Poetry is not a secret code! In this six-part self-guided course, we’ll demystify the process of reading poetry, learn some useful terms to help us read, and get an inside view by applying what we learn in informal poetry-writing exercises. You can read and enjoy poetry — maybe you’ll discover your inner poet as well!
NOTE TO STUDENTS: How to get the most out of How to Read a Poem:
- First, read the course materials below before beginning the course.
- Because this is a recorded course, you may work at your own pace. I recommend, however, that you follow a weekly schedule: watch the class session one day, then give yourself four more school days to complete all homework and quizzes before watching the next one. The course is meant to take six weeks, for half a semester's credit.
- ESPECIALLY read the syllabus. Return often to the syllabus, study it, and know its ways.
- Download and print out the "How to Read a Poem" handout, the homework instructions, and the index of poetic terms. Each week, you will want to print out the homework packet for ease of reading.
- Prepare a notebook for in-class note-taking and homework. Preferably your notebook will have a pocket for the documents you have printed out, so that you keep them close at hand at all times.
- Make sure that you have a good dictionary close at hand. You will need it for your homework. (Hint: quizzes may include random vocabulary words taken straight from homework poems. Do not neglect to look up any words you're unsure about!)
- Read the Homework Instructions carefully before beginning the first assignment, and refer to them as needed. Complete all assignments before the next class session.
- Watch the appropriate class-session recording each week. Rewatch at any point if you need to revisit information from the class session.
- Do the assignments, quizzes, and any extra work assigned for that week.
- Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end to be filled in for your records.
Special Notes: How to Read a Poem is offered as a recorded course. All course materials are provided FREE by the instructor. This course includes extra, optional assignments for advanced or honors students, at the parent's discretion. Follow with Introduction to Metrical Forms, coming soon as a recorded course. Finally, students may continue their poetry studies with Introduction to Stanza Forms, also forthcoming in the recorded archive.
To Parents: This course is offered as a recorded class without Instructor Access. Student quizzes will be automatically graded in the Moodle software. Students will need to show parent instructors their homework: reading notes on assigned poems plus (optionally) their own brief imitations of poems they read.
This work should preferably be handwritten in a notebook, rather than typed on a computer, but you are free to use your parental discretion here. I also recommend having the student meet with you daily or at least weekly, to talk through poems read for homework, using the student's notes as prompts for a discussion of each poem. You might think of this as a weekly informal oral exam, which could take the place of your having to read the assignment.
You do not need any particular knowledge about poetry to assess these assignments. In a best-case scenario, you will learn alongside your student and talk about poems together. At the very least, it will help you to read through both the "How to Read a Poem" handout and the Homework Instructions, linked below, and to keep a copy for yourself, so that you have a template for what your student should be doing each week.
I recommend the following grading scale: a plus sign ("well done/A") if the student has done the work thoroughly and with evident engagement, taking it seriously. Grant a check ("done"/B) if the student has done the homework but basically just gone through the motions. Grant a minus sign if it's truly obviously inadequately done, and a zero if not done at all.
I also recommend that quizzes comprise no more than 10% of the student's grade. The student gets two tries to pass each quiz, with a score of 7/10. Weekly homework, whether assessed orally or in writing, should count for the bulk of the course grade: 80%. The other 10% is the final exercise, which may be done orally or in writing (a student seeking honors credit will want to submit this exercise in written essay form, but otherwise, the format for this final exercise is at the parent's discretion). If you choose to count quiz grades as 5% of the overall grade, then upgrade the homework grade to 85%.
Clearly, as you are the homeschool parent, with the freedom to schedule the class as you deem appropriate, you can have the student re-watch a class and re-do any work until it's done to at least a B standard, before moving on. How you pace this course for your student's maximum success is entirely at your discretion.
Total classes: 6
Duration per class: 55 minutes
Prerequisite: None
Suggested grade level: 9th to 12th grade
Suggested credit: ½ semester Poetry or Literature for high school. For a full semester, take the Introduction to Metrical Forms OR Introduction to Stanza Forms courses which are meant to follow this one. (Sept. 2023: Metrical Forms and Stanza Forms are both in development; Metrical Forms will be available later this semester, while Stanza Forms will be available in the spring of 2024).
Instructor: Sally Thomas
Instructor Email: sallytslc@hotmail.com
Course description: This six-week course will cover definitions of poetry, the reading process, basics of poetic meter, recognition of rhyme schemes, and functions of figurative language as it illuminates meaning. Students will emerge as better close-readers, of poetry but also of any literary form. This basic, introductory-level course may provide a springboard to any other literature course, or augment a class taken concurrently.
Course outline:
Week 1: How to Read a Poem: Introduction
Week 2: The Poetic Line
Week 3: Meter
Week 4: Rhyme Schemes
Week 5: Figurative Language
Week 6: Close Reading
Course materials: Handouts provided FREE by the instructor.
Homework: Homework will consist of five poems per week, to be read ideally one per weekday, carefully, with attention, multiple times, with written notes on each poem to be submitted weekly.
For honors credit, a student might choose one set of notes at the three-week mark to turn into an essay of 300-500 words, preferably handwritten, double-spaced (every other line of a piece of notebook paper, front only), and neatly presented to show the parent instructor. 300-500 words comes to roughly four handwritten pages, depending on how big your handwriting is.
Some weeks will include an optional extra reading for students who desire honors credit. A parent may require this reading at his/her discretion, depending on how heavy the student's courseload already is. I would recommend these readings for older, advanced high-school students, not because of any content concerns, but simply because they're a bit demanding. But they are an option for extra rigor, if both the parent and the student desire to go this route.
There will also be a weekly reading quiz, and a short, optional poetry-writing exercise that may take the place of notes on one homework poem of the student's choice. The student does still need to read that poem with careful attention! Students should budget an hour a day, five days a week, inclusive of written work and quizzes, to complete this course for a half-semester of high-school credit.
- Teacher: Sally Thomas