8:1 Clerihew

When and Where I Found It:  I came across this word as I was reading the chapter about poetry in my Teaching Writing (Tompkins, 2008) book for my LTED 618 course.  This word was located on p. 253 of this book (Tompkins, 2008).

What It Means:  According to Teaching Writing (Tompkins, 2008), a clerihew is "a four-line rhymed verse that describes a person" (p. 253).  This type of poem was named after Edmund Clerihew Bentley, who originally invented it (Tompkins, 2008).
Tompkins, G. E. (2008). Teaching writing:  Balancing process and product (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:  Merrill.

Level of Familiarity:  Prior to reading the word in this chapter, I had never heard of this type of poetry before.  I was actually very surprised that this type of poetry had never been taught to me during the course of my education.  

Do I Want to Know This Word Well and Why?  Yes, I want to know this word well, since I could potentially teach this type of poetry to my students in the future.  If I do need to teach clerihews, I would like to know as much about this form of poetry as possible, so that I can teach it effectively.  

Do I Think Others Should Know This Word Well...If So, Who and Why?  I think this word is important for other future English teachers to know, as it can be an interesting form of poetry to teach.  Students could have an extremely positive experience writing a poem about a famous person or about someone who is important in that particular student's life.  Since it is a relatively specialized word, it might not be necessary for everyone to know this word well, since many people will not encounter this word in their daily lives.