Poetic revolution in the transition from early childhood to primary education: an aproximation to Kenneth Koch proposals

Abstract

It is possible to teach children to create poetry and to enjoy it, as the American poet and teacher Kenneth Koch (1970) defended and demonstrated. In these pages, we offer an approach to his work in the classroom to apply his ideas on poetic creation in the early stages of education through authentic experimentation with language. Although it is common to introduce literature in infant and primary school, this is usually based mainly on stories, almost always leaving aside such a powerful literary genre as poetry, with which children easily identify themselves due to its high emotional charge and its infinite creative possibilities. The main objective of this article is to disseminate Koch’s methodology among kindergarten and primary school teachers, a poetic revolution in the classroom with which to introduce students at these stages in the magic of reading and writing.