Have your students participate in a performance to express poetry in a fun way to switch what might be your students' negative attitude into understanding. Children today are constantly exposed to videos and not as much reading, which makes it difficult for them to transition to the written word. Children can read the poem aloud and perform the actions that are described in the poem, which could bring them to a better understanding of its meaning.
Teaching children poetry through text and then finding an aspect of the poem to focus on is a common method for teaching poetry. Many teachers aim to find a fun aspect of the poem to highlight, rather than teaching about the entire piece. For example, the teacher could focus on the lively language flow or the rhyme patterns. The technique makes learning more digestible for students because they don't need to focus on multiple aspects of the poem and can instead focus on the single lesson. The teacher then breaks the class into groups and each discusses the poem with each other to try and find common meaning.
Children are exposed to the Internet each day and the words that are displayed on their computer screens are often a form of poetry. But children can also create their own work through programs that allow them to tweak the design of words and make what they are trying to communicate that much clearer. For example, a poem about bubblegum could be written on the computer in pink and then gum wrappers could be added around the words. Communication methods on computer devices such as cellphones is another method to write poetry. Poetry is the way by which people express themselves. For example, the acronyms used in cellphone texting often convey the quickest and most efficient way of getting the message across. Other computer mediums such as social networking sites are changing the way people communicate along the same lines. Each "wall post" that is sent is a form of poetry.
The Ontario Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat states teachers often don't feel confident teaching poetry because they're either not in command of the lessons themselves or they hear the most student grief when the poetry topic is raised. Teachers can be more engaged themselves and have fun with the poetry by working with the students in incorporating modern poetry techniques, such as those described. When both the teacher and students can relate to the poetry that they're examining, the students are more willing to have fun trying poetry itself in multiple forms.