Importance of Studying Poetry in Lower Elementary Classroom

Abstract

This project explores the importance of teaching and studying poetry in a lower elementary Montessori classroom. The purpose of the project is to examine students’ interest and involvement in reading, writing and memorizing poetry and gaining better insight into students’ knowledge and attitudes to this literature genre. The researcher compared involvement and interests of 20 students in one private elementary school in the Midwest. Both small-scale qualitative and quantitative data were collected, during an action research study that lasted seven weeks. The survey results were very promising about studying poetry on a lower elementary level and the rise of interest in this literature genre as well as the evidence offered by student work samples. In just a few weeks, the students’ attitudes and knowledge, and production of poetry significantly increased.