It’s hard to grade students on poetry. Sometimes, that means you just don’t ask them to do poetry.
It’s hard to grade the poems students write. It’s hard to grade students on their interpretation. Grades are meant to be objective assessments, and poetry is by its definition a personal, subjective art form.
The end result, of course, is that poetry leaves curriculums as teachers are asked to focus on “measurable” content. I can easily test you on plot points of a short story or meanings of words from an essay. So poetry gets cut.
The only thing is, I think poetry is the highest form of literature – and an essential source for an educated adult. So cutting it isn’t great for the future.
When we devise assessments of music performance, we also focus on objective, measurable aspects. Intonation, fingering, precision, fidelity to the score. But these also obscure the most important artistry, which is subjective and personal. It’s a lot hard to assess the poetry of performance, so sometimes we just don’t. And musicians end up neglecting the poetry of the performance, too, in an attempt to master the assessment.
As you embark this year, don’t neglect the poetry. Put it back in the curriculum, even if you can’t measure it. Put it back in your performance, even though it won’t get you a better score.