Too often kids do not feel that they have a voice. No one listens. No one cares. No one gets it. Who are these kids supposed to talk then? How are they supposed to get their messages out? Too often we say “talk about your problems” but then we do not listen. How can we make students feel like they have a voice, like they have something important to say, and like someone will listen? The answer could be a poetry slam.
A poetry slam is
an event where poetry is spit out, thrown, huffed, whispered and sung rather than just read.
Then an audience, where judges are often chosen at random, rates the performer. The crowd really seems to get into to it. People are listening, and that is a powerful experience. This could give students an opportunity to have an audience larger than their own eyes and their teacher’s. Plus not only are students writing their work, but their performing it. They talk and people listen, and cheer, and cry, and clap. It makes them feel like what they have to say is important.
Kuter, an avid slam participant, argues that you do not even have to be a master poet to participate in a slam.
Slam poetry is accessible poetry. It doesn’t ask anyone to conform to a restrictive structure or meter – you don’t even have to rhyme. You just have to be yourself and say something meaningful.
So it does not matter if students are great at poetry or not for it to be beneficial to them. All that matters is that they have something meaningful to say, and I think if we just listen we would know that they do.
Some slammers write about stuff that is light and funny, and the reaction of the audience gives them a self confidence booster, which nearly every high school kid can use. Kuter explains;
I’ve had people tell me that I really capture their imagination, that they like the perspective I have, and they think my poems are fresh and funny.
Other students are given the opportunity to talk about heavier issues.
I’ve written about depression, losing my mother,
America, politics and being non-heterosexual.
The cool thing about slams is that they are cool! Students will be thinking “You mean I can rap my poetry?” It is a way to let students say what they want to say on their own terms and be heard! What an awesome idea. Students could organize a poetry slam for their high school or their community. It would give them a sense of ownership of what they are doing. They could write their poems and workshop them in class. They could practice with each other and talk about the most effective way to present their poems. Imagine the sort of dialogue this could start. This could start conversations about racial issues, drug problems, health issues, fears, mental issues, and the list goes on and on. This could help students relate to each other and others in their school or community. Imagine the power a young girl could get back slamming about rape or teenage pregnancy, or the hope a student could get back slamming about depression. It just has so many possibilities and hey, it’s still learning.
Frunzyski, Amanda. “Poetry with an Edge.”Arizona State University Online. WebDevil. 22 February 2007.
Ever since I heard about poetry slams in my senior year of high school, I have always wanted to at least go to one — if not participate in it — just to see what it’s like. In my junior year of high school, we began creating a portfolio of our own personal writings…and mine was mostly poetry. My teacher encouraged me to enter some of them into poetry contests, and I won. It always made me feel good to know that people could recognize and understand what I was trying to convey in my poetry, and it made me gain so much confidence in myself to know I wasn’t alone.
I cannot even imagine what being able to PERFORM my poetry would be like. I know that writing for me opened up an entire world, and so taking the things I have written and making them a performance would only make it that much more powerful!
I completely agree that free-writing and events such as poetry slams are ones that students should not only know about and have access to, but they should also have encouragement to participate in them. If every student in a writing class had to take one of their pieces and perform it (even just in front of the class), it would cause them to take serious ownership of the piece. When you say there are so possibilities for what poetry slams can do, you aren’t kidding!
–Tess
That’s really cool! I’ve always wanted to be in one too! I totally agree with your point about ownership! Thanks for reading
[...] Comment to Mandy’s post “SLAM” [...]
I love that you blogged about this. I think that SLAMs are so interesting and I think they would be really fun to watch. The only problem is, if you are teaching in an upper-middle class area, the students may not be as perceptive to a poetry slam as students in other areas. I was just wondering what you thought about them, and if you would ever try them in your own classroom and how.
Up until this class I had never even heard of a SLAM. From the looks of it though it seems like a great way to show students that poetry is not just words rhyming. There is a purpose to poetry and SLAM’s seem like a good way for the students to enjoy poetry and express themselves.
[...] Comment Six [...]