Poetry Gallery

(Sticker Mania, 2020)

Just ‘Wow!’ This was the only statement that came to my mind on Wednesday 25th November 2020. As I walked through the classroom to view the poetry pieces I was amazed by how Mrs. Gillian Lazarus uses her reading strategies so effortlessly. One (1) of the strategies is the Poetry Gallery. You may be asking yourself ‘What is a Poetry Gallery?’ A poetry gallery can be easily defined as a strategy where the teacher pastes pieces of poems on the wall for students to view and examine.

As a preservice teacher, I analyze the teacher's every move. I analyze the teacher’s deportment in the classroom to the strategies that they use. I do this since I know that my lecturer is modeling the acceptable ways of a good teacher. Before beginning the gallery walk my teacher gave us a question to guide us as we moved from poem to poem. As I moved from poem to poem I discovered that every poet has their own way of expressing their ideas and feelings. The way in which the poet expresses themselves should appeal to some sort of emotion in the reader.

As a future teacher, I aspire to use this strategy in my classroom. I now know that the students do not necessarily always have to be sitting down to do sit work activities. Students should be allowed to move to be engaged in the learning process. This constant movement does not only bring about student involvement but they will also be interested and motivated to learn. I also see the importance of planning as a teacher. When a teacher plans the lesson transitions smoothly and the students are not left ‘lost’ and unsupervised. I also learned that the teacher should guide the students as they engage in activities so they would not be confused.

 

References

Sticker Mania. (2020). Retrieved from https://mystickermania.com/sticker-packs/adventure-time/adventure-time-amazed-jake