High school English teachers' experiences with poetry pedagogy

1

HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHERS' EXPERIENCES

WITH POETRY PEDAGOGY

A thesis presented

by

Mary Alice Young

to

The School of Education

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Education

in the field of

Curriculum, Teaching, and Leadership

College of Professional Studies

Northeastern University

Boston, Massachusetts

March 2016

2

ABSTRACT

Poetry is the oldest and most universal of literary forms, rich in the oral and literary tradition of

almost every culture, but fewer and fewer high school students today are given the opportunity to

engage with the genre in their English classrooms. Educators, scholars, critics, and poets alike

proclaim the great virtues of this art form, yet its pedagogy is not currently a priority in many

American high schools, often due to the educational culture of standardization, performativity,

objective testing, and attention to the STEM fields. Poetry¡¯s vanishing act is important to

address as there is continued evidence that it is a worthwhile subject and that ignoring it in the

curriculum of high schools can be detrimental to students and teachers. The purpose of this

study was to better understand the lived experiences of practicing high school English teachers

involved in teaching poetry. The study was designed to investigate the phenomenon of poetry

pedagogy, including what is most effective in instruction as well as the barriers that exist to

instructional practice. Using the qualitative approach of an interpretive phenomenological

analysis, 5 practicing high school English teachers were interviewed to gain greater

understanding of their experiences with poetry pedagogy. The participants spoke candidly of

their individual preparation, positionalities, values, and instructional practices. The data

collected was analyzed to look closely at the themes of learning, respecting, effecting, and

barring poetry. The teacher-participants had some differences in their respect for poetry as well

as their methods of effectively teaching it, but held many commonalities in their perceptions of

the barriers to effective practice and of their lack of preparation.

Keywords: poetry pedagogy, teaching poetry, English teachers, pre-service training.

3

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Immense gratitude to everyone who worked with and encouraged me on this journey. To

my family and all my friends and colleagues who supported me throughout this long process, I

am overwhelmed with love. Incredible thank yous to Dr. Billye Sankofa Waters, Dr. Karen

Reiss Medwed, and Dr. Rachel Dudley. Your help, support, and skills were critical to my

success. Abundant appreciation to my study participants for your expressions and honesty.

Thank you, DHS, for the time, and FGCU, for the place (in paradise). JC: you're the best. To all

the teachers, students, and poets out there in the dark singing ? keep the dream alive. We still

hear you.

4

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract...........................................................................................................................

Acknowledgement..........................................................................................................

Table of Contents............................................................................................................

Chapter 1: Introduction...................................................................................................

Research Problem................................................................................................

Purpose................................................................................................................

Justification.........................................................................................................

Deficiencies in the evidence....................................................................

Relating the discussion to audiences.......................................................

Significance of Research Problem......................................................................

Positionality........................................................................................................

Research Question...............................................................................................

Theoretical Framework.......................................................................................

Components of PCK...............................................................................

Relevance................................................................................................

Synthesis..................................................................................................

Conclusion...........................................................................................................

Chapter 2: Literature Review..........................................................................................

The Value of Poetry............................................................................................

The Value of Poetry Pedagogy...........................................................................

Academic value.......................................................................................

Cultural and critical value........................................................................

Teachers' Experiences with Poetry Pedagogy.....................................................

Teachers' positive experiences.................................................................

Teachers' negative experiences................................................................

Synthesis of Literature.........................................................................................

Chapter 3: Methodology..................................................................................................

Research Paradigm...............................................................................................

Research Method.................................................................................................

Population and sampling..........................................................................

Recruitment and access............................................................................

Context....................................................................................................

Data collection and storage......................................................................

Data analysis............................................................................................

Trustworthiness........................................................................................

Protection of human subjects...................................................................

Reciprocity...............................................................................................

Limitations................................................................................................

Chapter 4: Report of Research Findings...........................................................................

Profiles..................................................................................................................

Learning Poetry.....................................................................................................

The genre..................................................................................................

The pedagogy...........................................................................................

Respecting Poetry.................................................................................................

Personally..................................................................................................

2

3

4

6

7

8

8

10

10

12

14

16

16

17

22

24

25

27

27

31

33

36

40

40

48

59

61

61

62

63

64

65

65

66

67

68

69

69

70

71

73

74

75

78

78

5

Professionally............................................................................................

Effecting Poetry....................................................................................................

Barring Poetry.......................................................................................................

Self-Doubt................................................................................................

Restraints..................................................................................................

Resistance.................................................................................................

Conclusion............................................................................................................

Chapter 5: Discussion of Research Findings....................................................................

Discussion in Relation to Theoretical Framework................................................

Pedagogical content knowledge................................................................

Discussion in Relation to Literature......................................................................

Poetry's value.............................................................................................

Pedagogical value......................................................................................

Teachers' experiences................................................................................

Barriers......................................................................................................

Significance...........................................................................................................

Practitioner Significance...........................................................................

Scholarly Significance...............................................................................

Conclusion............................................................................................................

References........................................................................................................................

Appendix A......................................................................................................................

Appendix B.......................................................................................................................

81

88

93

93

96

99

102

106

106

106

111

112

113

116

119

125

125

127

128

134

153

156

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download