Why is bringing poetry into the classroom important?
I believe that when we’re kids, we all like poetry—rhymes and songs and language that is sparkling and evocative. Good poetry surprises and enlightens. It sticks with us and moves us in ways that prose can’t (which is not a put-down of prose; it has to do with the compactness, imagery, words, and syntax that poetry uses). It helps with language development, with seeing things through different perspectives, with teaching us to listen, and, frankly, with opening our hearts. We lose the love of poetry through lack of practice and exposure and through over-analysis or disdain by the adults we know.