Using Simple Poems to Activate Prior Knowledge (APK) for Learning
Abstract

This paper offers a practical means of engaging learners in Active Learning (AL) of English by Activating Prior Knowledge (APK) through the use of simple word poem activities used at the outset of classes; that part of a lesson commonly known in Malaysian public school lessons as the Set Induction. However, this and similar techniques go far beyond simple review of material covered in previous lessons, as is currently practised in many of these schools. Students may indeed be able to remember words and phrases (lexis) that represent concepts or ideas studied in the last few lessons but far too often this learning is memorized, not internalised, and is soon lost in the quicksand of short term memory. Using simple poems challenges learners at all levels to engage their imaginations and recall personalised learning, i.e. language and the concepts they represent that are rooted in relevance to their personal experiences and knowledge. Brief explanations of AL and APK are provided as theoretical context.

Introduction

A brief description of Active Learning and Activating Prior knowledge follows to give the reader a conceptual framework for the activities that follow.

What is Active Learning?

Learning cannot be achieved if the learner is not actively engaged in the process of learning either mentally or physically or a combination of both. This is common sense. Why then is the concept called Active Learning? It seems redundant but, too often ’teachers’ forget what Carl Rogers wrote over sixty years ago in starting the ‘learner centered’ movement, that ‘A person cannot teach another person directly; a person can only facilitate another’s learning.’ (Rogers 1951) L. Dee Fink of the University of Oklahoma published the following model in 1999:

Jantan 2010 (Arrows added)

The guided experience of doing and/or observing in a classroom will lead to learning only if it is Practical (doable and with the learner being active in the learning process), Relevant to the learner’s existing body of experiences and observation (knowledge), is done in a way that also Integrates the student’s learning style and cultural context, is Meaningful in relating to what has been done and/or observed previously and therefore is engaging and Enriching. (PRIME Learning) (Tweedie 2012)
An essential point is not made clear in Fink’s model. (This is why the arrows have been added to the visual representation above.)
Experience/Observation MUST be linked to Dialogue with Self. That dialogue may be and usually is enriched through dialogue with others.
Whatever the experience and regardless of dialogue with others, it is the individual student who must confirm or deny, use or discard, the learning. She will incorporate it in her body of knowledge if it is primarily related to her.
A Joint Task Force report on student learning undertaken by the American Association of Higher Education, American College Personnel Association, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, states “Learning is an Active search for Meaning by the Learner - constructing knowledge rather than passively receiving it, shaping as well as being shaped by experiences.” (Joint Task Force 1998)
The SELF constructs meaning and that meaning is shaped by the existing body of experience and observation.

What is Activating Prior Knowledge? Source: original
Prior knowledge is everything we have learned up to any given moment as thinking beings. It is this SELF, “a composite of who we are, based on what we have learned from both our academic and everyday experiences” (Kujawa and Huske, 1995) that we bring to new learning situations.
Students learn and remember new information best when it is linked to relevant prior knowledge. Teachers who link classroom activities and instruction to prior knowledge build on their students’ familiarity with a topic (Beyer, 1991) and enable students to connect the curriculum content to their own culture and experience. (Presseisen 1995)

It is called schema, schemata, relevant background knowledge, scaffolding or just plain experience. Activating Prior Knowledge (APK) is a strategy directly related to the concept of Active Learning and its associated processes. The strategy is rooted in the students’ abilities to activate their memories and imaginations which arouses interest and gives ‘learning’ a sense of purpose. When students make connections to their knowledge of the world, their own ideas and the language they are trying to acquire, their ability to comprehend begins and becomes more effective. (Tweedie 2012 - Paper abstract)

Neglected in the literature is the relationship between ‘knowledge and experience’ and ‘attitude and behaviour’ in the AL context. It is postulated here that the relationship is a critical one especially in the context of learning a new language where feelings are involved in the process to a greater extent than in any other learning. Language is at the heart of our ‘selves’. It is how we express who we are, our thoughts, desires, beliefs, aspirations and emotions. It is how others recognise who we are. Therefore it is essential that we create a positive, supportive, safe and comfortable environment in which each of our students is able to learn.

One essential means of doing this is to demonstrate to our students’ our understanding they are unique individuals whose prior knowledge is recognised as unique and is valued.
For the average person, positive, progressive experience and knowledge lead to positive and progressive attitudes and behaviours. In summary, Experience and Knowledge are directly related to Attitude and Behaviour – in language learning particularly; it is common sense. To understand and retain new information in what they are reading (the focus of this paper), students’ need to connect this information to a framework of what they already know and understand, as you will hopefully experience in the activities that follow. (Tweedie 2012 Workshop)

Using Simple Poems – Language Arts Activities Simple poems are an effective means of activating students’ prior knowledge and emotions by opening their imaginations about a topic the facilitator can easily connect to new information and skills he wants students to begin to learn along with new language to be acquired. These are always a favourite with children as they are able to combine imagination and artwork with their writing, and therefore the poem does not rely entirely on literacy skills. There are three types of simple word poem activities described here. The first was the most readily used by both primary and secondary teachers in the Rompin District of Education in Pahang, Malaysia in 2006 when it was first introduced as part of the PRIME Reading Facilitation course in the author’s teacher training programme. The teachers found it easy to modify in order to accommodate a specific lexical focus (parts of speech or a form of language construction). Activities using specific reading strategies should be used in helping students’ reading comprehension and building new lexis after the students’ PK has been sufficiently activated. Word Poem Procedure: To create a word poem, use the poem frame below, which asks students to use simple parts of speech to describe a topic you give them. ______________________ Topic - a noun ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ adjective adjective adjective ______________________ verb ______________________ ________________________ ____________________ adverb adverb adverb ________________________ ____________________ New adjective New noun

Diamante Poem Procedure: Ask students to complete the poem form using a topic for the lesson. Ask them to complete their poem using words that come readily to mind, i.e., not to spend too much time trying to recall difficult words; remembering that the purpose of all the activities is to activate their unique individual existing knowledge/experience/attitudes. The poem frame below requires slightly more complex use of parts of speech to describe the topic. ______________________ Topic - a noun ______________________ ______________________ adjective adjective ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ verb verb verb ___________________________________________________________________ Four-word phrase ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ verb verb verb ______________________ ______________________ adjective adjective ______________________ renaming noun

Example: Reading Informative Pleasurable Stimulates Engrosses Compels In a quiet place Creates Persuades Satisfies Effectively Stresslessly Writing

Shape Poem (also known as Concrete Poems) There are two basic types of shape poems. The first, described here, has the words written on the outline of the shape of an object. The second has the poem written to completely fill the space an outline of the object makes. Searching the Internet will produce many examples. Procedure: Ask students to draw a large shape of or related to the topic the facilitator chooses (half a sheet of A4 paper at least) with a pencil. (The shape can be erased after they have written their words in ink.) Then they write a minimum number of words required by the facilitator (at least five) that describe the topic on the outline of the shape, placing commas between the words. (The number of words assigned will vary according to the general level of the students’ abilities.) If students are working in groups they should brainstorm ideas together and choose the best words for each of their poems. As students draw their outline, the facilitator should walk around the room to a) make sure the shapes are large enough b) give attention to those who need assistance c) check the words relate to the topic (or ask why the students think they do – they will often surprise you with the connections they make). Example: The final stage of all three types of poem activities might follow the same concluding steps: a) ask students to revise in their groups or find a revising partner. b) guess what the partner’s shape or topic is c) listen as one partner reads the poem out loud d) comment on the best words the partner uses and e) share each other’s poems to check if the format and use of words is appropriate. Conclusion Once students have focused on the topic and begun to activate what they have already experienced and know about it you can expand the range of what they know and extend this knowledge through other Activating Prior Knowledge (APK) and Knowledge Building (KB) activities. It is worth reinforcing here that “a person learns significantly only those things that are perceived as being involved in the maintenance of or enhancement of the structure of self” (Rogers, 1951) and therefore the students’ perceptions of what is relevant to them individually is an indispensible factor in making their experiences the core of what they truly learn which develops a positive attitude and behavior that reflects an eagerness and joy in learning. References Rogers, Carl. (1951). Client-centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory. London: Constable. Jantan, J. (2010). Student-Centered Learning Active Learning and Compilation of Best Teaching Practices Shah Alam Universiti Teknologi MARA downloaded from http://drjj.uitm.edu.my. Joint Task Force on Student Learning, 1998 Powerful Partnerships – A Shared Responsibility for Learning extracted from http://aahc.org/teaching/tsk_frcc.htm Kujawa, S., & Huske, L. (1995). The Strategic Teaching and Reading Project guidebook (Rev. ed.). Oak Brook, IL: North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.
Beyer, B. K. (1991). Teaching thinking skills: A handbook for elementary school teachers. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Presseisen, B. Z. (1995) Critical Issue: Building on Prior Knowledge and Meaningful Student Contexts/Cultures North Central Regional Educational Laboratory http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/learning/lr100.htm.
Tweedie, W. M. (2012) Activating Prior Knowledge: The First Step in Active Learning. Workshop presentation International Conference on Active Learning (ICAL) Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Melaka.
Tweedie, W. M. (2012) Active Learning: The PRIME Approach and Method with an Introduction to PRIME Projects. Paper Proceedings ICAL 2012 Melaka Penerbit Universiti Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.

Classroom resources:
WHAT BUGS ME list poem: http://www.gigglepoetry.com/poetryclass/bugshelp.html
Giggle Poetry - http://www.gigglepoetry.com/
Writing Poetry - http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/english/contents_writingpoetry.htm
Scholastic poetry ideas - http://teacher.scholastic.com/poetry/index.htm
Fizzy Funny Fuzzy Poetry for Kids - http://www.fizzyfunnyfuzzy.com/
Poets.org - http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/87
The Teacher's Guide - http://www.theteachersguide.com/poetrymonth.htm
World of Poets - http://www.worldofpoets.org/navteachideas.html
Total Word count: 2,017

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[ 1 ]. Observing is an essential skill. It’s obviously so necessary in the physical sciences. In language learning and arguably in any learning context it is as much a skill that can and needs to be developed as any other (even the blind can see). In language learning it is closely related to listening. When what you see is reinforced by what you hear the learning goes deeper.
[ 2 ]. A ten part teacher training programme following the principles of the author’s PRIME Approach and Method (Tweedie 2012)