The Poet X: Poetry and the student writer: Teaching Discussion 4.6.2021

4/6/2021

Teaching poetry to young readers and writers can be challenging and also exciting. Prior to fake spring break, we spent two weeks looking a verse--poetry and a novel written in verse. We close out looking at verse and young adult readers with The Poet X, which mixes a bit of both.

Your prompt this week asks you to think about how you would engage students with poetry. You can consider all of the texts we've explored over this time, but do be sure to include The Poet X.

This Week’s Prompt: Let’s say that you managed to convince the faculty and parents at Brockton High School to let you teach The Poet X in a 12th grade English class that meets the outcomes for the International Baccalaureate Programme. Th IB is sort of like an internationally recognized version of AP. You can read about it here. Some quick facts about Brockton High (from Wikipedia, so, you know, grain of salt) and in general:

The high school is 60.9% African American, 20.8% White, 2.5% Asian, 12.3% Hispanic, and 3.5% other. In 2016 it was made so everyone could get free lunch. Out of its 4,250 students, 2,161 are male and 2,089 are female.

In 2008, Brockton students had a higher level of improvement on the English MCAS than 90% of the Massachusetts high schools. By 2010 it was one of the highest performing schools on the MCAS.[7]
Keep in mind that 12th grade Lit is often a British Literature Survey. The IB syllabus is a little more adventurous. This might help or hurt.
Try to be specific in both HOW you would teach this text and also HOW YOU MIGHT USE IT to teach poetry in general. For the purposes of thinking about that second part, Here is a link to the IB curriculum at Brockton High. This takes you to the IB page for Brockton High. Click on the English HL link for the actual syllabus.

21 Comments

Demi Riendeau

4/6/2021 03:21:07 pm

I think I would use this text as a teaching tool to get students to write poetry. It is always difficult get students to engage with poetry and get out of the mentality that poetry needs to rhyme or adhere to some set of rules. It has also been said many times that students engage best with poetry that they know what is expected of them and what structure is expected. My goal for using this text is to have students select and three poems from the book and rewrite it. I want students to adhere to the structure that X uses in some ways. They would be able to choose if that is rhyme scheme, syllables, lines, one image (such as the apple) or anything else. The goal with this is to get students to engage with the text in a way that connects to them. They get to rewrite X’s poem in a way that represents them. I think this text would be easily accessible to students, due to their high MCAS scores, and then they could work on that deeper level of writing poetry in a similar way that expresses new ideas. I also think students might engage with having certain familial expectations and guidance that is prescribed as “correct”, even if that may not be the case.
Through using this book as a template, students will be able to wade into the unknown of poetry. Poetry is so stressful for students because there is so much possibility it is difficult to start and to break some of the ideas, we have of poetry that were built from our early educational career. This text would create a valuable and practical bridge for students to be able to write about intense emotions, this is mainly focusing on how I would use this text.
For how to teach this text, I think this text would be a great one to use for independent home reading and then book club conversations in class. In doing this, it would honor each student’s own experience in the text (such as Rosenblatt’s transactional theory) and then come together to share ideas and create new ideas. Through this teaching method (with scaffolds and supports) students would interact with this emotional text in a unique way that was less hindered by expectations and prescribed “correctness”. I think that is important in this text, because it is shorter and can be used as an example of authentic aesthetic experience, that will be valuable to the students.

Ashley Munoz

4/6/2021 03:26:04 pm

So, in designing a poetry experience for our test class I tried thinking of how I can incorporate a meaningful text as well as something that will keep them engaged and learning aesthetically. One of the ways I thought to possibly do this was to have them read “The Poet X” on their own outside of class (as it is a quick read through). And then discuss how they felt about it, what experiences were the same and what they found realistic/relatable. Thinking of this as well, since it was discussed in class, I may also assign Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds in the hopes it will keep the males in the class engaged. Considering that Brockton schools are also very diverse I feel that the students will enjoy these stories more compared to something you would normally see on the high school reading curriculum. For classwork, I think then I would have them go on to choose 1 of 3 poem prompts to write their own in a similar style – as if journaling it to themselves.
1. When was the last time you felt free?
2. What rules do you live by? (at least 4)
3. What do you stay quiet about that you feel you shouldn’t?

Alex Mitchell

4/6/2021 06:56:36 pm

I had similar ideas for teaching The Poet X! I think it would be a great assignment for students to write a poem like you say "as if journaling it to themselves". I understand why you might suggest prompts for this particular assignment and the prompts you do suggest are perfect given the novel's content. I'd perhaps also consider allowing students to work outside of those prompts (after proposing their ideas to you as the teacher of course) if you plan to take the assignment a step further than just classwork like as a project or assessment. I do really like the prompts you've come up with though, I think they're relevant and would make for great poems.

Lindsay Everson

4/6/2021 03:55:44 pm

I would teach both The Poet X and Long Way Down in order to show students how poetry does not always have to follow strict forms. First, I would focus on long way down, and ask students to find specific moments in the text where the speaker is describing pain without directly stating it. This allows for a basic literary analysis while also inviting students to learn what makes poetry its own genre of writing. I would also ask students to write their own poems and give them a few “shackles” in order to guide them in the right direction and to give them a challenge. Some options would be, describe what it is like to be in pain using mostly verbs or describe what it is like to be happy using mostly verbs. This breaks students out of the pattern of using too many adjectives/ describing words in poetry and shows them how poetry can reveal new ways of expression. If they have other ideas for their poems, I would welcome those as well because it is important to keep their interest through allowing creative freedom. Next, I would have students read The Poet X and ask them to find ways that the speaker expresses intense emotions through her poetics. For example, the way she repeats words for emphasis, how she uses metaphors to describe what she is feeling in the moment, or how she uses physical reactions to describe how she is feeling in the moment. If students are struggling, I would direct them to the specific poem which is titled “After” because we see the speaker’s exhaustion of having to fight her own battles. She is sick of being sexualized and we can see that through her use of repeated phrases and physical reactions that she describes which could help students analyze this novel. Lastly, to bring the novel to life, I would have a poetry slam in the classroom where students come up and read their poetry to the class. There would be no restrictions on what a student could write, as long as it is not offensive. I also agree with Ashley that these novels would be great choices when considering the diversity in the classroom. As we learned through reading theory, students all have different experiences in life, therefore they will have different reading experiences. It is important to think about that when considering the books, you pick for a classroom, and I feel that Long Way Down and The Poet X are both relatable, but also help expand one’s worldview if they are not familiar with the experiences and cultures of the characters.

4/6/2021 06:46:53 pm

The Poet X would be a great text for a grade 12 IB English course at Brockton High. It fits into the IB curriculum and the program’s focus on student identity and culture as well as students’ ability to “communicate with and understand people from other countries and cultures”. The novel The Poet X is rich with both identity and Xiomara’s culture. If I were teaching this text at BHS, I would focus on the themes of identity, culture, and religion. My end-goal for teaching this text would be to have students write two different poems. One of these poems would be an extension of The Poet X written from Xiomara’s perspective. This assignment would allow students to connect with Xiomara’s character, mimic the author’s poetic style, and show their understanding of another person’s life experiences. The extension need not take place after the end of the book; students would be able to choose any point in the novel to write from. The second poem I would assign would be a piece of slam-poetry in which students would be given creative freedom to write about something meaningful to them. With these summative assessments in mind, I would prepare students throughout the unit with a poetry journal of their own. The journal would be graded mostly on participation/effort, but I’d also ask them to choose one of their quick-write poems to add onto and create a draft for a writer’s workshop. Because the novel is written in poetic form and the assignments I have in mind, The Poet X would require using a poetic lens as well. By grade 12 students should have a pretty strong understanding of poetry and how to analyze it. That being said though, part of my teaching the novel would definitely include an analysis of poetic elements and form throughout the reading process. On top of that I would also assign outside mentor texts such as Smokey Robinson’s “A Black American” and “Looking for Your Voice” by Pages Matam. (links below) Professor Torda brought up a concern that I also have in regards to this particular novel and that’s the fact that it’s written from a girl’s point of view and most boys won’t really enjoy or connect with the book. I think that the particular mentor texts I mentioned would be helpful in tackling this concern because both are poems performed by men with similar themes.

“A Black American” Smokey Robinson https://youtu.be/iIkNsj6cDGc

“Looking for Your Voice” Pages Matam https://youtu.be/pfcNIpBL_e8

4/6/2021 06:48:27 pm

P.S. I didn't mean to make this post a reply to Lindsay. My bad!

Maria Pestilli

4/8/2021 01:15:59 pm

Hi Lindsay,

I also thought that Long Way Down would be a great companion piece for The Poet X. I fell like they compliment each other they both deal with tough topics but it is not the same tough topic. I also think both stories are a great way to have students see that Poetry is not stiff and that it can be easily understood and entertaining. I really liked the stuff you brought up good job!

Samantha Yidiaris

4/7/2021 08:22:08 am

Before I would have my classroom read The Poet X, I would hand out a paper with a very brief synopsis of the book, explaining something that has to do with poetry inspiring Xiomara and being her creative outlet. On the same paper, I would have my students answer these Questions:
1.) What inspires you?
2.) How do you feel about poetry?
3.) What similarities can you find between spoken word and rap music?
By answering these questions, hopefully the students will have some sort of idea of the text before we read it as a class.
After reading the text as a class, I would love for my students to write a short poem about what inspires them. I think that writing your own poetry can be very intimidating for students, I know when I heard that in class it always scared me. But pairing this assignment with The Poet X, and seeing how writing poetry was such a creative outlet for Xiomara, the students would have a better understanding of how to go about writing their own poetry. I would also give them back the paper that they did in the beginning and give them some feedback and encouraging comments to help them come up with an idea for their poem more easily. This way, they already have what inspires them written on paper. Lastly, I would love to give my students the opportunity to read their poem out loud to the class. I would make this optional, and possibly for extra credit, because I know not everyone feels comfortable sharing something personal to them with an entire classroom. After the end of this assignment, the students would hopefully have a better understanding and a new appreciation for poetry.

4/10/2021 09:53:59 am

I love the warm up before they even read the text! I think that is a great way to get the engaged in the poetry before even starting the piece and will hopefully open up some of the students who may not be interested in poetry. I think maybe what I would also do is have them write what inspires them as a short poem first, and then rewrite it once the text has been read to see how/if that has changed anything about how they perceive poetry. That way they can see how engaging poetry can be and how it can affect them even if they weren't consciously thinking about it.

tenneh

4/12/2021 08:41:25 pm

Hi
SAMANTHA YIDIARIS
I really like how you break down and explain how you want your classroom to be. And i like how you want your students to be more involve in the class room

Orlaith Connolly

4/13/2021 12:03:00 pm

I think that your idea about having the students compare poetry to rap music is great; many high school students love rap and hip hop and I think that’s a relatable way to get them engaged in the subject. Maybe having the class write a rap song would be a fun way to introduce a poetry lesson because it gets them thinking about the songs they love, and how those songs can be considered poetry. Like you said in your post, poetry can seem intimidating, but writing about something familiar like rap music might help them feel more comfortable.

4/8/2021 01:13:34 pm

First off, this book tackles some more adult topics so before I taught it, I think I would bring up to my students the mature themes so that they were aware about it before reading it. I would also give them a heads up about the fact the book has a lot of Christianity in the book just in case there are students that are uncomfortable about it. I think it is good to talk to students about the themes they will face in a story before reading it, so they are prepared. I would never want to cause a student trauma or trigger them in anyway. I tried to look at the IB program, but the link was broken from some reason. As for how I would teach this story I would have it be something we read as a class so that we can stop and discuss important moments in the story. I would also like to give students the chance to walk out if the book becomes too much for them. I know for myself at least the heavy focus on religion, specifically Christianity is triggering for me because I was personally attacked by religious kids at my school for being a lesbian. Its because this story triggered me that I want my students to be in as safe a place as possible when reading it. I think after reading this book or during it I would do a quick unit on slam poetry and I would give my students the chance to make their own slam poetry. It would be great if my students got to perform their poetry for the class when they were done with it. After the book was read I could also ask my students to pick a few of the poems in the story, the whole story is made mostly of poems, to take a closer look at and write an analysis on. I think a good companion book to The Poet X would be Long Way Down because they are written in a similar style but it might be hard to have parents be okay with both stories since they both deal with pretty heavy subject matter. But if I could get both of them in, I think it would show students that Poetry isn’t just about rhyming or Shakespeare. Poetry is an art form in of itself and I want to show my students that.

Grace

4/8/2021 05:29:39 pm

To teach the Poet X, I'd want to talk about how the poetry comprises a whole novel—there’s no traditional chapters, but there’s a full story. I want to engage the students in the idea that Xiomara is very selective in what she records; her poetry is hers alone, and almost singularly deals with difficult topics or turbulence in her life. She doesn’t waste time writing what she thinks people may like—she writes with meaning.
We often think of poetry having a significant amount of nature imagery (a rose by any other name, two paths diverged). The Poet X--set in New York--does not have anything overtly floral. I would introduce this concept to the students, asking them, if it’s not trees blowing in the wind, what is poetry “about”? There are no wrong answers, but answers I’d hope to find would be 1. Something written from emotion that creates an emotional response in the reader, and 2. An art form, a painting sans paintbrush.
Then, as a class, we’d watch the documentary Louder than a Bomb, about four teams of teens from Chicago preparing and competing in the world’s largest youth poetry slam. This movie solidifies the idea that anything you can wrap your mouth and mind around is poetry. It’s a great film.
Finally, I’d ask the students to write their own poetry, any poetry. As they begin this endeavor, I’ll show them the Barbaric Yawp clip from Dead Poet’s Society: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6xyHna-NuM
To quote: “I don’t mind that your poem had a simple theme, sometimes the most beautiful poetry can be about simple things…poetry can come from anything with the stuff of revelation in it. Just don’t let your poems be ordinary.”
We would then host a poetry slam of our own, encouraging any and all poetic works.

Adlai Greene

4/12/2021 06:31:21 pm

This sounds like a great lesson plan, Grace. I can see this approach as both non-threatening and engaging. I like the way you are using different modes of poetry to introduce your students to the basics of poetry. I think the most important thing you are teaching them is the power of words. You are allowing your students to express themselves outside of the "expectations" of poetry and I love that! One thing I would consider with the formative assessment is that even after this lesson, it is quite possible students still are uncomfortable writing, or speaking, poetry. That being said, it doesn't mean that they don't understand the concepts you taught or don't enjoy poetry. I would suggest allowing students to demonstrate what they've learned about poetry in different ways. You show your students videos, so maybe provide that option. Maybe they can create a painting to accompany a poem or maybe they can frame their poem to be viewed by others versus saying it out loud. Whatever the method, I think this would help students to understand that they can create poetry in lots of different ways and all of those ways can be expressive of emotions and art.

4/12/2021 06:22:35 pm

In teaching this text, I would want it to be part of a progression unit on poetry. My goal in this unit would be help readers realize that poetry can be approachable, relatable, and conquerable. I would want this unit to be something that might help students feel empowered when approaching poetry. I would begin by introducing them to poetry that is easy to understand. To steal a technique used by one of my professors, I would take poetic lyrics from a song first. This would make the students excited to participate and feel connected to the idea of poetry. This is also an easy way to start introducing some of the poetic devices used in writing verse. I might ask students to look at other song lyrics and see where these techniques are being used. I would then move on to more approachable poetry—probably from the selection we read a couple weeks ago. We would talk about imagery and the power of words to convey an image. Next, I would probably move into teaching A Long Way Down because I would want to discuss how poetry can be used to create a larger story. I think sometimes poetry is avoided because it is generalized as speaking about love, nature, or feelings. I would want my students to see how poetry can be a story. Additionally, I would want my students to consider how space is used in this novel and how the shape of poems can reinforce the theme. Finally, with this text, I would want them to consider why it is, or isn’t, more impactful than prose. I would then move to teaching Poet X. This novel uses words in a more complex way and asks the reader to work harder to understand the nuances. I think this would be a good work to introduce metaphors that expand beyond one poem. The final poem I would teach would be related to British Literature and the larger world. I would probably try to pick a piece by Shakespeare mainly because I think Shakespeare is stereotypically seen as difficult, boring, or dated. With the techniques used in the previous works, I would want to show my students how Shakespeare isn’t really all that different than the other things they have been reading, just difficult because of the words used. I would want my students to understand that underneath the language, the techniques are similar and manageable. As a formative assessment, I would want to give my students a couple options. They could create their own short story or memoir poem using the techniques we’ve analyzed, or they could annotate and analyze a poem to uncover the nuances underneath, or they could suggest a different option for my approval. Ultimately, I don’t want my students to fear poetry, I want them to realize how it can be relatable, fun, and even simple. I hope this unit would show them that moving forward, they can simplify the words to uncover the picture being painted by poetry.

Claire Laurent

4/19/2021 03:52:50 pm

My favorite part of your approach to this progressive unit on poetry is how you would encourage the students to simplify the words to "uncover the picture being painted by poetry". Coming across that idea has made poetry so much less scary for me and I will be sure to apply that the next time I read a poem.
By giving them the option to only annotate and analyze a poem, you are not forcing them to write their own poems which can be a daunting task, but you are teaching them to apply previously earned literacy skills, their imagination and their own voice to interpret a poem, which is just as important and even can be more creative than writing your own poem.
You have really demonstrated the spirit of an admirable teacher because our role as teachers is not to coldly lay out the rulebooks of everything at any cost but to gently lead and to show our students that there is nothing to be afraid of. With our patience and our methods infused with fun, familiar routes to the ends of a successful learning outcome, (such as using poetic lyrics from a song in this lesson) our students will not cower away.

Tenneh Sesay

4/12/2021 08:37:58 pm

First and all I would my classroom to read The Poet X, and I would make sure that I have an activities for them to do like passing a a short summary about the poety than have them be in group of 3 to share their thinking, Before we even get into the activities I would make sure that my students would answer these questions.

1.) What inspires you?
2.) How do you feel about poetry?
3.) What similarities can you find between spoken word and rap music?

Hopefully by reading the book and doing these question would help the students understand the textbook and how they can write they own poem base what make they inspires or who they inspire too.
By pairing this assignment with The Poet X, and seeing how writing poetry was such a creative outlet for Xiomara, the students would have a better understanding of how to go about writing their own poetry. Lastly, I would love to give my students the opportunity to read their poem with each other.

4/13/2021 11:55:04 am

I would use both The Poet X and Long Way Down to teach my students that poetry can take on many different forms, and is not always limited to abstract or ambiguous ideas. Before teaching either of these texts, I would ask my students to answer a few simple questions about poetry to gauge how they feel about the topic:
What do you know about poetry?
Is poetry something that you enjoy?
How frequently do you interact with poetry?
After getting a basic understanding of their comfort level with poetry, I would divide the class in half and assign The Poet X to one half of the class and Long Way Down to the other half. I would ask the students to read each book over the course of a week and keep a journal as they read. In their journal, I would ask them to write about things over the course of their reading that surprised them, what they liked and disliked about the book, what literary elements make the text poetic, and how reading these two texts have changed their perspective on poetry. After the students have finished reading the book, I would have the separate book groups meet for a class period to come together and discuss what they wrote in their journals, and how they can explain these ideas to the other group who hasn’t read the book. In the next class period, I would hold an all class discussion where each group presented their ideas to each other to explain what they found in their readings. Finally, I would switch the books between the two groups so both texts were read, and have the students continue journaling their thoughts; what was different from the other book they read, similar or different inputs to what their classmates have already said, and how they can continue the conversation. I would once again hold a class discussion to share everybody’s ideas, and hopefully the students walk away with the understanding that poetry have a variety of different representations and can even be used to tell a story.

Katy Bedig

4/13/2021 12:26:40 pm

What is the end goal of the Poetry Unit?→ Appreciate poetry, different styles of poetry on diverse topics from a variety of time periods

Since Poet X is free form poems I would, in turn, have the students read a more structured poem, along with poems from different time periods to show how poetry has evolved over time
I have a cousin that writes poetry about science and the universe so I would show them how different topics, forms, and styles of poetry
Time Periods→ contemporary, American old poets for example, Ann Bradstreet, European poets, for example, obviously Shakespeare
Listen to and read some of Amanda Gorman’s poems
I would also introduce them to slam poetry as another form of poetry
Key concept taught: Who is the narrator and what are they trying to say→ through this you can understand the point of view and begin to empathize with the narrator
That not all poems have some grandiose worldly connection -- sometimes poems just say what they mean and there is no deep message to be interpreted
Sometimes it is more about the period and what we know about the author in terms of the poetry and the influence of the time period
Key concept taught: Be able to read poem for connection to themselves
Key concept taught: literary analysis
Key concept taught: some of the different types of poetry

How would I engage students with poetry?

To have students engage with poetry more without worrying about the “structure” or “rules” of it I would have them→ write for five or ten minutes (it can be with a prompt or any topic they want, but still appropriate for school) then cross out given parts of speech which can result in a poem based on their own chosen topic
I like this because it is a bit like mad libs and can be a bit silly
This removes the mentality that poetry needs to rhyme with a particular rhythm or beat. It also helps them with identifying parts of speech
I would have them listen to poets reading their work, so along with everyone reading The Poet X we would listen to parts of it in class, doing this with other poems because, they’re also meant to be read aloud and are better understood when presented orally
When working on reading a poem for connection to themselves and for literary analysis, I would ask them to write their responses in poetry but give them the option to write their responses in a paragraph but perhaps over the course of the unit, two of them will need to be poems
This will make them appreciate the hard work that goes into writing poetry
This will also force them go back and reread it to think about how their writing sounds to a reader

4/19/2021 03:09:18 pm

Rather than having the students come up with observations of their own on the Poet X, I would show them the different features of the text. I would first teach them the fifteen different types of poetic forms like: the sonnet, the Haiku, the Limerick poem, the epic, the ballad, the soliloquy, the villanelle, lyric poetry, elegies and odes, pastoral and narrative poetry, free verse, blank verse and rhymed poetry. Then I would teach them the rules for each poetic subgenre. Then would I teach them how to spot the application of these conventions in the Poet X. For example, there are many Haikus in the Poet X, so I would practice with them the formula for a Haiku (3 lines of a 5-7-5 syllable count respectively), show them a few examples and then have them make observations of their own as to where else Haikus are present in the text.
Since these students are acquainted to British Literature and since 12th grade Lit is often a British Literature Survey, they might be familiar with some epic poems. So, I would have them compare the Poet X to epic poems like Beowulf and Paradise Lost because epic poems are lengthy just like the Poet X, but I would point out how the Poet X is not an “epic poem” given its definition (long poems typically detailing extraordinary feats and adventures of characters from a distant past). But I would give my students the freedom to argue that it may be, given that Xiomara is a “warrior”, fearless and fierce, and she conquers lots of areas in her life with gusto, and saw a happy ending in her story with everyone getting along and the acceptance of her path in life from her previously tyrannical mother.
This would be a lesson to teach the 12th graders how complex this text is because I believe almost all the types of poetic conventions can be spotted in it. Even an elegy because Xio does mourn over the ashes of her notebook. Simultaneously, they would internalize and retain the rules behind each poetic subgenre in a fun way. Sort of like a scavenger hunt full of comparisons to long poems, all the answers are given, and then they can pull from the text and make connections to different examples that relate to the features that they were taught about everything.

Brittany Ann Oppenheimer

4/20/2021 02:11:39 pm

One of the things I would try to do is find readings of the poems of my choosing. I would probably like to pick bizarre poems that would make the students in the class think. One poem that comes to mind is the poem "Milk." This is a poem that no matter how many times I read it, there is always something off about it that really makes me wonder what it's actually about. On top of that, I would also discuss Poem X as I feel it brings in insight as to writing as a hobby as a whole.
On top of that, I would ask my students to write one of two poems that represent them. It could be about anything they want. Then, I would have the students read there poems outload (or not if they don't feel comfortable) and see if there are any comparisons between poems' like "Milk" or themes that feel similar to Poem X. Finally, I would start a disscussion about "Why is poetry important" and "is it important? "Could poetry help people? Does it help relief stress? Why has poetry been a staple of teaching for all these years?"

The Poet X: Poetry and the student writer: Teaching Discussion 4.6.2021

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