· exeter model

Knowles Hill School

student evaluations of the 

Exeter Model Teacher Training Project

""When my teacher first told us we were going to be doing a poetry class I immediately thought yuk, how boring; little did I know how much my view was going to change over the weeks."

Over the last 5 weeks we have concentrated on writing poetry, but not very many schools teach poetry writing. The poetryclass scheme is meant to show teachers that it can be fun to teach students how to write poems, but how can we persuade students? 

Your task is to write an article for a new booklet that could be sent to schools. As members of the pilot scheme of poetryclass you have had experiences that many other students will not have had. 

We want you to explain to the teachers and students of these schools why you think they should do the work that we have been doing... read more

Many students, particularly boys, may think that writing poetry is boring or 'girly'... read more

Persuade your audience that writing poetry is fantastic and worth doing... read more 

We want you to explain to the teachers and students of these schools why you think they should do the work that we have been doing. 

• What will they get from it? 
• Why will they enjoy it? 

When my teacher first told us we were going to be doing a poetryclass I immediately thought yuk, how boring; little did I know how much my view was going to change over the weeks.

In poetry class I have enjoyed free writing. Also I have enjoyed having a poetry diary because nobody is allowed to read it so you can write anything in it. Teachers are only allowed to read pages that you let them.

I would advise anybody to take part in this scheme as it is a great experience. I also think you learn a lot about yourself when writing poetry.

The children will get a new sense of understanding words, become more descriptive in their writing, and extend more vocabulary. They will enjoy the poetry class because you are with your friends so you can share your work.

Before [this project] I really didn't know anything about poetry and things related to it... [the teacher and trainee teacher] have taught me loads, like when we do free writing. Don't think, just write anything that comes into your head, it doesn't matter if you even write the same word 3-4 times. After about 2 weeks you get the hang of free writing very well.

We have done free writing which is a good way. You can write poems re-draft them and then they become good. This is even if you don't think about what you're writing.

Poetry does not have to rhyme and poems can be as long or as short as you want them to be.

I have come up with some good ideas of my own. Also some not so good ideas.

We learnt how to put crazy ideas that were in our heads down on paper no matter how strange they sounded.

Poetry class is good because you can practice your poetry and it lets you improve your vocabulary and help you get better English grades.

You will enjoy poetry class because it's interesting, you only have to read out things if you want to, also because it is fun and you do things that other people don't normally get to do.

To convince other schools to teach poetry you could do short classes, like two lessons, and then let the class vote on it if they want to be taught poetry.

Before doing poetryclass I thought poetry was just words that had to rhyme, but now I understand the poetry is a collection of emotions and feeling described in a new sensational way.

I feel honored to have been a member of that class and to have been chosen to write poetry. using poetry helps release your emotions, anger, happiness, hate, love.

We also learnt a little phrase which will stay with me forever "Show me, don't tell me."

Many students, particularly boys, may think that writing poetry is boring or 'girly'. 

• Why should boys write poetry? 
• What could they write about to make it interesting for themselves? 

Poetry is not 'girly' in fact some of the boys wrote some of the best poems. 

Boys should write poetry because like girls boys should express their feelings and emotions. Boys can write poetry from football to girls and true loves. They just have to write whatever comes into their heads...

To be honest with you... it's fab yeh maybe it's girly and so on but hey maybe it will improve your love life... so get involved it's great fun and very relaxing (apart from freewriting) and even if you don't do a poetryclass write some anyway - get your mates involved and exchange ideas. And trust me, you won't regret it... just give it a go, write about wrestling or music or bikes, whatever interests you and be a part of it.

Boys might not like writing poetry, but they should write poetry because it will help them when they get older and they can make it more interesting for themselves by writing about things they're interested in like football or other sports.

You need to really persuade your audience that writing poetry is fantastic and worth doing. 

• What have you enjoyed about the work? 
• Has your view of poetry writing changed over the last few weeks? 
• Do you think you will keep writing poetry in private after the work has finished? 

After taking part in this pilot scheme I am much more confident and have found a new way to express my feelings and opinions.

I thought that free writing would be really hard because I thought whatever came into my head would be really stupid. My first few poems were really pathetic and didn't make sense and they were really meaningless but now my poems are meaning something.

I like the way that during free writing you are given a first line and you can do what you like after that. This meant that no two people had a similar poem... everybody has developed their own individual and unique style, which is easily distinguishable.

I think I will keep writing poetry after the class has finished because it's really fun.

It made me appreciate poetry so much more, my view of poetry has changed tremendously as I never really liked it but, after this work, I have changed.

I really liked the fact that we had our own personal poetry books...also liked the way that they were very private and no-one else read my poems unless I gave permission.

Writing poetry is a good way of using up any free time. I will keep writing poetry, privately, in the future, as I love it now.

I think that because the poetry was private, I could write poems about my feelings without knowing that someone either a teacher or a student was going to read them and judge them. My poems are very personal and I liked the respect that I was given for wanting to keep them that way.

I think I will definitely keep on writing poems... I will probably keep them private for a while until I am ready for people to read them.

I found out that I could write poems and use my writing skills in a new way.

Anyone can enjoy writing poetry, all you have to do is write about something you love.

Before starting the class I'd already had 2 poems published. I now have some more poems to work on and send off. I have learnt some new tactics of writing poems. 

I have learnt in this lesson that poetry can be fun as well as rewarding.

Knowles Hill School:  Year 8
Student Teacher:  Claire Sapiano
Teacher:  Erika Denham

Back to Exeter Teacher Training project

Return to Top

After you've browsed our site, we invite you to register on our feedback form.