your favorite poem. In either case, poetry will be a part of your day.

The great thing about this idea is that the pocket can be symbolic. Your pocket can be part of your signature on your e-mail, on the back of your business card, chanted while jump-roping, texted to a friend, or be any part of your day.

So on Thursday put a poem in your pocket, help your children choose a poem for their pockets, share the poems with each other and with all those you meet. Who knows? Your child may grow up to be either the U.S. poet laureate or the U.S. children’s poet laureate.

What poem did you have to memorize in school? Do you still remember it? Is memorizing an effective educational strategy? E-mail me at conversationswithateacher@gmail.com.