Class Material

    In another class that I took this semester, EDUC 3215, we learned about how to teach students writing. In one of the classes, the professor, Dr. Kissel leads us in a genre study of poetry. During this class, Dr. Kissel demonstrates what I believe to be a good guide would do. He leads us through the six room image poem technique, something that Heard explains in “Crafting Poetry–Toolboxes” (Heard, 1998). Step by step, Dr. Kissel directs us to think of an image to write and think about the light, sound, smell, and emotions associated with the image. As Dr. Kissel guides us through the individual step that would allow us to gather our feelings and help us write a poem. At the same time, Dr. Kissel also makes sure that we know the goal of these steps is to ultimately write a poem. Furthermore, Dr. Kissel explicitly states that the purpose of writing a poem is that we would know how to implement the same exercise in an elementary classroom and assist our students, in the future, to write their poems. Through Dr. Kissel’s guidance, I was able to come up with and write a poem, which has been my weakest genre of writing. Moreover, during the class, I was well aware of what was expected of me, and I feel that I am now capable of writing and teaching poetry. Similarly, in his writing, Dr. Kissel (2017) explains the importance of providing guidelines and deadlines for students to guide them toward improvement in writing. Through this experience, I believe that guidance is an important part of teaching, and teachers can guide their students by setting and clarifying the short-term and long-term goals of the different activities.