Review of Poetic Possibilities
In the book, Poetic Possibilities: Using Poetry to Enhsnce Literacy Learning, editors Susan E. Israel and Michelle M. Israel have collected several poems published over the last thirty years in the International Reading Association journal, The Reading Teacher. The poems, written by reading specialists, teachers, researchers, administrators and graduate students, "all involve literacy concepts and are intended for teachers or others who want to use poetry to encourage, motivate, and inspire elementary, middle school, and high school students to read and write." (Preface, p. ix)
The book is organized in five sections titled, 'Discovering the value of reading,' 'Making connections to support developing readers,' 'Motivating future authors,' 'Honoring the special voices within,' and 'Inspiring exemplary reading teachers.' the poems included in the volume tell us about why reading is important, how it feels to be able to read and write, the challenges in the path of becoming literate and ways to overcome them, and the importance of creativity. The last section of the book, 'Inspiring exemplary reading teachers,' contains poems specifically meant to aid teachers to reflect on their teaching practice. In the words of the editors, the poems in this section "can help teachers reflect on reading, the practice of teaching reading, and how children go about the learning process. Many of the poems provide the reader with a message about what is the best way to help children learn and be successful at reading." (p. xi) Each section begins with a vignette and a quote about personal reading experiences or thoughts on the importance of reading, and also contains suggested reading lists and a special section called 'poetry reflections' that contains several questions or "thinking prompts" (p.xii). Each poem in each section is also followed by a set of 'poetry prompts to ponder' and a section on the 'literacy application' for the poem that attempts to fulfill the primary goal of the book - to "help the reader gain a deeper appreciation for how poetry can be integrated in the classroom...to help enhance the value of reading and writing..." (pp.xii - xiii).
The poems collected in the volume are as varied (in their views, structures, styles, length etc) as their authors are (grade school students, graduate students, grade school teachers, university professors, teacher educators, literacy researchers, reading experts, psychologists, etc), but a general perception of literacy that seems to weave the poems together in the volume and across sections, and indirectly points at the authors' ideological position (as also those of the editors of the volume), is what New Literacy Studies scholar Brian Street has termed the 'autonomous model' of literacy (Street, 1993; 1995). That is, literacy is perceived to be a technical skill with intrinsic values and it is believed that people can vastly improve their social and economic situation simply by becoming literate. For example, a poem by Ellen Barrett, titled 'The Gift,' in the fifth and final section of the book, 'Inspiring exemplary reading teacher,' reads as follows:
What is happening in the world,
What the weather will be.
The skill we have learned
And don't stop to think about
The little message on the store window:
Sorry, we're closed. Please come again. (p. 116)
While the newspaper is a popular source of worldly information, it is by no means the only source. Even within a highly literate culture like that of the United States of America, the television provides a popular, and maybe even a more convenient, alternative. It is indeed condescending to imagine that a person without the knowledge of literacy is ignorant of the larger world or cannot figure out when a shop is closed. Several studies have shown that for all general purposes, a person without the knowledge of reading and writing wouldn't have any more problems going about his/her daily existence than those of us with this knowledge (c.f. Street, 1995). Nor does literacy automatically translate into success, but this is exactly the kind of idea that the poem seems to be suggesting. The poem concludes with the following words:
So they will succeed. (p.116)
Another poem ('Learning to Read' by Molly Drew), which although arguably could be metaphorically interpreted differently, tells us about how a contemporary little child learns to read in school, comparing it to the arduous process by which his/her mother became literate, and ends on a note that how much the child would have missed in life had s/he not become literate. It is also interesting to note that the author feels that communication through "printed word" is a basic human need:
My future success, I do not know; but I can tell you this:
Without the ability to read, so much of life I'd miss
Communicating through the printed word fulfills a basic need.
And unlike mother, I can say, I really love to read! (p. 47)
Yet another poem in the section titled 'Discovering the value of reading' tells us about the things we could achieve in life by learning to read. This poem by Karen Finfrock, titled 'Reading Rap,' is written in the form of a Rap, with the refrain - "R-E-A-D-I-N-G tell you what it means to me (2)" inserted between verses. The first two verses of the poem is quoted below:
Verse 1— When you read a book it'll help you learn.
And when you grow up it'll help you earn.
You could learn so many things as you grow
And the more you read the more you know
Verse 2— Reading can open up doors for you.
There are so many things that you can do.
Be a doctor be a teacher be a rapstar too.
Keep on reading and your dreams can come true. (p. 21)
This poem directly equates literacy proficiency with economic success ("And when you grow up it'll help you earn," "Reading can open up door for you," "Keep on reading and your dreams can come true"), as if only learning to read will do all that for one and nothing else like availability of jobs, a stable economy, etc are required. In the 'poetry prompts to ponder' immediately following the poem, the authors suggest that the teacher, having read the poem, reflects on "how reading can help you be successful in life" and shares her thoughts with the students (p. 22).
Proponents of the 'autonomous model' of literacy like Jack Goody and Ian Watt also espouse the idea that historicity is fundamentally related to literacy. Comparing preliterate societies with literate societies, Goody & Watt (1963) argue that one of the fundamental differences in the worldview brought about by literacy is a heightened sense of 'history,' as we know it today. With the advent of literacy, and later the invention of the printing press, as written words were increasingly employed not only to communicate, but to keep a record of human thought, action, speech and transaction, a sense of 'history' developed that is elementarily different from the vague historicity of the myths and legends of the preliterate societies. On the other hand, Brian Street (1993; 1995) challenged this view as only being integral to a particular view of history bounded by units of time — that of the western, literate world. In his view, there is nothing inherently historical about writing and that people labelled as 'preliterate' by some scholars of literacy have their own ways of recording and making sense of history. The poem, 'Oral Tradition Bound in Books' by Marta Frias Morales, included in the fourth section of the book — 'Honoring the special voices within', reflects this view of writing as a tool for recording and preservation of history. It also reflects this idea of contemporary documented (written) history being different from the mythical/mythological history of our (presumably) illiterate ancestors.
Our parents and grandparents have
transmitted unto us the gift of
oral tradition and narrative history.
We cherish and value their
collective memory. Their story
is linked to our development.
Let us pay authentic tribute to our
abuelitos and abuelitas our
bisabuelos and bisabuelas.
Take time to preserve their oral
Take time to preserve "La Llorona"
Take time to preserve their wisdom.
Let us record their thoughts,
their dreams, and aspirations
with a stroke of a brush on a
or the flow of a pen on paper.
the winds drift them away.
the rains wash them into the earth.
If we transcribe their oral histories
our children and grandchildren will
the collective memory of their
If we preserve the history of our
ancianos ... (p. 92; original emphasis)
It is interesting to note that the poet feels the only way to preserve and pass on the ancient wisdom of our ancestors today is by transcribing them into books ("If we transcribe their oral histories into books, our children and grandchildren will have the collective memory of their ancestors"). It is probably worth noting that even today in largely literate societies like India and some other parts of the world, traditional wisdom is primarily transmitted orally. It is also worth noting that the poet seems to make some sort of a distinction between 'history' and 'narrative/oral history' in the poem. In the last stanza of the poem, the poet writes:
After we have carefully recorded
our history [emphasis mine] and bound our books
let us shelve them in the house of
Hence, there the collective memory
heritage will be preserved, and we
cherish and forever honor our
grandparents and great grandparents. (p. 92)
Another important point noted by some New Literacy Studies scholars, including Brian Street (1995), is that 'reading' in the western sense of the word usually implies the practice of silent, independentl reading; but reading does not have to be (and indeed in many parts of the world is not considered to be) either silent or independent. A poem in the last section of the volume, cleverly titled 'To USSR (Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading)' by Mike Angelotti, likens silent independent reading to "sacred trust" between comrades:
Violating the sacred trust
The authors of the volume, however, pointed out in the 'Literacy Application' section following the poem that since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, silent, independent reading in schools is discouraged in favor of more collaborative and discussion centered readings by the students.
Finally, one poem in the volume — 'Soliloquies' by Miriam J. Dale-Kallas — deserve particular attention. This poem, divided in three section (each section representing the voice of a different child who is learning to read), narrates the tales of three first graders who are learning to read. The tales capture the children's success, their frustrations and provide a bit of their background stories that is assumed to affect their literacy learning outcomes:
I ain't hardly seen no books before
My home ain't a happy one
I have an older brother, who is
With a free lunch at school
That's where I seen some books
I can't remember words in a book
My teacher tries to help me
To put pictures…words on a screen
She put ear-phones on my head
So I can hear stories 'read'
Once my teacher read a story
I ain't seen green fields
Where rats bite sometimes
I'm absent a lot from school
Our apartment ain't too warm
My shirt's dirty most of the time
Maybe I'll learn a word or two
Well, I don't know about that
When I was one, two, three, four
Along with puzzles, blocks
Along with squashing clay
Buying milk, bread, at the
I sat on Mom and Dad's laps
As they read stories…poems to me
I learned 'look,' 'come,' 'go,' 'baby,'
While my Dad played the guitar.
Why some of my friends at school
I don't hardly go no-where
I have to get up by myself
I've had a series of 'Dads'
My Mom is always scolding me
For not remembering things
Some of my older brothers
Probably I'll be a drop-out too
Maybe I can remember words
PLEASE HELP ME! (pp. 94-95)
The poem uses three different voices to represent three first graders learning to read —two of the soliloquies use AAVE (African American Vernacular English), while the third voice is in Standard American English. While some of the characteristics of AAVE like double negatives and the use of 'ain't as a negative indicator (those that are used in the poem) are sometimes used in colloquial American English too, yet the presence of the third voice that employs a Standard American English dialect leads one to believe that the voices using AAVE dialect here are representative of African-American kids. If we agree on the point that the voices in AAVE dialect are deliberately chosen to represent black kids, then one can't help but find a host of issues with the poem and the way it represents African American kids, their families and their literacy learning processes in school and out of school.
For instance, it won't be missed that both African American kids, in contrast to the (presumably white) kid who is represented as speaking in SAE, are struggling literacy learners, are poor, are from disfunctional families, are on welfare, and are in need of help. In contrast, the third kid is shown to come from a happy family with parents who are both caring, literate and reasonably well to do financially (at least they don't live in a "shack" or in apartment buildings where "rats bite sometimes" and the heat doesn't work), and the kid, being surrounded by books at all times and participating in a host of literate activities at home, has no problem reading or writing. While scholars like Perry Nodelman & Mavis Reimar (2002) and Donna Norton & Sandra Norton (2011), along with a host of other scholars (Glazer, 1997; Temple et al, 2011a; Temple et al, 2011b), have shown that having unrestricted access to books from an young age, or being read to, has positive influences on children's literacy learning, there is no correlation between ethnicity and literate activities, just as there is no correlation between ethnicity and social delinquency or financial standing. There are probably just as many white kids who come from broken families, whose parents drink, remarry, are poor, doesn't sing or read to their children or are, otherwise, negligent towards their children's growth and development. There may also be just as many white kids who are rich, ride to school in Mercs or BMWs, might have a library at home, but still prefer watching TV all day to reading. On the other hand, there are plenty African American parents who are happily married, have one or two kids, are literate and financially stable, who care for their children, read to them or take them for picnics. Again the poorest of parents of any ethnicity, at least in the United States, shop for milk and bread, and might take their children along sometimes. Literacy development is dependent on a host of socio-economic factors (Brandt, 2001), including, but not limited to, family environment and acess to books. The school environment also plays an extremely important role in children's literacy development, and it is interesting to note in this light that the little literacy support that the African American kids are shown to be receiving in this poem is at school and from the caring and kindly teachers, whereas the white kid's literacy development is shown to take place entirely at home with parental support. It is also important to note that both African American kids' accounts end with a plea for help ("PLEASE HELP ME!"), while the other kid's account ends in a confident "I DO". All kids need help and support with literacy learning, and black kids need no more help than white kids do. The image of African American kids, and their families, portrayed in this poem is, therefore, extremely skewed and stereotypical; and they don't have any real basis. What is perhaps more disturbing is that the African American kids are portrayed as saying all these things themselves about them and their families. The poet's biases are disguised as the kids' own voice.
The biases of the poem is not limited to race, but extends to gender as well. In both accounts of the two black kids in the poem, responsibility for the children's neglect is implicitly placed on their mothers ("My Mom drinks sometimes," "My Mom washes/When she feels like it/Which ain't often," "I have to get up by myself/And get ready/My Mom sleeps/and don't care/If I get there," "My Mom is always scolding me"), thereby conversely implying that child rearing is primarily a woman's responsibility.
These apart, the volume would be extremely helpful to teachers, particularly beginning teachers, who are looking to integrate literature, specifically poetry, with literacy instruction in the classroom. The book contains a variety of poems of different shapes (literally), sizes and forms from acrostics ABC poems to circular poems, from RAP to poems that make use of visuals and illustrations, and the poems cover a variety of topics from the joys of reading, importance of literacy, challenges to writing and how to overcome them to poems on how to teach reading and writing in the classroom through storytelling, read alouds, and poetry. The poems in the volume also represent a variety of literacy learners from African American children to ESL learners, from learners who have dyslexia to those who are blind, from timid first time readers to proficient child writers. Some of the poems provide practical tips like how to tackle writer's block, while some warn against common mistakes like not writing down an idea the moment it strikes. And almost all the poems encourage readers and writers to keep trying, and not be discouraged by failures. The 'Poetry Prompts to Ponder' and the 'Literacy Application' sections after each poem provide valuable and practical suggestions to teachers on using the poems for literacy instruction in the classroom; the 'Poetry Prompts' especially make for great group discussion starters, and the vignettes in the beginning of each section reminisce the many joys, challenges and frustrations of successful literacy learners, including the editors of the volume.
Brandt, D. (2001). Literacy in American lives. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Glazer, J. I. (1997). Introduction to children's literature. New Jersy: Merrill.
Goody, J and Watt, I. (1963). The consequences of literacy. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 5(3), 304-345.
Nodelman, P., and Reimer, M. (2002). Pleasures of children's literature. Allyn & Bacon.
Norton, D.E., & Norton, S.E. (2011). Through the eyes of a child: An introduction to children's literature. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Scrubber, S., & Cole, M. (1981). The psychology of literacy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Street, B. (Ed.) (1993). Cross-cultural approaches to literacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Street, B. (1995). Social literacies: Critical approaches to literacy in development, ethnography and education. London and New York: Longman.
Temple, C., Martinez, M., & Yokota, J. (2011). Children's books children's hands: Anintroduction to their literature. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Temple, C., Ogle, D., Crawford, A., & Freppon, P. (2011). All children read: Teaching for literacy in today's diverse classrooms. Boston, MA: Pearson.
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