90s10 The Research Poem

In February of 1991 I wrote an article that was eventually published in the Iowa Council of Teachers of English Newsletter. It was about research papers or rather, research poems. I was never a big fan of research papers and wasn’t sure why we were putting kids through the ordeal. It wasn’t clear to me what they were to gain from the process.

So many parts of the process seemed so unauthentic to me. Many teachers would spend an entire semester on it. Outside of the school setting how likely is it you would ever need or use those skills. I’m not saying they are totally without value but considering the amount of time put in by the teacher and the student I would say there is little practical yield from the whole experience. In a time of maximizing learning time and focusing on critical skills I just didn’t think we could afford to spend so much time on things of such small value.

Another thing that annoyed me about research papers was that teachers asked students to write them but never had students read papers written by others. I am a big believer in showing, modeling what you want or expect students to do. They should have had the students read at least two or three of them before they tried to write one.

What I proposed in the piece was that teachers substitute a research poem in place of the research paper. The poem would require the same kind of research, be much shorter, and more manageable for the student and the teacher and the students could actually do several during the year about different topics.

The poem format was something I got from someone who got it from someone else and it had been passed around a lot. I used the format each year and had students write poems about themselves. I gathered them in a bio-poem booklet format for several years. This is the model:

Line 1 Your first name only
Line 2 For traits that describe you
Line 3 Sibling of (brother/sister or…or son/daughter of…)
Line 4 Lover of …(3 people or ideas)
Line 5 Who feels…(3 items)
Line 6 Who needs…(3 items)
Line 7 Who gives…(3 items)
Line 8 Who fears…(3 items)
Line 9 Who would like to see…(3 items)
Line 10 Resident of (you city); (your street name)
Line 11 Your last name only

Students could write a bio-poem about themselves, a friend or member of their family, or a book character. To extend it further a student could write a research poem like this about a historical character or place or thing.

I modified it slightly and wrote this one about something. See if you can figure it out before you get to the end.

Acer Saccharum Marsh
Large, rounded, dense, hard,
Family of Florida, Chalk, Boxelder, Black, Striped, Norway, Planetree, Red, Silver,
Mountain
Lover of the warm sun, spring rains, and black earth,
Who feels sleepy in the winter, invigorated in the spring, and colorful in the fall,
Who needs moisture, sunlight, and room to grow,
Who gives sweet syrup, fine lumber, and shade on a sunny day,
Who fears the sound of chain saws, windstorms, and long droughts,
Who would like to see more birds in my branches, more recycling, and soil conservation,
Resident of extreme southeast Manitoba, east to Nova Scotia, south to North Carolina, and west to east Kansas,
Sugar Maple

It explained how I used the poem and how it could be used in place of a research paper. That was the gist of the article. I got lots of positive feedback from friends and colleagues.