It's something that I feel like writing, instead of writing

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Jul 24, 2014 - Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the ... analysed using interpretive analytic methods to identify themes in ... needed, poetry writing can even provide its writers a form of healing .... excerpt from fifth grader Jack in Sharon Creech's popular novel ..... Or it's picked up to correct.
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It’s something that I feel like writing, instead of writing because I’m being told to: elementary boys’ experiences writing and performing poetry a

Lisa K. Hawkins & Janine L. Certo

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Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA Published online: 24 Jul 2014.

To cite this article: Lisa K. Hawkins & Janine L. Certo (2014) It’s something that I feel like writing, instead of writing because I’m being told to: elementary boys’ experiences writing and performing poetry, Pedagogies: An International Journal, 9:3, 196-215, DOI: 10.1080/1554480X.2014.921857 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2014.921857

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Pedagogies: An International Journal, 2014 Vol. 9, No. 3, 196–215, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1554480X.2014.921857

It’s something that I feel like writing, instead of writing because I’m being told to: elementary boys’ experiences writing and performing poetry Lisa K. Hawkins* and Janine L. Certo

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Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA (Received 2 November 2013; accepted 10 March 2014) Poetry is one of the most feared and least understood literary genres in our public schools. Boys, in particular, are frequently perceived to be resistant to poetry instruction; a view that often stems from a limited vision of what poetry is and a misread of masculinity. Nevertheless, the study of poetry provides many benefits in the journey to becoming a competent and expressive writer. In this study, the writing practices of 20 fourth- and fifth-grade boys in a low socioeconomic US urban school were investigated as they engaged in the writing and performance of poetry across a 4-week poetic genre study. Audio-recordings of interview responses, video-recordings of poetry performances, drafts of participants’ original poems, and other relevant classroom artifacts were analysed using interpretive analytic methods to identify themes in and across data sources. Analyses revealed that it was possible to create an environment in which these elementary-aged boys were willing (and sometimes even eager) to engage with poetry. This engagement with and enjoyment of poetry appeared to originate from several sources. First, through the freedom and choice afforded by poetry, participants were able to give voice to those experiences, thoughts, and feelings that were important to them. Second, through the use of mentor texts and role models of visiting poets, participants appropriated and transformed the voices around them to create poems which arguably incorporated some sophisticated language and literary devices. Third, through poetry performance, participants found a space in which their voices could be heard and valued. Keywords: poetry; writing instruction; boys; elementary education; instructional practices Poetry is the art of using words, lines, and stanzas charged with their utmost meaning … It is language crystalized, language distilled, and it articulates and gives voice to the human experience in a way that often cannot be expressed any other way. (Certo, Apol, Wibbens, & Hawkins, 2012, p. 104)

As expressed in the above quote, poetry reading and, especially, poetry writing offer children and adults a means of expression rarely found in other genres. For youth, who frequently feel they are largely silenced in their adult-driven worlds, poetry allows a space where they can give voice to their own experiences (Fisher, 2007; Jocson, 2005). It is a genre in which they can use “everyday voices” in their writing, and where these voices can be heard in the classroom community without, as Dyson (2005) so eloquently put it, being “mechanically edited away” (pp. 156–157). Poetry is an aesthetic form of expression that serves as a medium to speak about experiences in ways not so censored by *Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] © 2014 Taylor & Francis

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structures and rules (Jocson, 2005). In addition to acting as an important vehicle for expression, writing poetry can offer a “sanctuary within, a place to play out conflict and imagine multiple possibilities for identity” (McCormick, 2000, p. 194). And, when needed, poetry writing can even provide its writers a form of healing (Fisher, 2007). The reading, writing, and performance of poetry offer youth not only affective, but also academic affordances. For young children, the sorts of sound-based language play sparked by the sharing of poetic texts functions as a form of language practice and assists in early phonological development and metalinguistic awareness (Cazden, 1976). These aspects contribute to general language development and tend to translate to increased reading achievement in the later grades (Bryant, Bradley, Maclean, & Crossland, 1989). For school-aged youth, poetry can aid in building vocabulary and bridging orality and literacy. Because poetry tends to be richer linguistically than any other genre, it possesses great potential for drawing attention to literate language (Elster & Hanauer, 2002). Exposure to metaphoric language through poetry can urge school-aged youth toward greater abstract thought (Steinbergh, 1999). Moreover, poetry’s format (short lines, lots of white space, repetition) invites confident reading, as it appears manageable to the reluctant, hesitant, or struggling reader (Christison & Bassano, 1995). The reading and re-reading of poetry can provide pleasurable practice in oral language and promote increased reading fluency, particularly for elementary-aged English Language Learners (Christison & Bassano, 1995; Hadaway, Vardell, & Young, 2001). Through repeated readings of poetry, struggling elementary readers have been shown to increase their reading fluency, word recognition, reading comprehension, and attitudes toward reading (Wilfong, 2008). Furthermore, adolescent students who read their written original poems showed improved oral skills, increased comfort with oral communication, and a sense of improved self-image (Kassab, 1994). Taken together, it appears that poetry offers many potential benefits for youths in terms of their development in language, literacy, and expression. Regrettably, despite these potential benefits, a lack of poetry instruction in the schools is more often the rule than the exception (Kamberelis, 1998, 1999). Scherff and Piazza (2005) attributed this lack of attention to poetry to the idea that in today’s assessment-driven culture, those genres that are tested – often narratives and expositions – are the ones that tend to be taught. Additionally, Hanauer (2007) explained that poetry is often viewed by teachers as a genre that is difficult to comprehend and compose, placing it beyond the reach of many children. However, this second argument seems somewhat suspicious given that poetry is a part of many children’s language long before they go to school (Chukovsky, 1968). Children’s natural affinity for poetic language is showcased in their typical enjoyment of nursery rhymes and language play; their everyday talk frequently packed with lively rhythm, rhyme, sound, tone, and, while often unintentional, almost metaphor-like phrases (Steinbergh, 1999; Vosniadou, 1987). In fact, it has been shown that children as young as two years of age can, with instruction and scaffolding, orally produce poems that are both phonologically and syntactically different than their oral stories, and that contain poetic elements such as rhythm, modified repetition, alliteration, and rhyme (Dowker, 1989, 1991). When poetry is taught in the schools, it seems it is most often approached as something foreign and mysterious – something written by the “great poets” of the past that can “only be understood and evaluated by academics, whose job it is to tell the rest of us a poem’s meaning” (Gill, 2007, p. 622). An approach whose emphasis is largely on knowing poetic forms and the names of major poets, rather than on understanding, enjoying, or participating in poetry itself. Moreover, it has been our experience that

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typical narratives of poetry writing in schools tend to showcase a pedagogical approach to poetry that is highly formulaic in nature, often dictating the form and sometimes even the content of students’ poems. While there is a dearth of research on poetry writing pedagogy, some literature demonstrates that when children are exposed to mentor texts or literary models (McClure, 1990; Wilson, 2007), they deftly employ poetic features in their texts that they had not used previously. Besides mentor texts, poet-mentors themselves have been found to influence children’s poetry. For instance, Wolf (2006) found that when children participated in a workshop with a visiting artist, children wrote poems rich with poetic features to convey meaning. These findings are important to bring to bear on any study of poetry writing. Sadly, somewhere between early childhood and adolescence that natural joy once brought about by poetic language play appears to fizzle in most, replaced instead by a strong degree of apathy and fear toward poetry (Dias, 1992; Painter, 1970). In fact, when Benton (1984) conducted a survey of 175 teachers in 43 secondary schools, it was documented that more than one in five teachers mentioned the problem of students’ distaste for, prejudice against, or hostility toward poetry.

Boys and poetry I don’t want to because boys don’t write poetry. Girls do.

– From Love That Dog (Creech, 2001, p. 1)

Before we move further, we wish to link our conception of gender to that of de Lauretis (1987) who argued that it is not a property of characteristics belonging to one group, but rather “the product and processes of various social technologies, institutional discourses, epistemologies, critical practices, as well as practices of daily life” (p. 3). Nor do we contend that gender, in and of itself, influences literacy preferences or achievement; as social (e.g., cultural affiliations, socioeconomic influences, instructional backgrounds) and personal (e.g., self-efficacy, motivation) factors likely play a larger role (Watson, Kehler, & Martino, 2010). Our reasons for studying boys and poetry is not because we care less about girls’ literary experiences, or discount feminist critiques of schooling (see Martino and Berrill (2003) concerning the problematic conceptualization of a “boy crisis” in educational policy), but because the literature often casts boys similar to the above journal excerpt from fifth grader Jack in Sharon Creech’s popular novel Love That Dog. The entry suggests that boys, in particular, are commonly perceived to harbour distaste for, prejudice against, or hostility toward poetry. For instance, Greig and Hughes (2009) maintained that poetry is regularly constructed as antithetical to boys’ natural reading preferences and rarely presented in schools as a suitable genre for them. This, they argued, has much to do with how poetry is currently gendered differently from other literary genres. Unlike most fiction and non-fiction subgenres, poetry has sometimes been specifically marked as “unmasculine” and aligned more with “feminine values such as emotion, reflection, and introspection” (pp. 92–93). This genderfication of poetry, they claim, can bring with it damaging consequences for male students who may wish (or chose) to publically embrace poetry. On closer look at the literature, we argue that misconceptions about boys’ affinity for poetry are more about the topics and themes in poetry, rather than about the genre as a whole. For example, both Peterson (2002) and Newkirk (2000) found that many boys felt

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that it was ridiculous and even dangerous for males to take up topics, themes, and styles of the opposite sex; for such writing brought into question the writer’s very identity as a male. Moreover, Kenneth Koch (1973), an influential proponent of poetry in the classroom warned, “It is constant sweetness that is probably the main thing that makes boys, by the time they are in fifth or sixth grade, dislike poetry as something sissified and silly” (p. 13). Thus, it seems critical to offer poetry writing instructional environments that allow for student choice. Despite the gloomy portrait of poetry and its place in youths’ – especially boys’ – lives as they progress through school, a number of classroom accounts show that within the context of quality instruction school-aged children can compose poetry and enjoy doing so (e.g., Certo, 2004; Duthie & Zimet, 1992; Siemens, 1996). Engaging with poetry in meaningful and authentic ways can lead school-aged youth to embrace, or perhaps more accurately re-embrace, poetry (Apol & Harris, 1999). Moreover, the view that boys and poetry do not mix does not originate from some innate, insurmountable truth. Instead, it often stems from a limited vision of what poetry is and a misread of masculinity – both issues that can be challenged and transformed. Damico and Carpenter (2005) found that when teachers challenged preadolescent boys’ prevailing perceptions of poetry as “sappy” or “flowery” through sharing poems that were powerful and explored issues of social justice, they were able to see the “transformative potential of poetry for thinking and feeling about issues that matter to them” (p. 137). Too, Lennox, Small, and Keeling (1978) found that high school boys who underwent an experimental poetry unit (in which students listen to, read, wrote, shared, and complemented a large amount of poetry) were able to talk about poetic forms and features and compose original poetry better than those who underwent a more traditional unit based on explaining and analysing poetry. Furthermore, Webb (2009) observed in her own classroom that when presented carefully (e.g., use of respected role models, prolonged exposure to poetry, teacher scaffolding of poetic writing, student choice of topic) many of her high school boys were able to not only write poetry, but enjoy it as well. This research suggests that boys, under certain pedagogical circumstances, appear potentially willing to participate in authentic poetry practices and thus realize some of the aforementioned prospective benefits in terms of their expression, language, and literacy development. Yet few studies involving the authentic reading, writing, or performance of poetry and the exploration of students’ poetry practices have involved students in the elementary grades. Even fewer have focused specifically on boys at the elementary level. However, this age is a prime target for study, for it appears that these are quite possibly the years in which students are likely to form their opinions of what poetry is, who writes poetry, and for what reasons. Waiting until children have moved forward into adolescence and adulthood to incorporate this sort of authentic poetry experience may be too late, especially for male students. Fisher spoke to this point in her documentation of a successful afterschool spoken word poetry group in one urban high school: “I come in the room, close my eyes. Joel, Eli, Manny, and Anthony. It’s the truth. No literate men” … Some students looked somber and lowered their heads, but others never looked away from Joe’s eyes as he continued to address the glaring disparity between young men and women in the Power Writing class: “Thirty girls. Five boys.” There it was. The elephant in the room had been named. Where were our young men? (2007, p. 82)

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If negative feelings for poetry – those that research suggest have a tendency to build far too often across students’ schooling – go unchecked and unchallenged, then waiting risks potentially precluding male students from poetry altogether.

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The present study This investigation begins to address the concerns highlighted above by examining twenty elementary-aged boys as they engaged in the writing and performance of poetry. More specifically, this particular inquiry addressed the following questions: (1) How do fourthand fifth-grade boys engage with poetry, as evidenced by their poems and discourse about their poems and performances? and (2) How do fourth and fifth grade boys describe their experiences writing and performing poetry? Conceptual framework Genre theory (Bakhtin, 1986; Miller, 1984), poetic language theory (Friedrich, 1979; Jakobson, 1987), performance theory (Boal, 1995; Schechner, 1988), and Vygotskian learning theory (in Lantolf & Appel, 1994) are all highly relevant to this study. Genre is a term used in literacy pedagogy to connect the different forms text take with variations in social purpose. Some have contended that poetry, an arguably broad genre with infinite possibilities for form and shape (Friedrich, 1979; Jakobson, 1987), is a particularly freeing, flexible, and emotive one to write (Wilson, 2009). In the realm of writing research more broadly, Nolen (2003) found that student engagement may be piqued from interest in a topic coupled with positive, emotionally heightened creative experiences, such as sense of accomplishment at being able to express one’s thoughts and feelings. Thus, poetry writing may be an opportunity for all students to express their topical interests, thoughts and feelings with unique language. This affordance extends to all children, including boys, who have sometimes been found to perceive that poetry contains “flowery” or “sappy” themes (e.g., Damico & Carpenter, 2005). As part of boys’ social exploration of poetry in the present study, we would come to find that students’ written and performed poems indeed represented boys’ unique interests. Even further, their poems often referenced – to varying degrees and in complex ways – other texts, voices, and styles. After all, and theoretically, the words that students use to express their interests may belong partially to others, as people tend to appropriate words from others and adapt them to their own purposes (Bakhtin, 1986; Miller, 1984). Though any use of language might be regarded as a performance, for the purposes of this study we define a poetry performance as an aesthetically heightened and more formalized mode of communication (Boal, 1995; Schechner, 1988), in this case, that had some form of “stage” or “space,” literally, where poets read or perform for an audience. For children who may not have had access to this before, performance can be exhilarating. Depending on the child, however, this event may come with complications and challenges. In the present study, boys were faced with writing a poem, then writing a poem they were pleased with (and perhaps one that they feel would please an audience). Then, the body was involved as it was the vehicle for taking the poem off the page. Hymes (1996) explained that any written and performed texts must be understood in the context and through the communication norms of the community that produced it. Because we were interested in exploring classroom environments which would potentially engage boys in poetry writing and performance, Vygotskian learning theory (in Lantolf &

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Appel, 1994) became relevant. In short, boys would try out poetry writing and performance with scaffolding from adults (teachers, visiting poets) and, with support, share repeated performances with peers in the classroom.

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Methods The methods of data collection and analysis for this study were consistent with assumptions from qualitative traditions, drawing on observational, interview, and textual approaches and analyses. More precisely, we characterize this work as interpretive, an approach to qualitative research that is primarily interested in what is happening in a particular social setting and what those events might mean to those involved (Erickson, 1986). Thus, whenever possible, we included the voices of our participants and examples of their original poems to exemplify and breathe life into our findings. Setting and participants King Elementary is a pre-k to fifth-grade public elementary school located in a mid-sized urban school district in the Midwestern United States. African-Americans made up a substantial population of students at 70%, but the population also included students of Chicano/Latino, Hmong, and Caucasian descent. Approximately 90% of the student population qualified for free or reduced-price lunch. The second author was a university liaison to the school at the time of the study, and had previously worked with the principal and some of the teachers. Within King Elementary two upper elementary classrooms (one fourth grade and one fifth grade) were chosen as research sites for this investigation, because teachers in those classrooms had a reputation for teaching writing at least three times per week. Though both teachers voiced trepidation about independently teaching a poetry unit, they were enthusiastic to be part of a collaboration and to having their classroom as a site of research. As part of a broader study, we focused here on the writing practices of the 20 male participants in these two upper elementary classrooms whose experiences were documented as they engaged in the writing and performance of poetry. (See Appendix for demographic information on each student participant.) The poetry genre study The second author, a literacy scholar and poet, along with assistance from five local and national award winning poets who made guest appearances, implemented poetry lessons three times per week across a 4-week period in both participating classrooms at King Elementary. Each lesson generally took place during the normal morning language arts period and lasted approximately 60 minutes. While the second author took on the role of mentor poet and teacher in these classroom settings, the first author acted as an interested observer and adult participant in each room during a session. As such, the first author took field notes, audio-recorded session activity, and collected, specifically, the boys’ artifacts. Moreover, as a participant she also wrote and read poetry alongside the students and talked informally with students about their poems and their experiences. During the first three weeks of the genre study, each poetry session largely followed a predictable format in which the second author or a guest poet began by sharing poetry with the group. These poems were frequently read aloud several times and, when possible, a print version was given to each student for later reference. Although the overall focus of this genre study was on writing and performing poetry, beginning each session by looking

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at and sharing aloud a diverse selection of poems was of particular importance, because as Wilson (2007) argued, due to the linguistic and cognitive demands of poetry writing writers need “some idea of what a poem might look like or sound like first” (p. 443). Moreover, we expected that our participants may have had little previous exposure to a range of poetry in their primary school years (Kamberelis, 1998, 1999), and recognized that the successful teaching of poetry writing almost always occurred within the context of reading and sharing poetry (e.g., Apol & Harris, 1999; Certo, 2004; Duthie & Zimet, 1992; Siemens, 1996). Sometimes the second author or a guest poet would read a poem and simply let its rhythm and word music fill the room. But often, students were asked to react to and discuss what they noticed in these poems. Students, thus, regularly commented on the content of the poems, as well as the various linguistic and aesthetic devices used by the poet. In addition, they were encouraged to notice and comment on their own personal reactions and connections to a poem. In doing so, we embraced both a genre approach to writing instruction and emphasized an aesthetic response (Rosenblatt, 1980) to poetry. If one of the guest poets was leading the session, after reading or performing original poems for the students he/she would discuss some of the practices he/she engaged in when writing and lead students through a poetry writing activity. If a session was led by the second author, then after sharing a number of poems and discussing some of the poetic elements that contributed to their unique look and feel, students were frequently invited to compose their own original poetic texts in light of what had been shared and discussed. Furthermore, short focused lessons on subjects such as idea generation and revision were also sometimes included. The writing sessions themselves varied in length, but almost always included sustained individual or collaborative time for composing and/or revising, opportunities to show one’s poem to an interested peer or adult for one-on-one feedback, and a 10- or 15-minute more formalized sharing period where students and adults in the room were invited to read their poems aloud to the class. During the course of this genre study, each student produced a poetry portfolio filled with original poems they had drafted and revised. The genre study culminated with two experiences. First, each student selected one original poem from their poetry portfolio to revise and publish in a class poetry anthology. Second, each student selected one original poem to practice and perform at a school-wide poetry performance. The final week of the project was largely dedicated to these two culminating events. During these final sessions, students made their selections for publication and performance, and revised these selections utilizing a poetry revision checklist created by the second author in collaboration with the students. In addition, students prepared their performance selections for public debut – practicing in front of small groups of peers, receiving feedback and performance tips from their teachers and guest poets, and participating in both an in-class and in-school dress rehearsal. Data collection and analysis Like Kamberelis and de la Luna (2004), we agree that an understanding of children’s writing, including poetry, derives from more than the study of the written products they produce. Instead, it involves a multidimensional and situated approach involving complex activity systems. And that understanding of such situated social activity entails “focusing simultaneously on persons working with social and cultural resources on specific tasks within specific activities” (p. 240). It was important, then, to document and consider the products, processes, practices, contexts, and people at work as participants engaged in an

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activity we had defined as a poetry genre study within the context of two classroom communities in one urban neighbourhood elementary school. In accordance with our conceptual framework, many sources of data were gathered and analysed. In order to better comprehend those influential processes, practices, and contexts evolving around our participants as they engaged in the creation of poems and enactment of poetry performances, each participant underwent a semi-structured interview at the conclusion of the study to explain: (1) why their texts were poems, (2) if/why they revised their poetry, (3) why they performed their poems the way that they did, and (4) why individuals might be moved to write poems. The first author, the second author, and a group of trained doctoral students conducted these individual interviews. All drafts of original poems contained in participants’ poetry folders were also photocopied and retained, along with copies of participants’ final drafts of their published classroom anthology poems. Participants’ poetry performances were also video-recorded for later review. Moreover, artifacts such as field notes, audio-recordings of sessions, lesson plans, and various types of notes and lists found in participants’ poetry folders were gathered and consulted as secondary sources of information. We engaged in descriptive/interpretive textual analysis by first doing multiple readings of all drafts of participants’ original poems to get a sense of boys’ poems. Poems were then coded for theme; possible source(s) of content (e.g., personal experience, mentor texts, pop culture); form; and use of poetic features that made them look (e.g., white space, lines, stanzas) and sound (e.g., metaphor, alliteration, repetition, rhythm, rhyme scheme) like poems. Though a poetic language analysis of the poems of the entire class is beyond the scope of this study (see Certo, 2013), we do share particular poetic language features that boys’ used relative to the research questions. That is, we highlight boys’ poetic language use in cases where it demonstrated how they engaged with particular topics and drew on other texts and voices. In addition to students’ poems, interview transcripts were also examined using thematic content analysis (Miles & Huberman, 2002). More specifically, the first author began by coding each transcript along interview protocol questions to create initial categories. After a conversation with the second author, the first author revisited interview data in order to refine and collapse initial categories into relevant themes; reading all participant quotes numerous times, and in relation to other data sources, so as to better make sense of the local meaning behind participants’ words. In the next section, we share and expand upon four prevailing themes exemplified across this particular data set: (1) it is possible to create an environment in which boys enjoy engaging with poetry; (2) the importance of freedom in boys’ embracement of poetry; (3) scaffolding boys’ poetry with poems and poets; and (4) through poetry, boys found a space to be heard.

Results It is possible to create an environment in which boys enjoy engaging with poetry I love writing poetry. I love that it’s fun. I love to write … I pretty much love poetry more than other stuff. – Brad

Despite concerns highlighted in previous research literature, this group of fourth- and fifth-grade boys were willing, and sometimes even eager, to engage with poetry. For instance, over the course of the 4-week genre study these 20 boys drafted and revised a total of 166 poems. Each boy produced an average of 8 poems; with some crafting as few

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as 5 poems, and one participant as many as 17 poems – although it is important to note that quantity and quality are not always synonymous with one another. More impressive, their engagement with poetry extended to out of school contexts, with 12 of the 20 boys (or 60%) choosing to write poetry outside the official time devoted to poetry instruction in the classroom. For instance, Silvio often carried a small notebook with him in the halls and on the bus. He even kept it in his pocket while on safety duty, where he composed the poem Post as a way to vent feeling of frustration when fellow students chose not to listen to his authority as a school crossing guard. Likewise, John wrote his poem Snake Eyes at home after a trip to the store with his grandmother where he had bought a small metallic sticker of a snake from one of the vending machines. And Troy chose to write his Untitled poem while staring out the window one afternoon when he had stayed home from school due to illness. Students such as Silvio, John, and Troy spoke of choosing to write poetry on their own mostly as an outlet for exploring or expressing their feelings, but also as a way to record and share personal experiences or fill time (Textbox 1).

Textbox 1 post by Silvio While on post I look sometimes I see stuff that gives me a frown.

Untitled by Troy Snowing snowing all day long sickness all around sipping the moist steam hot chocolate strapped inside the cover for warmth boiling hot soup waiting when all the sickness has left as we watch the sparkling snow melt from the bright luminous sun when we go outside and we play when spring has come

Snake Eyes by John Snake eyes beady vicious like a lion watching your every move like a mother watching her baby. Slashing whipping like a slave owner whipping slaves. Waiting for the right time to attack. A dangerous fierce animal sticking venom into its preys flesh killing it from inside out watching as it slowly dies no sound quiet. Waiting for it to die the beast the poisonous snake, the rattlesnake to be exact. When something looks into its eyes it gets petrified. That’s when the beast attacks. Snake eyes. Hoops by DeMarcus Shouting yelling peanuts throwing basketball flying nets swishing Lakers Celtics all-star games people talking having fun crowd going crazy coach yelling shoot the ball Pierce shoots Celtics win

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In addition to engaging in the creation of a plethora of poetry, 18 of the 20 boys in this study (or 90%) also spoke of enjoying their experience with poetry. In his interview Juan remarked, “I think writing poems is kind of fun. It, like, helps you express your feelings sometimes … I like writing poetry and reading poetry.” Julio commented, I like writing poems because – Stuff I like and stuff I don’t like, I can just write it down on paper. And about my favorite stuff I like to do, and my friends and family, and about me sometimes … Poetry is almost my favorite thing to write.

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Frederick added, I think I like writing poems better than stories. Because they’re much easier to write. And they’re more interesting when people read them … Umm, this is like the first time I wrote a poem, like a lot of poems. And like since this is like my first time I’ve found I like it.

This idea that poetry was fun, freeing, accessible, and a way to express feelings resonated in many of the statements spontaneously shared by the group. It is important to note, however, that two individuals, Fa and DeMarcus, revealed that they would only write poetry if told to do so and not by choice. Each of these boys also expressed similar disinterest in writing in general – finding writing dull, boring, and tedious. Interestingly, both boys still composed and revised a good number of poems during the unit (10 and 11, respectively). Several of which were tied to their unique interests, such as DeMarcus’ poem titled Hoops. Overall, this group of 20 fourth- and fifth-grade boys engaged with and, by and large, seemingly enjoyed the genre of poetry during this investigation. But how, exactly, did these boys feel safe to take the supposed risks involved in writing and sharing poetry brought forth by an engendered view of poetry in a dominant masculine school culture as theorized by researchers such as Greig and Hughes (2009) and illustrated in the fictional work of Creech (2001)? Now it is possible that this particular group was special – a unique cohort with a natural inclination towards poetry. However, we feel something more was at work here. So, what was it about this particular poetry experience that pushed the majority of these boys to express such feelings of engagement and enjoyment?

The importance of freedom in boys’ embracement of poetry To me poetry’s fun. And, umm, you don’t got to write it like in a story form. You can write it however you want. – Booker

Next to it being “fun”, the number one reason these boys gave for their engagement with and enjoyment of poetry was that they felt a freedom to express their feelings. Furthermore, they felt they could do so free from many of the constraints they often came across when composing more typical school-sanctioned genres. The importance of freedom, often construed as choice in what to write about and how to write it, appeared frequently in this group of boys’ talk about poetry. In fact, many students saw choice in content and form as a defining characteristic of poetry, and a main reason for poetry’s appeal. While choice can be a motivating factor in any writing activity (Nolen, 2003), we believe it is of particular importance to poetry. Yet, it is our experience that typical

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school poetry writing opportunities tend to occur within an environment of limited student choice.

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Freedom in content. Personal experiences overwhelmingly operated as catalysts for these boys’ original poetry. For instance, when asked about where his idea for his poem titled Voice (in which the speaker apologizes to his father for screaming at him in frustration) derived from, James mentioned the following source of inspiration: I was just thinking of one day when I was in my truck and my dad had something in his teeth. And then he was making noise to get it out. And I was tired and my brother kept messing with me before. So I just wanted to go to sleep. Umm, it helped me just by thinking back and what I was feeling at that time.

The most popular sources for poetry content stemmed from recollected moments often involving friends and family, personal feelings of sadness or frustration, and descriptions of loved ones. Indeed, more than half the poems produced and submitted by the group were easily identified as containing key subject matter directly drawn from participants’ personal lived experiences. That number rises to over 75% when more subtle references to personal experience and personal connections to pop culture are included in the total. It is clear that the boys in this group frequently utilized personal experiences in their poetry. However, these boys embracement of poetry went beyond merely having them write about personal experiences. Instead, allowing for freedom – or choice – in content seemed to play a more significant role. When asked what his favourite aspect of the project was, we think Brad best articulated this point when he specified, “That I could write anything that I wanted to write about … Normally [my teacher] gives us something to write about. Or it’s picked up to correct.” Julio added, “Poetry’s about, like, writing stuff on the paper that – that you want to write on it … Poetry you can just do anything on something. And you can just write anything that you want”. Adults write poetry about those experiences and things most important to them when the moment is most ripe for doing so. Thus it is not surprising that elementary school children appreciate this same affordance. Requiring students to write on a particular topic at a particular moment not only risks leaving students with a false sense of what poetry is and why people write it, it risks missing an opportunity for students to compose truly meaningful poems. For example, Hung wrote four separate poems on the topic of war. One of these poems was titled Vietnam War. When asked to talk about this poem, Hung shared the following: [T]his one is about my homeland and the history of my country … I got the idea because I was reading war book – historic war book. I usually read historic war book, but this really broke my heart when I saw a book talking about my country. Saying that people die a lot, like children and family. People not even in the war that still die for no reason. And it’s hard to take it when you see a lot of people getting hurt like that.

Owen explored many poignant topics in his poetry including the loss of a pet, dealing with his mother’s “boyfriend disaster”, and the father–son relationship. One that stood out in particular was House on Catherine Street, a poem that captured the feelings of emptiness and loss that people can experience after visiting a former home. Likewise, Troy wrote a series of poems dealing with the death of his grandmother and loss of his mother (Textbox 2).

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Textbox 2

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Vietnam War by Hung NVA making trap woman fighting children get ready for battle. American fighting for SV artillery firing VC dying in the jungle. NV dressing up like grass killing American that walking around in the jungle. Family crying badly grave God will take them away.

Untitled by Troy Why did it happen? So awful to see Eyes shut in your grave To terrible for me When tears come I never try to forget But when I put my head up I think of you Though you were a person I barely knew God must take the best Grandma I just Hope you’re in a place of rest I use to cry and And I use to ask why Down I look at the ground

House on Catherine Street by Owen One day we drove past my old House. The house was as empty as my toy box. Holes in the walls, rusty gate, and a empty Driveway. Light green walls, but blue inside. Uncut grass as long as a stove. Snowy sidewalks, muck in the gutter and cut down tree. Mom Away by Troy Away Away Away. Gone without one last hug and millions of missed calls from me praying every day that you were ok. Untitled by Troy Live sting. When someone has passed The hard rock that thrashes the heart when you think it tears you apart

The impact of these boys’ poems stemmed from the personal connection the authors had with their subject matter. These participants were permitted the opportunity to write about something significant, their raw emotion seemingly leading to poignant poetry. Conceivably, then, it was through the freedom and choice afforded by this poetry experience, that the fourth- and fifth-grade boys in this group were able to give voice to those experiences, thoughts, and feeling that were important to them. This echoes earlier assertions that misconceptions about boys’ affinity for poetry may be tied largely to topics and themes, not to the genre itself (Damico & Carpenter, 2005; Koch, 1973; Newkirk, 2000; Peterson, 2002). Freedom in form. For some, choice in what to write about opened the door for participants to engage with themes they were passionate about. For others, poetry allowed for a sense of freedom that they rarely experienced in the official school writing curriculum. Frederick and Booker both spoke of preferring poetry writing over

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other genres such as narrative accounts and stories because they were shorter and easier to write. While, as adults, we know that poetry is not easy to write, it is possible that these boys’ perceived that poetry, with its brevity and reduced focus on traditional writing conventions, may have appeared less intimidating especially to the reluctant or struggling writer; an affordance in line with previous research on the utilization of poetry with reluctant/struggling readers (Christison & Bassano, 1995). In fact, a number of our boys commented on poetry’s condensed nature and their appreciation of this. However, freedom went beyond accessibility and ease of expression. For instance, when asked to talk about his poetry Carter remarked, “Because I didn’t write poems. And when I found out that we could do, like, anything through a poem – like it didn’t have to rhyme and you can write especially feelings – that’s what made me want to write poems.” Not having to rhyme (a skill many found awkward and challenging) or not always having to fit their words into a distinct form were important notions for this group. These boys valued the chance to experiment with and find a form they felt best suited their own style and chosen content. Allowing for freedom in both form and content potentially permitted each participant to interact with poetry as a poet would; not to complete a class assignment, but to play with language and craft a text that best fulfilled each boy’s purpose and expressed his thoughts to his intended audience.

Scaffolding boys’ poetry with poems and poets In spite of poetry’s perceived “freeing” nature, freedom alone is not enough. If it were, educators would merely need to provide a space for students to write poetry, then sit back and expect sophisticated poems to materialize. For many elementary students, poetry is a genre they have had little formal experience reading or writing. Moreover, much of their informal exposure to poetry rarely moves beyond nursery rhymes and playground songs or the humorous sing-song poetry of poets like Shel Silverstein (Kutiper & Wilson, 1993). While there is nothing problematic with these works themselves, when used alone, they tend to leave students with a limited impression of what constitutes a poem. Therefore, prior to having them write poetry it was important that we first allowed students to hear, read, and examine a wide range of diverse poems on a variety of topics and showcasing an array of forms and poetic techniques. While not required to do so, the boys in this study frequently drew upon provided mentor texts (both model texts and guest poets’ performances) to aid them in crafting original poems. Some stayed close to the mentor texts in their own work, while others took the ideas and made them their own. Early in the project when students were brainstorming potential topics for poems, many students expressed an interest in writing a poem about animals. In one poetry session, three poems about animals were shared with students. Alfred Tennyson’s (1873) The Eagle, inspired many participants to craft their own highly descriptive animal poems. Not only did many participants choose to borrow the theme and feel of Tennyson’s poem, many also borrowed poetic devices, such as rhythm, word music (e.g., alliteration, rhyme), and figurative language. For example, Matthew exhibited some repetition of the /d/ and /g/ sounds in his poem titled Komodo Dragon (As the dragon/Drags the goat/ Through the green/Bright grass). Like Tennyson, Matthew also left us with strong and almost chilling final lines (No more noise/Not a sound). Likewise, Fa utilized repetition of

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the /g/ sound in his poem titled Cheetah’s dinners (green grass that grows). He even chose to try out a bit of rhyme scheme (he bites with all/his might/all night now I am/ frightened). Together these two elements lend a nice sense of rhythm to his poem. In addition, Fa incorporated figurative language into this work (he bursts out like/a bullet in gun). Inspiration similarly came from texts students heard performed aloud by guest poets. In his poem titled The Flash, Jacob drew inspiration for his text from guest poet D. Blair. Blair, a male African-American performance poet and musician, had performed a poem titled My Name Is Karl, in which he took on the persona of Karl (an African-American male character on The Simpsons) to explore issues of race. His poem utilized the bookends “I was drawn here”. Jacob chose to try on Blair’s persona poem format. Writing about a fictional character he idolized, Jacob borrowed the idea of bookending his poem (I was born to be/the flash) and the line “I was drawn” to create something uniquely his own (Textbox 3).

Textbox 3 Komodo Dragon by Matthew KOMODO DRAGON GOBBLES UP ITS PREY AS THE DRAGON DRAGS THE GOAT THROUGH THE GREEN BRIGHT GRASS THE GOAT CHOKES AS THE CLAW MAKES ITS WAY THROUGH ITS SKIN THE GOAT DISAPPEARS THE KOMODO DRAGON FIGHTS FOR ITS FOOD TILL DEATH THE DRAGON YANKS THE GOAT’S HEAD OFF NO MORE NOISE NOT A SOUND

Cheetah’s dinners by Fa The cheetah is low in the green grass that grows it spotted its prey he bursts out like a bullet in gun and has its dinner he bites with all his might all night now I am frightened. The Flash by Jacob I was born to be the flash, I was drawn to other worlds I was the quickest person in school even in races when I was grown up I was kickin’ evil guy’s butt I have to stand up for my responsibilities and remember I was born to be the flash

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Additionally, participants were motivated to incorporate figurative language into their poems by guest poets. For instance, when asked what helped him revise his poem DeMarcus reported how “Logic (Joseph Harris, a male African American spoken word poet) was doing a thing when he said ‘hot as the sun’. So I put ‘fast as lightening’.” Some other examples of exquisitely descriptive figurative language found in these boys’ poems include

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Sweet and old as an ancient blanket, (in reference to a pet cat) He was tough, like biting a jawbreaker, (in reference to a father playing a video game) Loud stereos in the truck, as loud as a yell in a library, (found within a critical description of a mother’s boyfriend)

Immersion in poetry, then, seemed to help this group of boys discover what it meant to write texts that both looked and sounded like poems. Moreover, it appears likely that exposure to a rich variety of mentor texts (both written and performed) may have allowed a number of boys involved in this investigation to appropriate and transform the voices around them, in order to successfully create poems which arguably incorporated sophisticated language and literary devices. Yet, while this group continued to utilize mentor texts throughout the study, it is important to note that they were less likely to draw direct inspiration for their chosen theme/topic from these texts as time progressed. This brings us back to the importance of choice within the context of providing mentor texts. Never were our participants required to write on the particular topic showcased in a mentor text, nor were they mandated to follow a mentor text’s form. All mentor texts or writing prompts were offered as suggestions only. In fact, we often encouraged participants to make a poem their own. This encouragement acted as more than a motivational device. In order for them to truly embrace poetry, we needed participants to eventually move beyond reliance on teacher provided mentor texts or writing prompts; for we knew this would be important if we wanted these boys to continue to write poetry on their own.

Through poetry, boys found a space to be heard. It [poetry] was fun, because I got to read and share my poems with other kids and other people. – Paul

Another reason this group of boys gave for enjoying their experience engaging with poetry involved having the opportunity to share their original poems with an authentic audience. It was through such public sharing of their poetry, we theorize, that these boys found a space in which their unique voices could be heard and valued. When asked about his favourite part of the project John replied “Probably I’d have to say the Poetry Jam. Because we got a chance to show adults and students that we could write poetry even though we were young.” Jacob shared with us the excitement and sense of personal accomplishment he felt when sharing his poem with an audience, “I was excited … Everybody clapped. They clapped really, really hard and I was proud of myself.” Although many spoke of experiencing feelings of nervousness, the vast majority of boys in this study enjoyed the opportunity to perform their original poem in front of an audience and felt a sense of pride in doing so. Brad even told us, “That just because

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you’re a little bit nervous, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t participate in the poetry jam.” When asked why he thought he should still participate even if he was nervous, Brad remarked, “Because nobody was able to write something like I did.” While we do not recommend requiring a student who experiences high levels of anxiety over performing in front of a large group to read his work at something as nerveracking as a school-wide poetry performance, we do feel that all students should have the opportunity to share their writing with an audience beyond the teacher. For instance, frequently throughout the poetry unit students were asked to share their original poems with peers in the room, and provided a chance to read their poems in front of the class. Furthermore, prior to participating in the poetry performance, all students observed the second author, their classroom teachers, and the five invited guest poets reading and performing poetry aloud. Beyond this, students discussed tips for reading in front of an audience, and had the chance to read/perform their own chosen poems in front of the adults in the classroom, as well as small groups of peers, for feedback. Students even underwent two more formal dress rehearsals prior to the actual performance. Many of the boys who expressed feelings of nervousness pointed to this preparation as key in providing them the confidence to eventually give voice to the thoughts, feelings, and personal experiences contained within their work in what was for them a very public arena. Discussion and implications While earlier scholarship into students’ and teachers’ perceptions of poetry (Benton, 1984; Dias, 1992; Painter, 1970) and the potential cultural genderfication of poetry as a genre antithetical to boys’ supposed “natural preferences” (Greig & Hughes, 2009) leads us to concluded the opposite, findings presented above demonstrate that it is plausible that elementary-aged boys (similar to Webb’s (2009) and Fisher’s (2007) accounts of high school-aged boys) can, and will, engage in the reading, writing, and performance of poetry if given the opportunity to do so in authentic and appealing ways. Although this was a descriptive study, and as such we cannot make causal claims, several characteristics do stand out as conceivably noteworthy in moving these boys away from more stereotypical interactions with poetry. We offer these characteristics, then, as suggestions for teachers to consider as they work to create a safe environment in which poetry becomes an enjoyable and significant experience for boys – a place where they believe that they are, indeed, poets. First, it appears a reasonable assumption that boys understand what poetry actually is, before they are expected to embrace the idea of writing poetry or becoming poets themselves. It is also important that the poetry shared and prompted has a variety of themes, subjects, styles, moods, and interests. While sing-song rhyming poems, “sappy” poems about love, or “flowery” poems about nature are a part of poetry, they do not define the genre (Damico & Carpenter, 2005). Indeed, poetry is often about real problems, real experiences, and real feelings. In fact, poetry often acts as a vehicle for self-expression, a place in which one can give voice to those things that matter most without the constraint of those conventional norms placed on prose text (Dyson, 2005; Fisher, 2007; Jocson, 2005; McCormick, 2000). Therefore, poems can be soft and sweet, hard and edgy, or contain powerful images and strong subject matter depending on the author’s intent. As such, we agree with Damico and Carpenter (2005) and Kock (1973) that care should be exercised to not present students with a limited and limiting view of what poetry is. Talking about what real poets do and sharing poems which illustrate this may help drive this point home. Moreover, when asking boys to write poetry, teachers might consider

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encouraging them to draw from those cultural and personal experiences that they feel are important, allowing for freedom of choice in both theme and form. Through such undertakings, boys may begin to build a sense of what makes poetry poetry. Second, it is potentially important that boys understand the purposes of poetry writing. Who writes poetry and why do they chose to do so? During this experience participants engaged with male and female poets from diverse racial, ethnic, and stylistic backgrounds. As such, our male participants were able to observe and interact with role models who, in theory, more readily resembled themselves; perhaps lending capital to the notion that “people like us” read, write, and perform poetry (Greig & Hughes, 2009). Therefore, whenever possible, teachers might consider allowing space for poets’ voices (with care to include contemporary male voices) in their classroom. Inviting local poets into the classroom who can provide live performances and also speak to what drew them to poetry and why they feel compelled to write, then, may prove fruitful. (Teachers can check out local community- or university-sponsored poetry groups for suggestions on how to do this in their area. YouTube also offers an abundance of recorded poetry performances to draw from.) Likewise, we also suggest providing boys with an outlet for their work; a way to share (through performance and publication) their poems with peers, poets, and the community at large. While some write poetry solely for themselves, more often these texts were meant to be shared aloud with others. This sentiment was reflected in both the words of our participants and in the larger research literature (e.g., Fisher, 2007; Jocson, 2005). It seems that our youth want and need their words – their voices – heard. Third, in order to successfully write in a genre, it appears helpful that students first examine and read texts from that same genre. This seems particularly true of poetry. Thus, teachers may wish to immerse boys in poetry; allowing them to listen to, read, watch, and share a wide range of poems (including contemporary works written by poets of colour, poems by local poets, and even their own poetry or that of past students) during each poetry session. Providing such mentor texts for our students to draw upon helps scaffold the poetry novice into the sometimes mysterious world of the poem (McClure, 1990; Wilson, 2007). In addition, teachers might have boys talk about these texts and comment on not only what a poet is trying to say, but how the author is saying it. Furthermore, boys could be encouraged to use such mentor texts as catalysts for their own poems and to assist in the development of their own poetic voice – appropriating and playing with the language, forms, and devices they encounter to create texts that look and feel like poems, but that also uniquely belong to their authors. In terms of research, we have only begun to unravel the complexities surrounding boys and poetry. A next logical step would be to follow these boys, or a similar group, into the secondary grades and beyond in order to understand what lasting affordances possibly result from participation in a poetic genre study such as this. Do these boys continue to engage in the poetry practices emphasized in this experience? Do they show an appreciation of poetry beyond that of their peers without such an experience? How, if at all, have their literary practices and writing skill more broadly defined been impacted? Our boys deserve the opportunity to experience poetry and its potential benefits. Furthermore, as writers, we believe that they desire the freedom and self-expression poetry affords them. For as one student so tellingly stated in his interview, “I write it [poetry] because it’s something that I can – Instead of writing because I’m being told to, [I write it] because I feel like writing it.” Funding This research was supported in part by [grant number 200900058] from The Spencer Foundation.

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Notes on contributors Lisa K. Hawkins is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University’s College of Education. Her interests include examining children’s writing development, writing instructional practices, classroom discourse, and preservice/inservice teacher learning. Janine L. Cero is an associate professor of language and literacy in the Department of Teacher Education at Michigan State University’s College of Education. Her interests include sociocultural approaches to understanding children’s writing, poetic language theory, elementary English-language arts teacher learning, and poetry in schooling and society.

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Appendix. Student participant demographics

Participant name (pseudonym) Juan Julio Jacob Paul Brad Matthew Frederick Fa Grant Silvio Hung James Carter Bertram Troy Booker John Owen DeMarcus Chin Ho

Grade level 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th 4th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th 5th

grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade grade

Race/ethnicity Latino Latino African-American African-American Caucasian African-American Latino Asian-American Caucasian Latino Asian-American Caucasian African-American Caucasian African-American Latino African-American Latino African-American Asian American

School services identification

ELL (Spanish) ELL (Laotian) ELL (Vietnamese) Gifted program Speech and language ELL (Spanish)

ELL (Hmong)