Teach-Primary-18.3

T E ACH RE AD I NG & WR I T I NG Charlotte Hacking is the learning and programme director at the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE). She led and developed the CLPE’s Big Amazing Poetry Project, designed to highlight the importance of poetry as a vehicle for improving children’s engagement in and enjoyment of reading and creative writing in schools. teachers’ subject knowledge and changed their perception of how poetry could (and should) be taught. The most significant impact was on children who had previously been seen as not engaging in literacy sessions, those who had previously been seen as needing additional support, and disadvantaged pupils. Teachers also felt empowered to go back to their schools to deliver CPD to their staff teams based on the subject knowledge and activities they’d encountered as part of the programme, developing sustainability in the wider system. Get involved We’ve combined what we learned from the initial survey and the research project in a new edition of our Poetry: What We Know Works booklet ( tinyurl.com/ tp-PoetryWorks ). We’ll also be continuing to provide poetry CPD for schools on our poetry course selecting poems of personal significance. Discussing these poems allowed a greater depth of response, empathy and understanding. The teachers were given a copy of Macmillan’s Big Amazing Poetry Book ( tinyurl.com/tp-BigPoetry ) and introduced to CLPE’s bank of poetry videos ( clpe. org.uk/poetry/videos ) . This had immediate impact on children’s engagement and enthusiasm for the work of particular poets. Teachers and children tracked their poetry journeys over the course of the entire project. They recorded their developing thoughts and feelings about poetry, as well as sharing poets and poems they had been introduced to, and whose work they had particularly enjoyed. The impact of this was evident in every school. All the teachers felt better able to provide their pupils with a wider range of poetry both in lessons MY RECOMMENDED READS • Blow a Kiss, Catch A Kiss by Joseph Coelho, illustrated by Nicola Killen: A wonderful example of the joy of early play with rhyme and song. • Caterpillar Cake by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Krina Patel-Sage: The perfect introduction to poetry for children at the earliest stages of reading. • Marshmallow Clouds by Ted Kooser and Connie Wanek, illustrated by Richard Jones: A celebration of the natural world and the power of poetry to express our connections and experiences with the world around us. • Bright Bursts of Colour by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Aleksei Bitscoff: From the genuinely funny to the deeply emotive, this is a collection with something for every child to enjoy. • Stars with Flaming Tails by Valerie Bloom: A feast of poetry from one of the country’s most highly regarded children’s poets, with a specific section focused on poetic forms. • Hot Like Fire and Other Poems by Valerie Bloom, illustrated by Debbie Lush: A rich range of poems, some in Jamaican Creole, some in standard English, which bring light and life to diverse aspects of everyday life. • Let’s Chase Stars Together by Matt Goodfellow, illustrated by Oriol Vidal. A poignant, powerful and uplifting collection, that showcases the power of poetry to help people work through experiences and express emotions. • The Big Amazing Poetry Book , edited by Gaby Morgan, illustrated by Chris Riddell: A brilliant introduction to 52 fantastic poets, packed with different styles of poetry from a wide range of voices. in association with Macmillan and led by award-winning poet Kate Wakeling ( tinyurl. com/tp-Wakeling ). Schools can also register to shadow the 2024 CLiPPA ( tinyurl. com/tp-ClippaShadowing ) and be in with a chance for their children to perform on the stage of the National Theatre with this year’s shortlisted poets. TP @clpe1 clpe.org.uk and for independent reading. When children were exposed to poetry, and when they could access it for their independent reading, their engagement with poetry and the time they spent reading it independently increased. Valerie Bloom’s session focused on responding to poetry through performance. After the workshop period, the schools shadowed CLPE’s Poetry Award, the CLiPPA. For three weeks, teachers incorporated a focused poetry unit into their curriculum, drawing on the teaching plans and video resources provided by CLPE. As part of the scheme, the children learned poems from one of the collections shortlisted for the award and recorded performances of these to submit to the judging panel. We found that the performance aspect of the award particularly engaged the children. Another important part of the training was exploring effective approaches to writing poetry with children. Valerie Bloom introduced the teachers to a range of different forms that children could easily explore and replicate for themselves. Matt Goodfellow’s session looked at how to encourage children to write in their own voices and about their own lives. This proved particularly impactful for both teachers and children. They learned how important it is to be able to express themselves, their lives and experiences through the freedom of writing. The children also found it satisfying to write about things that interested them. Evaluation of the project showed how much the course had developed www.teachwire.net | 35