Poetry Update

With the poetry challenge coming to a close tomorrow I figure it's about time to reflect on the assessment and the learning.

Being about the fourth time I've taught the poetry unit - it's gotten to a point where I've gottem more flexible in which poems I share with my students.

I don't go through every structure any more either - I allow my students to explore and find structures that fit with them.

Poem selection is always difficult with a new group of kids because you're still getting to know them but it's a good difficult because once you've made that connection through poetry and see how they tick - everything else just falls into place.

Now before I carry on any further I just have to say how incredibly impressed I am with one of my students. Going into this challenge he was stand-offish and didn't think he could do it. Without teaching him Mindsets - he adopted a growth mindset, read tonnes and tonnes of poetry - particularly Wordsworth, Coleridge, Tuwhare and Yeats and his poetry lives and breathes in those men's style. My student is seriously one to look out for.

He made me cry yesterday because he was just so incredibly awesome. Actually awe some.

Add tweet here.

After finishing his selection with days to spare he sat across from me and talked about how he'd been inspired by those poets and how it wasn't that big a deal because it was just the way he thought - things he thought about alot - like hunting and fishing. He spouted off new lines to another student in offers of help and showed just how much he has seriously learnt. The student getting the help was just as gobsmacked as I was.

I really cannot wait to see what my Little Bard does next. He's already so excited about our next Creativd Writing assessment. So so so so cool.