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Knowles Hill School an excerpt from the Exeter Model Teacher Training Project |
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Introduction and Overview We introduced the scheme of work by telling the class of Year Eight students (aged thirteen years) that they had been specially chosen to take part in the pilot scheme of poetryclass. We told them that the work we were going to do would help decide how poetry writing should be taught, and would help to train teachers.
Students were each given a private notebook for their writing. They were told they could decorate their jotters, something that is not usually allowed. These were not graded, although they were marked with plenty of helpful comments. Students told us which poems we could read and which ones we could not. Each book was flicked through but not read, in order to check that enough work was being done. Poems were only read with the writer's permission; this was in order to build up a sense of trust, and worked extremely well. (In the evaluations the privacy factor is mentioned frequently as one of the most encouraging aspects.)
To allow the teacher to check progress without marking the notebook students handed in one complete poem per week, which they could present in any neat form they chose. We noticed a problem with the redrafting of work. Students were extremely reluctant to redraft. We think there are two main reasons. Firstly, the students had only just written the poems, and were too close to them to want to cut them up. Secondly, these poems were probably the first they had ever been proud of, and they may have been frightened of ruining them. We found that peer evaluation was more effective. We also encouraged the use of dictionaries and a thesaurus to widen the vocabulary in the work. Students worked to produce a class anthology, with each student contributing at least one poem. The final anthology was printed up and distributed to each member of the class.
One change from our original plan: we had intended to have one or two poems read aloud for fun at the beginning of every lesson. Students were to be given at least a whole days notice to allow them time to choose a poem. This poem was not to be analysed, apart from the student who chose it being asked what they liked about it. Unfortunately this was never fully up and running for a number of reasons. However, if I ran this again I would certainly re-introduce this feature. -
Claire Sapiano, Trainee Teacher at Exeter, working with Excerpt from Knowles Hill School project continues with:
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URL http://www.poetryclass.net © 2000 The Poetry Society
Lessons were conducted in silence unless the teacher said so. It
was stressed (and reinforced where necessary) that laughing at or
making fun of other students would not be tolerated; this produced an
atmosphere in which all students felt relatively relaxed about reading
their work aloud. The atmosphere was workmanlike but fairly
relaxed. 
We started each lesson with at least one session of free writing,
with the teacher giving the first line. This is not the students'
favourite part of the lesson, but on one occasion we did not do it and
the standard of writing was considerably lower. (Opening lines such as
As I felt the daggers' bite... and As I felt the feathery
softness envelope me... have been more successful than titles for
the poem or less guiding first lines.)
During one of the final lessons we held a Poetry Celebration. Each
student was given an invitation the
week before. During the lesson they had orange juice and chocolate
brownies, and were presented with their anthologies and a certificate
congratulating them on being chosen for the course. The certificates
were presented by the Principal, and students read a selection to the
class. The local press were invited, and we should be appearing in the
Herald Express any day now! 