Arlington School & Family Magazine March/April 2018 | Page 26

Poetry at Patrick
By Kenneth Perkins
Question: say there’s a raisin
soaking in the sun. Is it juicy
or dry?
The third grader from Patrick
Elementary took a second to
ponder the thought. Then five
seconds. Then ten.
Finally, he smiles and says,
“Dry. If it’s been in the sun,
it’s dry.”
The student analyzing
Langston Hughes’ famous
poem “What Happens to a
Dream Deferred” wasn’t
certain of the word “fester,” as
in “Or fester like a sore,” in the
next line, but by the time he left the table, he had a better idea of how poems are written, conveyed and, ultimately,
understood.
Patrick Principal Ena Meyers said Poetry Night wasn’t only about hearing words that rhyme but also about getting
students to think about writing – and reading – in a different way.
“Poetry can be difficult for some because it really does involve a different way of thinking,” Meyers said. “A
large part of it has to do with imagery, of getting a mental picture. It often takes repetitive reading to comprehend
everything, but that’s okay.”
Patrick’s Poetry Night was set up in its large gym with stations set aside to tackle various factors of poems, such as
Haiku.
What they all had in common was the opportunity to dissect poems. At one of the stations, teachers instructed
students to read the poems, then draw pictures of what they thought it meant and, finally, discuss the message
behind the poem.
First graders’ work included underlining high-frequency words and circling all the words they thought rhymed with
another word.
Another station broke down the explanation of poems with definitions of words students ought to know, such
as stanza (lines grouped together like a paragraph), line break (the line where text ends) and verse (one line of a
poem).
“What I like about how we do this is that any student can go to any station and still get something out of it,” third-
grade teacher Leslie Skinner said. “The important thing is to make it to meet the kids’ needs, whatever they are.”
24
Arlington School & Family