I practiced my spoken word piece over and over again, timing myself, listening to the audio recording and tweaking pitch, practicing gesture. It was the day before our classroom slam, and I was the “sacrificial poet,” the one who goes first and warms the stage up for the rest of the participants. This poet gives the emcee a chance to model the performance and scoring process for the audience.
When I ask students to write and share work, I go through the writing and performing process with them. For example, I give them the article or idea that inspired my poem and distribute the revisions a writing partner—usually a friend or coworker—has suggested. I want to model the relevance of writing: We are not writing in an institutionalized bubble. My students’ work does not reach my desk only. Writing is for creating connections between people, achieving self-realization, challenging social norms, acknowledging and acting upon social hurts. For that to happen, our work needs to be shared.
I write pieces that grapple with the silence my community taught me as a young woman growing up. I write about how valuing compliance in many white families correlates to silent compliance in instances of everyday racism. By sharing these pieces, I am able to demonstrate what it means to be a lifelong learner and that learning leads to self-discovery and change for myself and, if shared, for my community. After I share a poem, students will often say, “Thank you for your honesty” or “I have had a similar experience. Can we talk about that?”
For six weeks we write together every day: free-writing, practicing the use of literary devices in fresh ways, drafting and editing multiple poems for a final poetry collection. One year, due to our school’s collaboration with TruArtSpeaks, the Minnesota-based youth organization coordinating the Be Heard MN youth poetry slam team, we were able to workshop with a local spoken word artist. (Asking poet friends, a local college’s spoken word team or fellow colleagues who are poets is another great way to invite artists into the classroom). We also read, watch and discuss many poems performed by youth and adults. Once a week, there is an open mic for students to perform their work.
Sometimes, a student will share a poem that hushes us to an understanding silence, then leads to students standing up to offer a hug, which happened after a young woman’s poem about her struggle with depression. Other times, a poem charges the room with its courage and makes the audience erupt with accepting applause, which happened after a young man’s poem about his fear that revealing his sexual identity would result in rejection. Throughout the unit, and especially in navigating the vulnerability present when students present their work, I follow the incredibly accessible, culturally responsive curriculum structure laid out in Brave New Voices: The YOUTH SPEAKS Guide to Teaching Spoken Word Poetry by Jen Weiss and Scott Herndon.
By the end of the unit, every student performs an original piece for the slam. We all snap, clap and celebrate. Almost always there are tears and laughter. The kind of trust that deepens students’ relationships with others and informs their own self-identity forms in these spaces. Now, maybe a student has the courage to have a tough conversation with an estranged friend or decides to ask a grandparent why they immigrated. Another decides to say, “I’m sorry” to someone they had teased before hearing their poem on loneliness.
Student work gets out into the community, too. Two years ago, 10 students were published in a collection of student writing, receiving $100 prizes and the opportunity to help edit the collection as well as perform their pieces locally. Others have chosen to try out for the local Youth Slam team. One student performed his poem at a local college’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration.
When teachers model creative risk-taking, the classroom community is able to reach a deeper point of learning. This can happen in any content area. As students work on a project, simply work on your own. Share your outcome with students, even if you don’t think it is perfect enough. Talk through that with them. Let them learn from your learning.
Toedt is a ninth-grade IB English teacher at a public school in Minnesota.
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