Is that a Poem in Your Pocket?!

This spring, I invited my eleventh graders to participate in Poetry March Madness. Two students per day brought in a poem and the class used the polling feature on Schoology to vote on their favorites. Playoffs ran into April, and the winning poem was “Eating Fried Chicken” by Linh Dinh. On April 21st, Poem in Your Pocket Day, students were tasked with sharing their favorite poem by reading it aloud to five others. Many students selected the poems they themselves had chosen for March Madness, while others chose poems studied in class earlier in the year. Still others selected poems they’ve always loved.  Just because.

 

I asked the students to reflect briefly on what their experiences were like when they took their poems on the road. Here are some of their responses.

 

“Many people found out about this poem the same way I did, which sparked conversation into how this poem has opened up many people to enjoying poetry.”

 

“Each person made different, personal connections to the poem. The way you read a poem affects how much people like it. Some people just don’t like poetry, so then they didn’t like the poem regardless of what the poem was about or how I read it.”

 

“After reading my poem multiple times in front of many different people, I really learned the emphasis on the word forever. Forever truly means forever, as if it will never, ever end.”

 

“Reading the poem out loud has a much greater impact than simply reading the poem in your head…The words take on a whole new meaning as you are able to manipulate your voice to really bring the words to life. Second, reading a poem to my audience made me realize how bittersweet my poem is…Reading this poem to others helped me to truly understand how the poet – or speaker – felt.”

 

To chronicle our celebration of Poem in Your Pocket Day, I made a Flipagram of the poems students had selected. This is a ritual I look forward to repeating for years to come. Going into March Madness, my fear was that we would be listening to a lot of "emo" teenage angst poems, but those anxieties were quickly put to rest. From the work we have done throughout the year in poetry circles, I could see that my students were discerning in their selections. As National Poetry Month comes to a close, I am glad to have offered students full choice in their poetry selections.