Power Of Poetry Inspires Teaching Of Neuqua Valley Golden Apple Finalist

NAPERVILLE, IL — "[P]oetry can fill small spaces and can engage students emotionally in ways that teachers generally cannot," Neuqua Valley High School English teacher Gillian Schneider told Patch. Schneider, who was chosen as a finalist for the Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching, frequently uses poetry to help students in her English, creative writing and American Society Block classes to connect with students, share her own experiences and help students express themselves without judgment.

"I use poetic forms and poet emulation to encourage students to open their mind to poetry," Schneider said. "So many have had to analyze poetry and explain it, which challenges kids in uncomfortable ways, when they worry about being wrong. Yet writing poetry freely, without worrying about rhyme scheme or meter or formal restrictions, can help students process their emotions, play with words, and find comfort in a short form of writing."

Schneider said that though many students "may resist poetry," they nonetheless "want to write about themselves."

With this in mind, Schneider teaches her 10th, 11th and 12th grade students to weave poetic devices into their own stories.

"[I]f I can merge these ideas and get them to write personal stories and then refine them to include metaphorical language, stronger diction, quality imagery, then their writing will grow without the constant barrage of literary analysis essays."

Poetry's power has permeated Schneider's 25-year career, but her love for words goes back to when she was a small child.

She told Patch her mother made her and her siblings complete grammar worksheets and mail them to their grandmother, Liz, during the summer, under the guise that "Grandma Liz had nothing to do."

Their grandmother would grade each worksheet and send them back to Schneider and her siblings by mail.

"As a result, I developed writing skills, and from high school to college, I had also developed a love of reading," Schneider said. "I also had an amazing high school English teacher who inspired a passion for poetry."

After high school, Schneider started pursuing a degree in architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and switched her major to English the very next year.

Five years after earning her bachelor's degree in English, she began pursuing a master's English degree, alongside a teaching certification, all while working full-time at Barnes & Noble.

Words wove their way into Schneider's world, even outside of school and work.

"Barnes & Noble allowed us to check out hardcover books, and I spent a small fortune on books anyway. So I decided to read 12 to 20 books in various sections of the store: history, art/architecture, nature, real estate, psychology, poetry, essays, fiction. In essence, I expanded my education while working full-time and taking classes part-time—all with a focus on teaching English."

Just as the influence of Schneider's high school teacher instilled a "passion for poetry" in her, Schneider has seen —year after year— how poetry has changed her students.

One student in particular stands out. His name was John Rosales.

John, who was, she recalls, a senior at the time, was one of Schneider's early poetry students when her career had just begun.

"[In class we had an intense, insightful, and meaningful conversation about [the] 'Poem for Wicker Park Yuppies,'" she said. Written by Kim Berez, "Poem for Wicker Park Yuppies" describes the fatal shooting of a young man in a disparately wealthy neighborhood.

During that lesson, Schneider told Patch, "John pointed out that Naperville felt a bit like that contrast."

She said John excelled in her class and "enjoyed reading and writing poetry."

John was again in Schneider's class two years later, this time in creative writing.

When she asked why he was there, he said, "I'm just trying to graduate."

"About four years later, I was running errands ahead of my spring break trip with my family," Schneider told Patch.

"As I drove past 87th at Skylane, I noticed the street was blocked off to the east toward Route 59. I kept going up Skylane and did not think any more of it until I was reading the Chicago Tribune a week later, after my return from Starved Rock and a long weekend of hiking and swimming with my kids.

"John had been shot at his home in an attempted robbery," she said. "He got into his car on Sheehan Drive and drove to 87th, where he pulled over and died in the street, two blocks from my house."

"I am so impacted by my students on a daily basis," Schneider told Patch. "But John’s death reminds me that we can have an impact on students as well. His mom found writing he did in my class after he died."

Of course, poetry was the medium Schneider used when she began to process John's death, penning a poem called "Haunted," after Kim Berez's "Poem for Wicker Park Yuppies," the poem that had impacted John and her class so intensely."

Schneider's poem concludes,

"His final journey:
a short distance
from his house to mine.

He bled out on 87th street
between Cedar Glade
and Skylane Drive.

A couple of suburban blocks
from my house in Naperville
where we tell ourselves

this cannot happen.
I still imagine that he was trying
to get to me one last time.

Hoping creative writing and poetry
could save him
from this tragic end."

Per a news release from Golden Apple Foundation, Schneider "creates a dynamic and supportive learning environment in her poetry course by writing alongside students in workshop-style sessions, collaborating in small groups to inspire creativity and self-expression."

They added, "Her dedication to student growth extends beyond coursework."

Schneider is one of 30 finalists from a pool of 470 nominees for the Golden Apple Excellence in Teaching Award. Come spring, the Golden Apple Foundation will surprise the winning educators at their respective schools. Each Golden Apple Award winner receives $5,000 in cash.