The Beauty of Poetry

Poetry shows the inner soul of a poet and reveals their thoughts and feelings with a creative arrangement and choice of words. Poetry helps students become stronger writers by allowing them to recognize patterns, gain phonemic awareness, and to discover new vocabulary. It can provide a new perspective on writing. Students need opportunities to listen, read, and create poetry. 

Young children may have early poetry memories of Mother Goose rhymes. One of the best recognized poems is Humpty Dumpty. The rhyme was printed around 1810. Some people say that Humpty Dumpty is really King Richard III of England who fell from his horse during the Battle of Bosworth Field. Unfortunately, he was hacked to death by his enemies. During 1642-1649, a large cannon was named Humpty Dumpty and mounted on the Wall of St. Mary's Church in Colchester during the English Civil War. It fell down due to the enemy and was repairs to it were unsuccessful.

During the 15th century, people referred to a short, clumsy person as Humpty Dumpty. During the 17th century, a drink made of ale and brandy was called Humpty Dumpty. Probably because with too much you could fall over!

 Humpty Dumpty makes an appearance in the story,Through the Looking Glass. by Lewis Carrol. Alice meets Humpty Dumpty along her adventure. She asks his advice to decipher the Jabberwocky and the two have a discussion. He helps her understand portmanteau, or the joining of two words to create a new one, i.e. slithy = lithe + slimy The discussion isn't going as well as Alice would have liked. As she left and complained, she could hear a crash through the forest.

Many respresentations of Humpty Dumpty have been created over time and the illustrations seem to tell a different story. The rhymes themselves change with each version as well. Notice how this picture shows a member of the army pushing Humpty Dumpty:

Humpty Dumpty

Humpty Dumpty sate on a wall, 

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; 

Threescore men and threescore 

more 

Cannot place Humpy Dumpty as he 

was before. 

Humpty Dumpty has been portrayed as Hitler by this Russian artist in 1942. He was a POW in WWI and so it seems reasonable why this would become a political cartoon as well.

Narrative Poems: 

One of my favorite poems is "The Road Not Taken" By Robert Frost.

Biographies, Autobiographies, and Memoirs.. Oh, my!

This genre consists of narratives that tell the story of the life of a person. They can range from fictional to authentic therefore consisting of fiction and non-fiction. Who knew biographies can contain real or fictional characters?! Memoirs are interpretive accounts in which facts and events are arranged to bring out a theme or personality trait. It is interesting that the facts presented are explained through the memory of the person writing the memoir.

Using a common theme approach in a biography study is helpful. For example, students could study the biographies of Jane Goodall, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Amelia Earhart to understand how attitudes and determination helped each to succeed in reaching their goals despite obstacles. 

I am glad that modern biographies are now including source material. This ensures the integrity of the story. Biographies are not just highlighting heroes; Learning about infamous people can show both good and bad qualities. These are opportunities for moral enlightenment and for readers to learn about themselves. Biographies can help inspire readers to think about their place in the world today. The Notorious Benedict Arnold by Steve Sheinkin is a good example. 

An inspiring idea is to use biography with other genres to study an era. You can link literature to social studies by combining historical fiction, biography, and non-fiction to study a particular time or place. This blending not only gives facts but a human perspective too. For example, to study civil rights you could read about Rosa Parks, Langston Hughes poetry, and historical fiction like The Watsons Go to Birmingham.

An interesting teaching concept is to have students read and compare two different biographies about one person. Then students can analyze the writing to comment about which they feel gives a better perspective about that person. I also think it would be creative to have students compare a variety of sources like biographies, websites, and non-fiction articles about a person.

When selecting quality biographies, I will choose ones that rely on primary sources, have plots that are based on facts, and show a rich depiction of details and cultural forces that shaped lives. Good biographies avoid stereotypes, have strong illustrations, and reveal a unifying theme. Readers can discover the featured person's motivation under adverse conditions. Many will have a balanced perspective of their human characteristics which allows readers to connect to something within their life.

Today I had the opportunity to meet the author, Lesa Cline-Ransome. I enjoyed hearing how she researches people for her biographies and finds out the person's flaws and all! She provides stories that teach historical backgrounds in a a fun way.  Her stories bridge today's reader with people from past eras and helps readers understand that their lives are part of history, too.

Once Upon a Time When I Was a Child.....

My earliest memories of reading take me back to when my stepmother would read stories to me after washing up for bed when I stayed at my dad's house. I loved fairy tales like Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and Snow White. It was part of the nighttime ritual and established an enjoyment of books and family time.


My sister and I are close in age and we found books to be an escape in a sometimes confusing world. In a divorced household, life is not always as calm as you want it to be. Books helped me to forget where I was and experience a fantastical journey or transport myself to another time period. I loved James and the Giant Peach and Chocolate Fever to name a few. My sister and I began to have quite a collection of books so we created our own library. We organized our books and allowed neighborhood kids to borrow them.  We created a Dewey decimal system complete with index cards glued onto the book jackets and kept track of the borrowers. Yes, this included overdue fees! What entrepreneurs we were then.


My mother was an avid reader and we spent hours at the Newburgh Free Library browsing through books, curling up in chairs, and reading. My mother had a job in a library and my sister and I loved to help during the summer and pretending we were librarians. In school, I loved going to the library to pick out books and also hearing a story aloud. As I grew older and became more aware of becoming a teenager, I grew interested in the Judy Blume books. I was a bit shy in asking questions about my own development and it helped me to know that the main characters had similar feelings as I did. I looked for books that were relevant to my life. I loved reading teen bop magazines to find out the latest news on celebrity crushes. Archie comics were my favorite and I would entertain myself for hours with them.



As a teacher now, I have an classroom library with a mixture of genres. I start the year introducing our school library and having a scavenger hunt for students to become familiar with the layout. Students are required to read 20 minutes per night in an independent book of their choice. I help students select a "just right" book or one that is a bit challenging but not too easy. Each quarter, students participate in book talks which allows others to keep a list of "Some Day Books" or books they may want to read some day. Students actively communicate in a bi-weekly journal with me where they answer discussion questions about the books they are reading. These questions reinforce the common core learning and provide me an opportunity to deepen their connections. As a teacher, I try to model my love of reading by using authentic passages to teach literary elements, character traits, figurative language, or even point of view. I also have literature circles to encourage peer discussion. Each month I send home a scholastic book order to provide more opportunities to select books. This past year, I had students select biographies to read and authentic projects to share at the end. It was great to find out that the students enjoyed reading about famous people from the past and from modern society like Beyonce and Lebron James. My students also have pen pals at an international school in the Netherlands to correspond with. When the package of letters arrives, I cannot hold the students back from reading!. It is magical because they don't even realize that this all adds to their literary experience.

I can't wait to learn more about which books I should add to my classroom library and how I can help my students become fully engaged in literacy.

Trina Naclerio