Why Use Poetry to Teach Reading Skills?

    I wanted to share some of my findings in using poetry to teach reading (I did research on the subject for my reading methods class). I love poetry and I also write poetry, so I was very interested in how poetry was being used in classrooms to teach reading to all students and can be helpful in teaching reading to students who are struggling readers.

    Poetry reinforces many reading skills including decoding, vocabulary, an understanding of word families, spelling skills, fluency, and comprehension. Another thing that is great about using poetry, especially in the elementary school grades, is that poetry can help foster a joy of reading. Many young children love poetry that rhymes and love to rhyme themselves.

    One of the best things about incorporating poetry into a reading program is how little time it takes. It can be added in addition to what is already being used in the classroom. Spending as little as 10 minutes a day with poetry can increase students reading skills and reading fluency.

    Poetry can be used at all age and grade levels. When considering poetry, consider the topics that your reading audience might be interested in, the age level, and the subject matter. There are poetry written about many different subjects that can be of interest to a variety of different readers. Also, you could include poetry by local poets.

    For beginning readers or students with limited fluency be careful to select shorter poems. Poems tend to be short (especially if they are written for elementary school students), but not all poems are short. If you select short poems for beginning readers, it makes it easy for the reader to reread the passage and begin to read with pausing and inflection. Shorter poems can also keep students from feeling overwhelmed.

    For students with reading disabilities, poetry could be a way to get the students interested in reading. It gives the student the option of reading shorter passages and not feeling overwhelmed when they sit down to read. Reading an entire chapter book can be very overwhelming for a student with a reading disability.

    Poetry is also great to read aloud.  Reading poetry aloud to students is great.  Also, you can implement reader's theater in your classroom using poetry.  You can have students give poetry reading, or you could have a class trip to a poetry reading, or maybe invite a local poet to give a poetry reading. 

    There are many websites and books about poetry and about using poetry in the classroom. Many poems are available online as well. Poetry is something I will definitely be using in my classroom.

http://www.poetryteachers.com/
http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=3753607
http://www.literacyconnections.com/readerstheater.php