Why use language creatively to teach? Because the brain seeks
connections. Because it establishes bridges between what it knows and what it
seeks to know. Similes, metaphors and other tools of language are the means
by which the brain grapples with new information and expresses it once it begins
to understand. Our brains are our organizing mechanisms; language is the
expression of that organization. Specifically, artistic language such as poetry,
the use of storytelling and creative writing develops a framework to promote that
organization.
Educators are faced with the reality that though their students’ brains still
seek to know, society or situation in life has damaged their innate desire to know.
We hear teachers complain about the inability of their students to complete work,
voicing statements such as, “I printed all of the information for them. All they had
to do was fill it out!” What these teachers fail to see is that by “giving them
everything,” they lose the opportunity to tap their students’ creativity and
intelligence. In an attempt to define intelligence, Merryl Goldberg compares the
definitions of Gardner, Piaget, and Duckworth and notes that all of their
definitions point toward intelligence as “an activity, a creative affair,… an evolving
process” (2001). Language used creatively bridges leaning gaps because it asks
students to engage with the content analytically. It encourages them to connect
what they already know to the unknown and stretches them to test the validity of
their connections.
They are able to develop particular connections through reading and
writing poetry. Poetry enlivens the soul. It pleases the senses, provokes the
reader, engages, stimulates, churns, dignifies, and clarifies all of the experiences
of the human condition. Teaching students in this modern age requires an
emotional context (***). Poetry is the bridging tool. Teachers do not need to
struggle to make their students “see” this fact; instead they must understand and
identify the emotional states of their students. In her article, The Arts and the
Inner Lives of Teachers, Mary Clare Powell (1997) said that “Good teaching
comes directly from the mind, heart, and spirit of an awake and growing human
being” (p. 450). Once teachers recognize the emotional bridge that connects
their curriculum with the students’ emotional states, there will be no limit to the
subject matter that they will internalize. Poetry fills the gap between students
and the world that they feel disconnected from. Poetry enlivens the soul because
it is the sounding board of the soul. This sounding board in students must be
tapped to make it flow.
Students who grasp who they are and how they interact and contribute to
their community stand a better chance for success in life. Another application of
artistic language is storytelling. Storytelling is an “In” to understanding. Building
a body of stories that students can make their own enables them to draw upon
the knowledge and wisdom of their culture and other cultures. Storytelling
bridges the gap between self and community, time periods, cultures, right and
wrong, and consideration and action. It lets us know that we are not alone in the
trials that occupy our existence. These stories are the layers that form our
identities and comprise the foundation of our culture.
Writing should be promoted in all subjects. Creative writing frees both
teacher and student from the involved, skill driven process of analytical writing.
Writing briefly on any subject matter tests knowledge, promotes creative thought,
and establishes emotional contexts. “Writing not only helps students express
their emotions in a constructive way but also assists students in retaining
content” (Tate, 135). When teachers encourage students to write “what they
know,” they do more than encourage creativity; they allow the students to
expound upon their knowledge of the curriculum.
Artistic language appeals to the mind, promotes creative thought,
establishes connections, and engenders community. Teachers who embrace
artistic language provide a gift to their students’ approach, understand, and
participation in the world around them.