The Poetry of Early Childhood
Powell, Nicholas (2021)
Powell, Nicholas
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202104124613
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-202104124613
Tiivistelmä
The thesis aimed to inspire early childhood educators to teach the art of poetry, and thus aid the development of the linguistic intelligence of young children. A project-based thesis was undertaken in conjunction with a working life partner, the International Childcare and Education Centre (ICEC), in Espoo, Finland.
The development task involved the implementation of a poetry programme - A Month of Poetry - for preschool aged children (6-year-olds) in Espoo, Finland, and the production of a book of lesson plans and poetry pedagogy for early childcare educators, titled The Poetic Teacher: a guide to making poems in the early years (Powell, 2021).
The theoretical background focussed on Howard Gardner's (1983) Theory of Multiple Intelligences, an influential contemporary theory of learning, as well as the theory and methods of guided discovery teaching and learning. Practitioner-action research was the methodology employed in the implementation phase of the project, which aimed to adapt and expand the poetry pedagogy of Kenneth Koch for use in contemporary early years education.
A key finding was that guided discovery teaching methods provided a comprehensive and effective means of poetry teaching in the early years. A key outcome was the instantiation of this finding, in the form of a poetry programme that was replicable and met the needs of curricula. The documentation of the project, in this thesis and the accompanying guide for teachers, represented an attempt to inspire teachers to practice poetry with children in early childhood education settings.
Although research has shown that there are shortcomings in poetry teaching as it is currently practiced and understood, new perspectives were found to be possible.
The development task involved the implementation of a poetry programme - A Month of Poetry - for preschool aged children (6-year-olds) in Espoo, Finland, and the production of a book of lesson plans and poetry pedagogy for early childcare educators, titled The Poetic Teacher: a guide to making poems in the early years (Powell, 2021).
The theoretical background focussed on Howard Gardner's (1983) Theory of Multiple Intelligences, an influential contemporary theory of learning, as well as the theory and methods of guided discovery teaching and learning. Practitioner-action research was the methodology employed in the implementation phase of the project, which aimed to adapt and expand the poetry pedagogy of Kenneth Koch for use in contemporary early years education.
A key finding was that guided discovery teaching methods provided a comprehensive and effective means of poetry teaching in the early years. A key outcome was the instantiation of this finding, in the form of a poetry programme that was replicable and met the needs of curricula. The documentation of the project, in this thesis and the accompanying guide for teachers, represented an attempt to inspire teachers to practice poetry with children in early childhood education settings.
Although research has shown that there are shortcomings in poetry teaching as it is currently practiced and understood, new perspectives were found to be possible.