THE INFLUENCE OF A POETRY-ENRICHED ENVIRONMENT ON THE POETRY PREFERENCES AND RESPONSES OF SIXTH-GRADE CHILDREN: A LIBRARIAN-TEACHER COLLABORATION.

摘要

This research used the nonequivalent control group design (Campbell and Stanley, 1963) for the assessment of the poetry preferences and responses of two sixth-grade classes in a suburban school district in Ohio. An established poetry preference instrument (Terry, 1972) was used, with slight modifications, as a pretest and posttest to monitor changes in preferences and responses. As one class, the experimental group, received in-depth experiences with poetry during the school year, observations were made to provide more detailed information about their experiences with and responses to poetry. The other class did not receive extensive experiences with poetry and served as the control group.;This research was initiated by the school librarian. The poetry program was planned collaboratively by the librarian and the classroom teacher. Observations of student interactions with poetry occurred, for the most part, in the school library. The librarian provided the impetus for this collaboration which had an impact on the poetry preferences and responses of the students and on the attention given to poetry by the classroom teacher.;The students in the experimental group actively participated in the poetry program. They responded more frequently to specific details in the poems and their written comments were more evaluative than those of the control group. The experimental group exhibited more pretest to posttest gains in preferences than did the control group. These gains reflected the variety of types and topics of poems on the assessment, including humorous verses, poems about nature, free verse poems, etc. Overall, both groups continued to express preferences for humorous and familiar poems.