Happy National Poetry Month!
April is an awesome month to celebrate National Poetry Month and School Library Month! It is also the month my oldest son, Levi, was born on April 16, 2009! It is hard to believe Levi will be 5 years old this month!
You can read all about National Poetry Month by clicking here!
I am embarrassed and ashamed to admit that I have never celebrated National Poetry Month, up until this year. So, why a change of heart and action?! About a month ago, teacher-librarian Shannon McClintock Miller tweeted and blogged (It's Almost National Poetry Month....Time To Start Connecting & Planning Some Fun) to invite teacher-librarians and teachers to join her and others to connect to celebrate National Poetry Month (week of April 21-25). She created a Google Doc that allows us to sign-up to connect with others to celebrate National Poetry Month and Poem in Your Pocket Day! Thanks to my amazing experience during World Read Aloud Day/Week (WRAD), I didn't hesitate to sign-up! I loved connecting and making new friends during WRAD, so, of course, I want to continue to build upon these connections and friendships! My students loved WRAD just as much as I did, based upon post-event conversations, so there is no doubt they will be just as excited to connect and celebrate poetry during the week of April 21-25!
By celebrating National Poetry Month, this is the perfect opportunity for me to discover poetry and all it has to offer! It will allow me to change my previous viewpoint and misconception of poetry! Up until now, I haven't understood poetry, despite learning about poetry in previous classes. Unless I was not being a good listener as a student, I totally missed the boat on understanding, appreciating, interpreting, etc. poetry.
Thankfully, this morning, during a data team meeting, one of my colleagues admitted a similar confession about poetry. As my colleagues and I were trying to decide a new goal for the 4th cycle of data teams, poetry came up in part of our discussion. One of my colleagues suggested summarizing as a possible goal, which then led another colleague to excitedly share a strategy that involves students writing poems as a means of summarizing. Then, another colleague spoke up and admitted she never liked poetry, until she forced herself to take a college course on poetry to truly learn more about poetry. It was this particular college course that allowed my colleague to discover how awesome and amazing poetry truly is! She admitted that she finally LOVES poetry! Phew, after hearing her confession, it allowed me to admit to myself that I share the same thoughts and feelings as my colleague. That is when I declared to myself that this is perfect timing for me to fully participate in National Poetry Month. This also allowed me to reaffirm that joining in on Shannon McClintock Miller's National Poetry Month invitation to connect and celebrate with others across the world is worthwhile! After all, this could potentially inspire both my students and me to discover a fondness, appreciation, understanding, love, etc. for poetry! Just think of how my students and I will benefit from this celebration and focus on poetry this month!
So, please join me in celebrating National Poetry Month and Poem in Your Pocket Day! Stay tuned for future blog posts this month on celebrating National Poetry Month and Poem in Your Pocket Day!
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