Stream of Consciousness

I used an idea taken from an "ancient" book called Poetry in the Classroom (Mallick and Jenkins, 1983) that a colleague had left behind when she moved back to Australia.  The chapter was called 'What Happens When We Read a Poem' and it modelled a response to a poem by Sylvia Plath by showing the stream of conscious thought prompted by the poem and associations (and random thoughts that pop into your head for no reason!).  I thought it was a great way to show how analysis is really a series of engagements with the poem, that we all can do it, and that it takes a few readings of the poem to start to think deeper about what the poet is saying.
I photocopied the example in the book (although realised we did not need all 4 pages!!) and asked the class to individually pick one of four poems from the IGCSE anthology we are using.  Then (using the phonic phones again!) they read through the poem and noted thoughts and ideas as they thought of them repeatedly.  I was modelling for them - I use the computer and projector to do this so they can ask as I write and I can point out things I may have forgotten to mention until I do them - and when I could sense (after about an hour) they were reaching their limit I said they could wrap it up but I was so engrossed in what I was doing I had to tear myself away!!
As we had a bit of time left - double block today - I suggested they get into groups based on the poem they did and discuss some of the ideas they had and questions they still had.  This was interesting, and once again, we were all reminded how our responses are often personal and so varied.