When is A Wheelbarrow Just a Wheelbarrow?

A trick question

My district is adopting a new literacy curriculum and today was the training. As a coach, I have to be able to support my teachers and help them navigate these new materials. I must say, there is a lot of buzz around this program. It is open source which means it is essentially free to use. The materials are high quality and student centered. There is dialogue and writing embedded in all the complex text.

The sample lesson from 4th grade was about poetry. I appreciate a training where we experience an actual lesson. One of the core texts is Sharon Creech’s Love that Dog. The main character in the story is supposed to write a poem and is having difficulty understanding The Red Wheelbarrow.

As a “class” we discussed what we thought the theme of the poem is. Many at the table were uncomfortable with the genre and wanted to be “right”.

“Poets are crazy,” uttered one teacher.

There was a lot of conversation around what the “correct” theme of the poem was which is typically what the students would be talking about too. No one wanted to be wrong. As a coach it is always interesting for me to see how adults emulate the behavior of children.

This poem is interesting because lots of the conversation was about the theme but also what the poet “was trying to say.”

I feel many times scholars and critical readers try to impose ideas the poet didn’t intentionally create in…