Monday, April 9, 2012

Discussion Questions for Responding to a Poem


How do we help young people articulate their responses to poetry after hearing it read aloud or sharing it orally? It’s an art that takes a bit of practice since we don’t want to overwhelm their thoughtful processing of their feelings and observations with our own expectations and insights. This set of 10 questions based on the work of Fitch and Swartz (2008) offers a helpful starting point. Just choose 2 or 3 of these question prompts and vary which questions you use for each discussion.



The list begins:

1. Can you describe what this poem is about in one sentence?

2. What is it about the poem that you particularly liked? Or disliked?

3. What did this poem remind you of?



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