Reflection 8 (Poetic Writing)

During this week much was not covered due to time but a great deal was learnt. Within this week
we learned about what is a poem and elements of a poem. Not only were we given this
information but we were also given the difference between a poem and a normal piece of
writing. Poems are known to have their own specialty and each poem has its own touch sine no
two person are going to write the same poem. We were shown two pieces of writing around the
same theme during class. One was a poem the other was a basic report of an incident. After being
shown the convention or set up of the two pieces we discussed what differences we saw and our
lecturer addressed them without finalizing why that difference was present. Following this our
lecturer read each piece one after the other, after reading each piece twice we were involved in a
whole class discussion where we pointed out the differences between the two pieces and even
their similarities. After that discussion we were asked to come up with our own definition of
what is a poem, this we find a very good way to keep us thinking since discovery learning is a
very effective method in helping with memorization and in depth understanding of concepts.
This is how the lesson was introduced, after that activity we were given the formal definition of a
poem and the elements of a poem. This information is very important because we are expected to
teach poetry when we go out into the schools. In order for us to be able to effectively administer
the necessary information to students effectively we must have a very good understanding of
what are poems and what elements they consist or in other words what is needed when
composing a poetic piece.