Just recently, I was showing my students that sometimes one poem can be a whole book. Up until now I had only been sharing anthologies of poetry. We were reading Every Day Birds by Amy Ludwig VanDerwater when one student at the end asked me to read the entire poem together when they saw it as one piece near the end of the book. My first reaction was - was just read the poem but okay. I reread the poem and it did sound different. My voice felt different. The mood felt different. My students were raising their hands with excitement to share with these responses.
-it was more catchy
-I noticed there were more rhyming words
-it made more sense
-there wasn't any pausing
Maybe turning the pages does create longer pauses making the flow of the poem a bit fragmented. However, I love being able to focus on one bird at a time and study the illustrations. Either way, this day my students taught me to read the poem across the pages and again as one piece to hear a different voice and notice more of the craft.
Thank you to Jama at Jama's Alphabet Soup for hosting Poetry Friday.
I love that the publisher printed Every Day Birds as a poem in the back for exactly the classroom experience you described! Seeing the poem as a whole is wonderful, isn't it? Thank you for sharing these reactions. It's a beautiful book! Happy Poetry Friday!
ReplyDeleteGreat connection between the ways the medium (picture book, single-page poem) influences the reader!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you read the poem both ways to your students. Always good to get different perspectives on the same piece of art.:)
ReplyDeleteInteresting opinon(s) about both readings, Mandy. The book itself does call for sl-o-o-w reading, but it was nice to find the while poem at the back. I loved the book!
ReplyDeleteLove Amy's book, Mandy. Thanks for sharing this peek into your classroom, too - so interesting to hear how students respond.
ReplyDeleteI love that the kids insisted it be read again. It's worth lots of re-reading.
ReplyDeleteWonderful that the kids noticed and savoured the differences.
ReplyDeleteI was delighted when one of my students chose A Rock Can Be (Laura Purdee Salas) for Poetry Friday and realized that he needed to read us the whole book, and not just a page!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this story, Mandy! Originally, the poem was not going to stand alone at the back of EVERY DAY BIRDS, but I was so happy when it did! Now, because of your words and your students' reflections, I will always ask for this to be the case. I learn so much from teachers and students. Much gratitude. Hugs to everyone there! xx
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