This week, Stow, Ohio resident Timothy Rasinski will be my guest on Poetry from Daily Life. When Tim was pursuing his master’s degree, he was informed he was an excellent writer. But he writes more about teaching kids to read than about poetry. He likes to write to make things clear, and he especially appreciates turning scientific findings into practical applications for educators. Together, Tim and I have collaborated on several projects about the use of poetry in reading instruction, such as “1-3” (co-authored with Mary Jo Fresch) and “Partner Poems and Word Ladders, K-2”. Dr. Rasinski was ranked in the top 2% of scientists worldwide in a 2023 Stanford University study. ~ David L. Harrison
“The longer I live, the more I realize that humans are comforted and enlivened by the act of reciting rhythmic words aloud; it’s almost biological.”
American Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky served from 1997 to 2000.
Although I’m not a poet, I enjoy being around poets. In my capacity as a researcher and college professor, I have personally concentrated on the most effective ways to teach reading to kids, particularly to those who struggle with the process. Having spent more than 40 years on this road, one of the most crucial lessons I can impart to educators, administrators, and parents is that children’s poetry is among the best literature for training young readers. Poetry is typically brief, and children’s poems are simple to learn to read because of their rhyming and rhythm. Even kids who have trouble reading can succeed in learning to read and recite a poem.
One of our objectives in the critically acclaimed summer reading clinic for struggling readers at Kent State University, which I oversaw for more than 20 years, was for students to be reading stars every single day. They became famous by learning to recite brand-new poetry each day and performing it for a parent volunteer while they were seated in the corridor. After the children had memorized and recited their poetry, we would have them study specific words to improve their phonological awareness and broaden their vocabulary. After that, they would be asked to read the poetry they had learned to their parents and other family members at home. Our pupils improved their reading significantly over the six weeks of our reading clinic; in some cases, they increased their reading skills by over a full year.
This was made possible by poetry. For youngsters, a lot of poetry is joyful and humorous, which makes learning to read and perform poetry enjoyable. The realness of this approach is one of the best things about studying and performing poetry. On weekends, it’s not uncommon to locate a poetry slam or festival on or close to many college campuses. Each year we concluded our reading clinic with a reading festival where students read out scripts and poetry they had acquired over the summer, both alone and in groups. Kids may easily write their poems because children’s poetry follows a set form. These poems were then collected into a book that was given to every student after our reading festival.
A kid who had just graduated second grade but came to our clinic, because he was still in the early stages of reading, is one of my fondest recollections of our reading clinic. I still remember the first day of Camp Read-A-Lot, when Ryan was clinging onto his mother’s leg. Considering his reading difficulties, he was not interested in receiving six more weeks of summer reading lessons. Ryan and the other children were taught a daily poem, which they performed for their parents at home. The kids eventually started penning their poems, most of which were adaptations of poems they had already read. Ryan had learned and played the song “Diddle diddle dumpling, my son John” earlier, and he parodied it in a poem. “Diddle diddle dumpling, my son Fred” was the title, and it went something like this:
Diddle Diddle When Fred, my son,
spent the entire day in bed.
awoke at midnight,
“There’s a monster under my bed,” they cried.
Fred, my son, is a dumpling, diddle diddle.
Ryan decided to read this poem after the clinic reading festival. Naturally, he gave a confident and smooth performance, earning a standing ovation from his parents and grandparents who were present. Later, as I was conversing with some parents at a cookies and punch event, Ryan approached me. I asked him what he wanted, but he kept whispering my name and tugging at my sleeve. “Mr. Rasinski, could we keep doing Camp Read-a-Lot?” he requested. This was the same child who, six weeks prior, had expressed little interest in reading extra books during the summer. He was now unable to get enough of it. Poetry has the power to transform lives in this way!
