by Xan Mays (Hoggard HS) & Taylor Thomas (Ashley HS)
It’s common in ELA classrooms across grade levels for groans and feelings of dread to arise when poetry is mentioned. Students tend to see poetry as confusing and boring, which immediately puts them at a disadvantage when they are asked to read and analyze any poem. Rather than forcing more poems from the textbook down the students’ throats and hoping that this time it will click, why not take a more inventive approach--one that meets students where they are and reveals to them how they are already more familiar with poetry than they realized.
Ms. Xan Mays (Hoggard) and Mr. Taylor Thomas (Ashley) have been using popular song lyrics as poetry in their classrooms for years. The two educators presented a session on the topic at 2017’s New Hanover County School's Summer Institute for Instructional Innovation conference. Below, they discuss their thought process behind the activity:
