Andrew's Narrative

Lost in a World of Planning

Andrew Knox

A teacher’s instruction is often guided and aided by many different entities. It could be led by a school’s very direct and specific curriculum. State standards may also give teachers the necessary help they may need when it comes to planning instruction. In developing most units, teachers have these tools at their disposal. The excitement of teaching my unit vanished quickly as I realized the planning of my unit would be all upon me. I had chosen to do a unit on writing poetry. As a child I loved to write and express myself through poems and I wanted to share this love with my students. I longed for my students to experience a different type of literature that they would thoroughly enjoy.  It seemed that this literacy genre was forgotten by both the school curriculum and the Common Core State Standards as it was not in either. I struggled with finding a way to make the unit worthwhile according to the state standards. Though there were no standards specifically related to poetry, I still had to focus on some in my unit. I felt completely overwhelmed, not knowing where to start at all. Due to the lack of these types of resources and guidance I became less enthusiastic about the unit and struggled with my planning. My goal of exciting my second graders with a new and creative outlet seemed to be slowly fading.

I would soon learn of the rigorous time and thought it takes to plan as a teacher. It was a much needed lesson. Without the help of curriculum or the state standards, I should have put double time into planning my unit. In actuality, I only put in a substantial amount of time thinking about my instruction. It can be attributed to the fact that I did not know where to start. There were so many things that I could teach students about poetry. I could have focused my unit on many specifics things such as the language, the rhythm, the sound, the expressions, types, and the list can go on. A clear objective could have been provided by a curriculum or standards but since there were none; I would have to come up with my own. Requirements would have been good for knowing what to expect of my students. I thought about one of my students Sha’Lyne, who loved to write. Giving her a great background in poetry writing, I knew she would soar and take off, writing great poems for days. I then compared her to Jaydin, a more than capable writer who dislikes it and also struggles with expressing himself and being creative. I thought, “How could I make this 10 day unit meaningful to the whole spectrum of my second grade students?” How could I address a range of interest levels with no concrete examples? How could I succeed in introducing this unit on my own without the help of a curriculum or specific requirements?

As my unit planning went on I continued to struggle with how I could reach all of my students. It took me a while to realize something that I should have realized before. A teacher’s biggest resource is the knowledge of their students. I had an unbelievable connection with my students. I could say that I knew them better than some of them knew themselves. After thinking about the students and their personalities I was able to come up with the easiest way in which I could introduce poetry to the class. The type of poems I read to the class would be essential in sparking the students’ interest in my poetry unit. The “aha” moment led me to the school’s library where there were a variety of poetry books available for me. I grabbed about five books full of crazy, fun, exciting, small poems. The poems that were present in these books were the type of poem formats I decided to teach the students. The books would serve as great resources and examples as students learned different variety of poems. I was finally able to settle on the objective “Given a wide range of diverse poetry and how it is read, students will be able to write and recite their own poetry, later to be published in a class poetry book”. 

When the unit began I was still nervous. A little more confident, I was still a bit edgy about how the students would respond to it. After all, I had developed all of this on my own and I surely did not want to fail. But what occurred was the opposite. The students seemed to enjoy every bit of the unit. They loved writing the poems as much as they enjoyed me reading the poems. I could really see that the students had bought into this style of writing. I believe this biggest part of their poetry writing development was including my own written work during the lessons. In my planning I thought it would be a good idea to write my own poems and read them to the students. My students and I are so in tune with each other that I believed they would buy into anything that I showed a love for. Therefore, I attribute their taken interest level in the poetry writing to my expressed interest in the poetry writing as well.

In my realization of what I could do to get my students engaged in writing poetry I referred back to a class text. When it comes to writing, modeling is the key for success. I was reminded of this by the quote, “Don’t expect high-quality writing from your kids unless you’re modeling what high-quality writing looks and sounds like.” (Routman, 2005) The modeling of knowledge works wonders for a child’s learning. After a student is shown how to do something the correct way consistently, it is more likely that they will mirror the exact action. Also, the fact that your students respect you and have a strong learning connection with their teacher deepens the effect modeling can have. This is what occurred during my poetry unit. I did a lot of modeling for the students through my own writing and students were encouraged to the writing themselves. Modeling gave them the knowledge and the confidence to write poetry as they please. What also aided me in my planning was an ideal from a Lucy Calkins text. The text states, “Writers can learn writing techniques from great literature.” This correlated with my unit very much. The formats of poems students would be writing would come from poems I would be modeling by reading. The more I provided, the more students would grasp the concepts of the variety of poems. I understood what Calkins meant when she said that when teaching writing we have to provide students with as many samples and examples as we can for ultimate success. In my planning, I struggled to think of how I would connect students to the literature but it seemed modeling was the anchor.

            During this unit I learned a lot about myself as a teacher. I learned that in order for you to be the most successful teacher you have to put a lot of time, effort, and thought into your planning. If you are struggling to find answers, never just give up because if you give up the students are still going to be there. After all, sometimes the answers are right in front of you. Growing through the Michigan State University Teacher Education program I know I am more than capable to accomplish any goal. We have been equipped with the knowledge to be the best teachers that we can be. Sometimes thinking too hard is our biggest downfall. We cannot try to overcompensate by over thinking. If all other resources and options fail, at the end of the day, no one knows what their students need better than their teacher. The connection and knowledge you have with your students will always allow you to develop the best possible instruction to meet their needs. Your school or state may not have specific requirements for things you want to teach but you will always have your own knowledge and expectations.

Routman, Regie. Writing Essentials: Raising Expectations and Results While Simplifying

Teaching. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2005.

Calkins, Lucy. "Raising the Quality of Narrative Writing Grades 3-5 by Lucy Calkins