An Example of a Teaching Essay - Goddard College's Intranet

Teaching Essay, Ken Damerow
The kids were delighted with this poem, and this delight set the tone for rest of the
practicum. They were eager for the next session when they could start their own poems. In
fact, many of them asked if they could write poetry for homework. I didn’t dissuade them.
The next poems we tackled were Noises, Dreams, Comparisons Using Of, and I
Used to/But Now. I followed the same format of introducing the focus with a model,
discussing meaning and structure, and then asking the students to have a go at their own,
individual poem. The Noise poems ranged from the literal to the inspired. Most students
ignored my request to think of a sound and then try to compare it to something that sounds
like it but is, at the same time, unexpected. Here’s a typical example from Sarah:
Noise Poem
A bird chirping
sounds like
whistling.
Slamming a book sounds
like a door
slamming.
At first glance, the comparisons seem common, and indeed they are. However, I
became excited when I considered the juxtaposition of the images and the meaning that
follows when taken together. The welcoming image of the bird, the noise of openness and
the opening of a book suggesting possibility and wonder against shutting out those
possibilities like a closing door. Also, this poet is experimenting with line and the shape of
the words on the page. The simplicity and the elegance are amazing. I never could have
inspired this student to such a depth of quality using my old teaching methods, rubrics and
focus correction areas for grammar.
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