The Power of Listening: How Poetry Fosters Democracy in the Classroom

In this dissertation, I tried to discover how teaching the genre of poetry could potentially promote a more democratic classroom. While democratic classrooms are written about extensively, I focus mainly on the concept of listening in the classroom, as key dimensions of both poetry and democracy. Because poetry is often read out loud (Farber, 2015; Atwell, 2006; Heard, 1999; Michaels, 1999), listening is an essential part of the experience. I also explain how Louise Rosenblatt’s transactional reading theory is essential to reading poetry in the classroom. One component of Rosenblatt’s theories is listening, which she proposes are central elements in reading and democratic practices. Using qualitative methods, I narrate examples from a poetry elective class in a selective enrollment high school. Observation notes, audio recordings, classroom handouts, and interviews with the teacher were analyzed to determine how poetry encouraged listening, democratic ideals, and transactional reading practices.