Last night I was thinking of uses for trading cards. Yes, I could do political ones, but I was thinking of using them for poetry, speeches, and books read. Each card would have a point value, based on what, I don't yet know, perhaps poetry or speeches memorized or read. I could hand them out to neighborhood kids. About twelve 'leaders of tomorrow' wait at my corner at 7:30 each morning for their school bus...maybe I could interest them in hot cocoa and poetry?
Has poetry and speech memorization been tossed with all the negativity of 'rote memorization'? 'Eggbert the Easter Egg' was a poem I was assigned to memorize in 4th grade. From then on through 8th grade it was Frost, Sandburg, Gettysburg Address, scenes from Hamlet, poetry by Vachel Lindsay, Longfellow, etc. We had to stand in front of the class for recitation. Surely there was a value in this? Considering I was an extremely shy child, this, as unnerving as it could be, really helped in challenging me to come out of my meek self. For my continued love of the written word, etching poetry into my heart, and helping me to find my ground and my voice, Thank YOU, Mrs. Winifred Gravrok, from Bloomingdale, Illinois 7th grade!
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