Effective Teaching Methods for Poetry and Drama Literacy

Posted on Sep 30, 2025 in Pedagogy

Poetry Lessons: Creating a Poetry-Rich Classroom

To create a poetry-rich classroom, surround children with poetry (on the walls, in the halls, in the air, everywhere). Key strategies include:

  • Read poetry every day so students can become familiar with its rhythm.
  • Choose different types of poems.
  • Read aloud.
  • Match poetry with classical music.
  • Create a poetry corner in the classroom (e.g., signs of autumn: leaves, twigs, etc.).

Turning Students into Word Collectors

Create a graffiti wall where students can post words and phrases for all to see. Everyone can write poems on that wall.

Ways to Respond to Poetry

Use a reader response technique where students can analyze a poem (e.g., using questions like: How did the poem make you feel?).

Use prompts (or indications) they can respond to (e.g., tell me a part of the story you like/dislike and why).

Poetic Form and Structure

Verse

A line of poetry has two main forms:

  • Verse: Follows rules regarding stanza length, meter, or rhyme patterns.
  • Free Verse: Does not follow strict rules and has no set rhyme or rhythm.

Stanza (Strophe)

The stanza is the group of lines that compose a pattern. Common types include:

  • Couplet: A stanza of 2 lines.
  • Tercet: 3 lines.
  • Quatrain: 4 lines.
  • Cinquain: 5 lines.
  • Fixed: Any poem that must fit a strictly defined set of rules.
  • Nonspecific: Any poem that doesn’t have a specific number of lines (e.g., picture poem).

Poetic Devices

Rhyme

The repetition of sounds in two or more words. Rhymes are classified as:

  1. Perfect Rhyme: Sounds in the poem that are equal (e.g., true/blue).
  2. Assonant Rhyme: Rhyming with similar vowels (e.g., dip/limp).
  3. Consonant Rhyme: Rhyming with similar consonants (e.g., limp/lump).

Alliteration

The repetition of initial consonant sounds (e.g., “She sells sea-shells down by the sea-shore,” focusing on the “s” sound). Alliteration doesn’t need to be an entire sentence; any two-word phrase can be alliterative. Tongue twisters are a form of alliteration.

Imagery

Poets make readers “see” and “feel” through their choice of words, appealing to the five senses: sound, taste, smell, sight, and touch.

Concrete Poems

Poems that imitate the shapes of their subjects (e.g., a poem about a butterfly written in the shape of a butterfly).

Drama and Literacy in the Classroom

Drama can bring the teaching of literacy (alfabetización) to life, giving children imagined experiences which enrich their reading and writing.

Drama and the Whole Curriculum

  1. All drama has to be about something.
  2. Drama helps students connect learning and content.

Drama, Film, and ICT

These are very important sources in the learning process of students.

Drama for Performance

Children’s performances for others in school are highly enjoyable. Teachers can help students build ideas and ambitions to create high-quality works.

Benefits of Using Drama to Teach English

  • It is fun.
  • Students can move (Total Physical Response).
  • They can use their imagination.
  • It gives students the opportunity to talk.
  • Shy students can feel confident because they can take on different roles.

Introducing Children to Drama

Introduction should be slow. The teacher should begin with games and rhymes. Examples include:

  • Simon Says
  • Do the Opposite
  • Statues
  • Charades

Use songs where you can focus on Total Physical Response (TPR).

Reading Comprehension Strategies

Pre-Reading Strategies

Focus on activating prior knowledge. Children should make connections between what they know and the new information. The teacher should start with pictures so students can predict what the class is going to be about (support the children in this process).

Strategies While Reading

Students integrate what they know and the new information. Key activities include:

  • Drawing: Students illustrate the story.
  • Questioning: Making questions to assess understanding of the story.
  • Summarizing.

Post-Reading Strategies

Activities should reinforce comprehension after reading a text.

Defining Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is the process of making meaning from texts by making connections with previous knowledge and understanding the text.

What Children Should Be Able To Do:

  • Decode a text (using cues such as sound and spelling, knowledge of context, grammatical knowledge, etc.).
  • Understand what they are reading.
  • Go beyond literal interpretation and understand complex meanings using inference and deduction.