Response to Article #1- Matthew Parent

This article was about having students write “I” poems after they have been reading novels that are narrated in first person.  I agree that literature that is written in first person does have a clear and distinct narrator voice that the students can connect with, and having the students write “I” poems will “be a way for them to deepen their literary experiences of characters, setting, plot, and narrative point of view”.  I also agree that writing after reading a text enhance the experience of the reader.  I plan on having my students write often about what we are reading in class so that they can form a deeper understanding of the text and think critically.  I also really liked how Kucan had her students who were future teachers do the “I” poems to fully understand all of the advantages and how they can enhance reading.  Kucan suggested that you can do an “I” poem before reading to build a background for a text and activate relevant knowledge, or after a reading as a way of response.  Kucan then described how she went about teaching the class how to do the first “I” poem.  She talked about the examples of how important the setting was in Sarah, Plain and Tall and some other books.  Then she gave an example of an “I” poem that focused on the description of the setting and the things that composed of that setting.  Some of the students took on the same form as the example poem, rhyming and such, while others took a different approach.  The neat thing about the “I” poems is that there is no set format.  Kucan also offered some other ways of doing an “I” poem where the students are given a fill in the blank type of poem.  I liked both versions of the “I” poems and I think that I will be able to use them in my classroom.  I think that I would choose to use a fill in the blank type of “I” poem first to get my student comfortable with writing this kind of poetry and then use the other “I” poem after the first reading.

After examining some of the links to other examples of “I” poems, I am now convinced that I will use them in my classroom.  The poetry that was produced by the students was shockingly well written, and having the student use first person seemed to be very effective.    

1.      Should the focus of the “I” poems always be on one aspect of the novel?

2.      How could “I” poems be effectively used to for students to introduce themselves to the class while still putting stress on the poetry?

3.      Would the “I” poems be useful for students with exceptions and/or ESL learners?

 

 

 

  

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