Kicking Off the School Year With Poetry Inside Out
In the beginning most teachers want to know “How?” Looking down at the three lines of Japanese characters that make up Matsuo Basho’s famous frog haiku Furu ike ya, they ask, “How can my students do this? How can I do this?” And with that they begin to experience Poetry Inside Out.
Looking for strategies to build literacy skills in their culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, teachers from Oakland and San Francisco Unified school districts gathered this month for two full-day Poetry Inside Out workshops. In addition to providing teachers with teaching strategies and the preparation to bring Poetry Inside Out’s unique language arts curriculum to their classrooms, the workshops help build a community of practitioners in the Bay Area.
Each workshop began with the task of translating Basho’s haiku Furu ike ya (usually translated as “Old pond”), and then the group spent time digging into the mechanics of poetry, language, and meaning at work in the poem and revealed during the translation process. The translation work and group discussions helped the teachers see for themselves how Poetry Inside Out creates a collaborative environment in which impassioned discussions and close reading exposes students to the inner workings of language.
One teacher remarked that this was exactly what she had been looking for: a way to deepen her students’ understanding of language and the value of their diverse linguistic heritage. Most Bay Area teachers using Poetry Inside Out in their classroom work with a diverse student population including many English Language Learners. More than 30% of students in Oakland and San Francisco are classified as English Language Learners, but all students can benefit from the lessons of Poetry Inside Out.
After the initial translation, teachers looked at a handful of the nearly one hundred published translations of that particular haiku, and in doing so collapsed the myth of a single, correct translation. It’s the seemingly impossible task of translating something as nuanced and condensed as poetry that gives students the opportunity to think deeply and find meaning in language. This new awareness of language as a tool that they can use to communicate thoughts, emotions, and ideas carries over into other areas of their academic life. Throughout Poetry Inside Out’s rigorous translation and discussion process students use all of their linguistic resources—including one another—to answer the riddle posed by language. They emerge more engaged and excited about learning, and with improved reading and writing skills.
The participating teachers left with strategies to address the literacy and second language acquisition needs in their classrooms and the ability to build collaborative learning environments that support productive dialogue. As they begin teaching Poetry Inside Out to their students, the teachers will join regular group and individual meetings and will get support from their fellow Poetry Inside Out teachers and program staff.
Be sure to look out for updates about student (and teacher) progress throughout the year!
If you are interested in joining our growing community and acquiring this dynamic strategy for addressing literacy and the ELD/ELL State Standards for your students, contact Program Director Mark Hauber.
