tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post4184455316887791218..comments2023-11-03T11:32:01.540+00:00Comments on Thought Experiments : The Blog: How to Teach PoetryBryan Appleyardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08276787058430388582noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-48853011140364683882008-04-26T14:00:00.000+00:002008-04-26T14:00:00.000+00:00'Dear God, The Highwayman's still going strong...'...'Dear God, The Highwayman's still going strong...' and other similar comments on this blog ....<BR/><BR/>In defence of primary school teachers, such as myself (I actually have an Honours degree in English Literature) bloggers should check out the National Literacy Strategy before they slag off the teachers; the Highwayman is a set text for Year 5.<BR/><BR/>Hard pressed teachers use poems for AnnieMchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09736865427910945273noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-8787060816394317392007-12-08T21:03:00.000+00:002007-12-08T21:03:00.000+00:00My brain didn't wake up till i was about 19, so pr...My brain didn't wake up till i was about 19, so pretty much all my education was self-medicating; but it was kickstarted by TS Eliot, who i'd read at A-level, and who haunted me after i'd left.<BR/><BR/>Education is a tricky thing. i think one should try, at least, to expose everyone to certain possibilities, in as intriguing, seductive & uncluttered way as is possible. i am grateful that my Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-64368068196679492492007-12-08T16:24:00.000+00:002007-12-08T16:24:00.000+00:00Send the teachers back to school!Incarcerate the t...Send the teachers back to school!<BR/><BR/>Incarcerate the teachers!<BR/><BR/>Sounds like the same thing.<BR/><BR/>Speaking for autodidacts everywhere, I'm glad that I largely discovered the pleasures of poetry on my own. Not only was there something slightly clandestine about it, but I got to really get into it from directions and in ways I'm pretty sure a set teaching curriculum would never Art Durkeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07463180236975988432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-76946328910028243902007-12-07T18:07:00.000+00:002007-12-07T18:07:00.000+00:00Elberry wrote: i think it's partly a 'cognitive' p...<I>Elberry wrote: i think it's partly a 'cognitive' problem, that we live in a world of constant, fast-streaming data, coming from all sides, and we're thus trained to process our sensory data very quickly & superficially. Anything requiring slowness, calm, deep attention, is beyond most people now.</I><BR/><BR/>That's a very solid point. The theft of attention, calm and the space in which to Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06074816573442173758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-37478758547988477292007-12-07T16:33:00.000+00:002007-12-07T16:33:00.000+00:00Clearly, education in this country should be solve...Clearly, education in this country should be solved by Gordon Brown’s approach to everything: forcing it on every poor bastard until they can stand it no longer. Poetry should be a miserable chore, like reading Shakespeare. Every kid should be strapped to their desk and force fed poetry until they appreciate it or die! <BR/><BR/>Actually, that’s what happened to me at school. It was only when I Big Chip Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05585365213244296058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-46225197628440139452007-12-07T15:08:00.000+00:002007-12-07T15:08:00.000+00:00Hear, hear, Bryan! In the U.S., our kids get some ...Hear, hear, Bryan! In the U.S., our kids get some good poetry almost accidentally. My son, who has a nearly photographic memory, walked in the other day reciting a long poem by Langston Hughes. Why? Because they learn about the Harlem Renaissance and thus they study the poetry of Hughes, Gwendolyn Brooks, Baldwin, et al, and some of it is quite fine.<BR/><BR/>By the way, in the interest of Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-50115940133871642022007-12-07T14:52:00.000+00:002007-12-07T14:52:00.000+00:00This dismal list does leave one in despair... espe...This dismal list does leave one in despair... especially the inclusion of some of the odious drivel that Milligan wrote....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-45666988291641860382007-12-07T12:49:00.000+00:002007-12-07T12:49:00.000+00:00Virtually no one who studies English Literature at...Virtually no one who studies English Literature at university can really understand or appreciate poetry; so presumably virtually no school teachers can either. <BR/><BR/>i think it's partly a 'cognitive' problem, that we live in a world of constant, fast-streaming data, coming from all sides, and we're thus trained to process our sensory data very quickly & superficially. Anything requiring Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-9788863831451907432007-12-07T11:18:00.000+00:002007-12-07T11:18:00.000+00:00From the Ofsted report (a small and easy download ...From the Ofsted report (a small and easy download from their website): "In the primary schools visited, the same few poems were chosen again and again. This reflects the fact that large numbers of primary teachers are not English specialists and tend not to be keen or regular readers of poetry. This has been confirmed by a recent survey by the United Kingdom Literacy Association (UKLA), which Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06074816573442173758noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-42121245343400618592007-12-07T10:26:00.000+00:002007-12-07T10:26:00.000+00:00My father made me learn 'Ozymandias' by heart when...My father made me learn 'Ozymandias' by heart when I was 10. Didn't understand a bloody word at the time but I liked the sound of the thing.<BR/><BR/>I have no problems with the kiddies learning 'Ning Nang Nong' - it's brilliant. But 'Revolting Rhymes' should not be taught in schools - it should be banned and thus be secretly discovered by children and smuggled in as subversive samizdata.Brithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00390560583798960760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-49531429111899261362007-12-07T10:23:00.000+00:002007-12-07T10:23:00.000+00:00Dear God, The Highwayman's still going strong -and...Dear God, The Highwayman's still going strong -and The Listeners!? There's something almost heartening in that...Nigehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13314891387515045404noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23400750.post-19776653804754177242007-12-07T10:16:00.000+00:002007-12-07T10:16:00.000+00:00I can never get beyond the first line of Daffodils...I can never get beyond the first line of Daffodils. Clouds do not wander and - especially in Cumbria - they're rarely lonely.<BR/><BR/>Was poetry ever taught in schools? You mean 'appreciation of'. Still it's a good starting point, I suppose. Unlike the first line in Daffodils...Ian russellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11106519805045337505noreply@blogger.com