The Poet X chronicles the life a young tween girl living in New York. The main character Xiomara (or X) and her family is from the Dominican Republic. She has a twin brother and friend, Caridad that also helps her to navigate the growing pains of being a tween. Although completely written in poetry, the book beautifully captures what it means to be a tween dealing the ups and downs of puberty while developing and nurturing one’s innate talent. Teachers can draw lessons from this text to build rapport with their students and better their teaching.

Teaching Lesson Number 1

Students upbringing, cultural or religious background may prevent them doing things you think as a teacher is in their best interest.

Xiomara, is a girl that loves to write poetry. Poetry is almost like a saving grace for her because it helps to deal with all emotions like love and anger. “The only thing that calms me down after twin and I get home is to put my headphones on. To listen to Drake. To grab my notebook, and write, and write and write all the things I wish I could have said. Make poems from the sharp feelings inside that feel like they could carve me wide open.” (Poet X) Her mother is a very religious catholic, Dominican woman, who attends church every Sunday and wants her children to grow up with the same belief system.

But Xiomara’s or X’s poetry is something that her mother is unaware of. Mrs. Galiano, her English teacher realizes that X is talented when it comes to poetry and wants her to develop it.

From my perspective, because of Xiomara’s family’s religious background it’s hard for her mother to see how important poetry is to her, except for her brother and Friend, Caridad. Her teacher wants her to attend the spoken word poetry club but her Xiomara’s mother wants her to attend confirmation classes. Xiomara and her teacher want to develop her talent but because she has to attend confirmation classes, she is not able to. The mom does change over the course of the book but not until she and X’s teacher have a conversation.

Sometimes the things that you think is in your students’ best interest does not match with the parents best interest.  Strengthening the relationships with parents and communicating on a regularly will help to bridge the gap between parent, student and teacher.

Teaching Lesson Number 2

Students need an adult in their life, who will not only teach them, but will validate their interests and talents.

Galiano, X’s English teacher, is that person for Xiomara. She sees X’s talent and wants to her to attend to the spoken word poetry club. X wants to attend but her confirmation class takes priority, according to her mother. Xiomara says, “she must be out her damn mind” when referring to Ms. Galiano because she wants her to attend the poetry club.

Mrs. Galiano is very persistent and leaves a note on her assignment that Xiomara is very poetic and invites her to the poetry club. X feels validated, she says “a bright light lit up inside me.”  Mrs. Galiano, persists throughout the book on inviting her to the poetry club because she sees the talent in Xiomara’s poetry writing and validates for Xiomara that she has talent in writing poetry.

Teaching Lesson Number 3

Have high expectations of your students.

Mrs. Galiano had high expectations of Xiomara. She saw that Xiomara needed encouragement to attend the poetry club and believed in X’s writing talent. She pushed her to use spoken word, as a another outlet to develop her writing even though Xiomara was against it in the beginning of the book.

Teaching Lesson Number 4

Teaching poetry can be a way to engage your students and make them feel heard.

Mrs. Galiano, sparked something in Xiomara when she showed a video of a black woman poet reciting a poem about beauty standards.

Xiomara felt heard for the first time when she saw this video in Ms. Galiano’s class. “When the video finishes, my classmates, who are rarely excited by anything, clap softly.”

I taught a second grade class and I did a lesson on one of Langston Hugh’s poems and the students were very engaged during the lesson. After reading the poem with them, they were able to find its deeper meaning without lots of prompting. Good poetry helps students to see themselves and think deeply about literature.

Conclusion

Poetry is a powerful tool for the classroom that can allow students to feel heard and believe in themselves. When teachers communicate with parents and have high expectations of their students then it will be of great benefit to students.

Do you use poetry in your classroom? If so, how do you use it?