Context

The teacher was wondering how to celebrate half a term’s successful poetry writing with two mixed classes of year three and four pupils and wanted to create something different from the usual class book at the end of the term as a final bringing-together of work.

The children had enjoyed writing as individuals, in pairs, groups and as a class. They had also enjoyed poetry writing lessons and always managed to complete a draft or final version of a piece of work in class. The teacher had used a lot of humour when selecting poems to read out loud to them and aimed to make poetry fun and appealing.

The talent show Pop Idol was on TV at the time and the children were enthusiastic about who they had watched and liked on the programme.

Aims & principles

• To engage children with poetry
• To provide a real and authentic experience of reading poetry aloud
• To give status to children’s written work
• To make poetry fun

In Practice

The teacher decided to hold a “Poet Idol” contest and the idea really grabbed the children’s attention. The aim was that all children had to perform one of their poems either individually, as a pair or in a group. They were given a lesson to read through their poems and to choose which one they wanted to read and to practice their performance.

Poems were produced in a variety of forms such as list poems and limericks, as well as others. To keep the pace going on the day and so as not to be overwhelmed by choosing on the spot the teacher asked two colleagues to choose the best poems in each genre and added another category for Best Performances On The Day. The teacher bought some plastic medals with ribbons for the winners which she felt was appropriate for the occasion.

Poet Idol Day dawned bright, clear and sunny, and the teacher made full use of the location of the school by setting up an arena of chairs on the field overlooking the sea.

“It was an amazing, inspiring and moving experience. Everyone joined in. Shy children seemed to have found their voices and clearly working with a partner helped. Confident children were in their element. And the children who are often overlooked had their five minutes of fame and enjoyed themselves. All the children seemed to glow,” Class teacher

Outcomes

The occasion raised the profile and image of poetry in the school and the children were talking about Poet Idol for weeks. They started to choose poetry books from the library and buy them from the book club. Several parents commented on how their children had told them about the day.

‘I’ve never won anything in my life before,’ - Year 4 boy medal winner.

This was that same challenging boy who had said, as he went outside for the poetry reading, that the teachers wouldn’t catch him reading poetry out loud.

Resources

The teacher found the poem The Magic Box by Kit Wright very useful as a model poem for the children to start from, and in particular used the lesson ideas around the poem on the Poetryclass website here: http://www.poetryclass.net/lessona.htm

---

Comments on Poet Idol

There are 1 comments Read comments | Post a comment