Role of Poetry and Stories of Young Children in th..., March 2000
Page 3
The Role of Poetry. J61
derstanding. Birds by Charlene (Grade 6) As you hear the singing in the moming You hear your own orchestra in your backyard. You think of men in little suits. But when you look outside. It is no opera singing It is just a little bird As gentle as can be. As Goodman (19) emphasized: the culture of childhood, like all cultures, is learned, shared, and transmitted. That is accomplished by imitation that is one aspect of child’s symbolism, and which according to Blow (1894) and Piaget (1962) led to SYMBOLIC THOUGHT. Children imitate each other, and they arc perfect copiers: “ Marta (Grade 3) who is playing piano telling to her Mom: When I woke up in the moming I saw my bear moving and the dolls talking, and I saw Mozart standing by my drawer. Olga (Kindergarden) listened and said : Do you know what ? When I woke up in the morning I saw my violin talking (she is playing violin), and I saw Mozart in my room.” When the two year old child imitates using THE CONCEPT, the child symbolically expresses his/her feelings, desire, needs. Children are using their symbolic thinking when they learn new things, when they create and discover new matches between their internal world (of thoughts and, feelings) and external worlds, and express themselves by the words, pictures, and gestures. Children’s knowledge is related to their understanding of events and ideas which are symbolically expressed. Solar System by Hersh (Grade 6) The Sun is our light, and the moon our satellite. Our Earth is blue, also green. Venus was thought as a swampy scene.
Saturn is large with a very big ring. It sparkles and grows with a little zing, Jupiter is big, With a swirling red spot, Mercury is warm, very hot. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, too are big and small butatthebackof the group. Authors such as Glpcksberg(1967), Piaget(1979), Markey(1978) stressed that children’s language is a primary medium for symbolic behavior. Language influences perception, memory, attention and learning. Symbolic character of language is manifested in the tendency to become metaphorical. Early In The Moming by Charlene (Grade 6) Early in the moming before the sun shall rise.... a quietness, a stillness shall come before your eyes- and the only sounds that can be heard are sounds of stillness cries The sound of water silent rippling to the bank the sound of seagulls calling to each other from a distance.... the sound of rushes, rustling wind.... a quietness.....a stillness. There is a phenomenon related to the language and thoughts of children. Language is very personal in the way of formulation of their thoughts and it reflects children’s knowledge and experience. It is related to the culture and associated with specific norms, values and beliefs. Goodman (1970) stressed that it is in the nature of children to learn language along with other fundamentals of a culture, and this process is as natural as learning how to walk. In contemporary society children are developing special abilities to ask questions, to doubt and to wonder. Those questions asked by our children reflect their knowledge about the entire world and guide us to theirs and to our future.