| There are several reasons why it is important to teach students to read and write poetry. First, the study of poetry satisfies requirements required by the State of New Jersey for the development of essential language arts skills. Second, the construction of original verse provides students with an avenue to explore their sense of identity and voice; as Desai and Marsh (2005) claim, poetry provides a way to "reflect and articulate [students'] lived experiences while envisioning new possibilities" (p. 72). And finally, poetry appeals to students along a continuum of skills and abilities. Not only does poetry interest struggling and hesitant readers, "research that focuses on how particular skills and strategies produce good readers suggests that poetry is effective with strugglers" (Sekeres & Gregg, 2007, p. 466), but it also appeals to children who enjoy an intellectual challenge. Poetry can help "[more proficient readers] to build verbal communication skills, tap into the power of expression, make personal connections to texts, [and] build analytical thinking skills" (Young, 2007, p. 50). Because of these benefits, it is vitally important to teach poetry. Nonetheless, poetry is beginning to disappear from the classroom as a result of educator and student reticence, and state and federal level educational goals focusing on test scores and standardized assessments.. |
