Common Core Through Recreational Physical Activities and Poetry
The Common Core State Standards prepare students in grades K-12 for college, the workforce, and beyond. A part of that preparation is the development of literacy and critical thinking skills. Classrooms across the United States use poetry to reinforce many English Language Arts standards, such as sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, and metaphorical thinking. Students learn to appreciate diversity in language through the study of poems by writers from a wide range of cultural backgrounds and points of view. Finally, by creating poems of their own, students learn to use language to build an understanding of themselves and of the many facets of the human experience, such as philosophy, religion, and politics. Challenge your students (or yourself) to write a poem about a favorite recreation or physical education activity and to share it with classmates, family, and friends.
Below are three samples of poetry, each of which includes a description of the form of poetry presented. The inspiration for these poems is a collection of recreational stories written and submitted to APH by individuals with deafblindness.
To read the stories that inspired the poems “Kayak” and “Wind Chimes (or Ancient Sounds)”, see Possibilities: Recreational Experiences of Individuals who are Deafblind.
Suggested Reading
Burkins, J., & Yaris, K. (2012, April 17). Poetry and the writing standards. Retrieved August 14, 2015, from http://www.burkinsandyaris.com/poetry-and-the-writing-standards/
Common Core State Standards Initiative. (n.d.). Read the standards. Retrieved August 14, 2015, from http://www.corestandards.org/read-the-standards/
Curran, B. (2013, January 15). When poetry meets the Common Core. Retrieved August 17, 2015, from http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2012/01/14/tln_curran_poetry.html
Poetry Out Loud. (n.d). NCTE and Common Core Standards. Retrieved August 14, 2015, from http://www.poetryoutloud.org/teaching-resources/ncte-english-teaching-standards
