More Than Words: Student Writers Realizing Possibilities through Spoken Word Poetry
More Than Words: Student Writers Realizing Possibilities through Spoken Word Poetry
--by Eva Olguin
This reading conveyed the importance of adding spoken word poetry in our classrooms. At the beginning part of this piece, it described a Sujaya's experience with the spoken word poetry assignment. She shared her story by sharing the poem she created. The poem described the time she was called a "fake Asian" by her classmates. Most people can agree that this comment is harsh for a child to hear. Reading poems aloud that depict the situation is a healthy way to cope with what happened. It was great she was given the chance to embrace her heritage and revoke the negative comments she was receiving. Her experience reminds of me of the film, Freedom Writers, where students were assigned by their teacher, Mrs.Gruwell, to share their feelings, perspectives, experiences, or anything they want to share to the class. The students in the movie vented their problems that pertain to violence, domestic abuse, gang activity through writing assignments. It's very likely it was the first time they were told to share and express their life situations at school. These students probably were told to bottle in their thoughts. I think it was awesome Mrs.Gruwell instructed them to let out what they are feeling and apply it to literacy projects. Students like Sujaya needed a place where they can express her opinions and a classroom is a safe environment to do that. As future teachers, we can't ignore their perceptions, thoughts, and opinions they might have. Also, students can sharpen their poetry skills and practice variety of poetry styles such as tankas, a form of Japanese poetry; ghazals; a form of Arabian poetry; hip-hop poetry. These styles are a way to "represent students' diverse cultural affiliations (Woodard & Coppola)." In fact, "an important aspect of hip-hop is the ability of rap music to document life and tell personal stories that inform or connect to the reader (Hill, 69)." I believe there is power in poetry and it is a concise way to send a message.
Along with this piece, it mentioned that teachers should "foster an active audience by asking his students to give appreciative feedback to classmates' spoken word performances (Woodard & Coppola)." Teachers should find ways for students to express their opinions and give appropriate feedback to peers who shared a spoken word poem. Woodard and Coppola suggested that teachers design a private class blog so the speakers can see the reader's reactions. It gives away the idea that teachers are not the only people who offer feedback to students. This way, students have the freedom to make personal connections or reactions to the speaker's work. I really like this idea. When I'm listening to somebody's presentations, I have so many thoughts and opinions going through my head. I constantly making personal connections when one speaks. It's the same for students as well. They have strong opinions about many things in life, so teachers should arrange a way to allow them to express their great minds. Blogging or other options are wonderful ways for students to react without speaking up in front of the whole class.
Based on compiled charts and surveys and interview data, Sujaya experience was composed of 3 aspects.
1. Explore personally meaningful poetry, which inspired topic selections for their own compositions.
2. Position one another as an authentic peer audience
3. Provide appreciative feedback via a classroom blog
So, teachers can incorporate this effective lesson into the curriculum and expect their students to gain meaningful skills. "These structures worked in concert to support Sujaya to enact a "performance of possibility" (Madison, 190) where she is presented, represented, and re-represented aspects of her identity and culture (Woodard & Coppola)."
I agree that students should find poems that resonate with their life experiences. Poems are minimal texts and convenient to read. They can find many meanings and interpretations in the poems they read. Students need a great influence from other great poem writers. It can influence their work and create a voice for themselves.
ELA teachers have an important role for students. Writing units "privilege students as knowers, both how they name their worlds and share their voices, are critical and timely (Woodard Coppola). Students have so much to express and they should be encouraged to embrace their voice in many different ways such as presenting a spoken word poem. If teachers focus on building discrete skills and benchmarks rather than exploring cultural identities and identities, then students will not be involved in lessons. I encourage everyone to give students a chance to speak their minds and allow them to be creative with their literacy projects such as spoken word poems.
Video: Children Share Their Spoken Word Poems
My questions:
How would you formulate a lesson plan in which spoken work poems are included?
Do you think peer feedback is appropriate for younger students or do you think they can't tolerate people's opinions?
What are the ways your students can share their feedback? How would you arrange this task?
How would you include different types of poetry, so each student can represent their cultural identities through their work?
Eva, very insightful post about the reading. I like the video that you included about the power of spoken word. When we give our students a voice like the students in this video, our students can be agents for change, and continue to spread their message throughout the world for as long as they live. That goes to show our important role of teaching young students. We get to give them a voice from an early age. I definitely agree with giving students opportunity to give each other feedback. This type of feedback fosters community in the classroom and leaves it to our students to encourage and motivate each other.
ReplyDeleteI like your response about feedback. Feedback is very important, so you can get it from more than just your teacher. As a teacher we are not in the students shoes, we are not walking the halls with them everyday. Something that may not seem very powerful to you as a teacher could have a much deeper meaning to students that all walk the same halls. This would hopefully help create that community that you talked about. Classroom community is especially important when you are talking about deep topics that aren't easy to talk about. I believe students need to understand how to give good feedback though, so a short lesson on feedback might be important to keep from some students saying some not so nice things.
DeleteGreat response Anna! I'm glad you like the video. I thought the students who shared their spoken word poems had a lot to share. The girl mentioned she disliked that people don't acknowledge her and treat her like she is invisible. It made me wonder, she has the same feeling as many adults. Her message is universal. Students should be given a platform where they can share their thoughts and opinions. Students are great thinkers too and we should help students express their great messages. I'm glad to hear you agree with some of points in my blog. I agree with your last point about the importance of student feedback and how it creates a motivating community. I hope you implement these task in your classrooms.
DeleteKyrsten, I totally agree with your opinions about student's giving feedback. They are insightful about what happens in school hallways. Teachers can't step in the shoes of students in a deep level, because they don't know the situations one student is going through. I think student feedback is appropriate for student speakers to receive. They don't criticize speakers like teachers do. Teachers can be critical because they want students to improve their literacy skills. It's best if teachers allow students to critique their Peter's work as they are less harsh than teachers. I liked your idea about lecturing students on how to create friendly feedback. I think this task should be implemented.
DeleteI love spoken poetry. I would end up on youtube watching slam poetry for hours on accident. Poetry is such a deep way to express your feelings without blatantly saying how you feel, which can be very important for some students. It is also a way to talk about real issues. When I would start a lesson about spoken word it would first involve a video, preferably one that had kids, not adults. This video would show the power of words, which would allow for a discussion amongst the class. With this discussion you would hopefully be able to see just have many meanings you can find within spoken word poetry. This video I would show them would then lead us into a whole poetry section involving alliteration, similes, metaphor, etc. You could eventually lead to students speaking songs rather than just listening to them. Reading them aloud in the classroom and showing how important things like emphasis are when you are reading spoken word. This would eventually lead to them creating their own which would help us as teachers to see what they write about and how the culture bleeds into their writing. Spoken word poetry and just poetry in general helped me get through all of my adolescent years, so I could only imagine how it would work for some students if it was an actual lesson.
ReplyDeleteI love how you talked about starting out the unit on poetry with a video. According to Gagne's 9 Events of Instruction, you should always start a lesson plan by gaining the interests of your students. By using a video with other students to relate, I think that is a great way to gain their attention! I think it is also great how you can connect with this type of culturally relevant material. I have never seen Freedom Writers, but I think it would also be super empowering to watch how the power of words can be used to empower individuals who have been oppressed.
DeleteGreat viewpoints in your response. I agree that a lesson should start off with a video to allow students become with engage in the project. Implementing discussion is a great way for students to understand topics or issues students might face. Children need great influences to help them create their own spoken word poems. Students should participate in discussions to help them dive deeper into topics. I believe students can learn more that just writing it. Learning about similes, metaphors, and etc. is important because it the type of knowledge children need to learn. Great idea,about reading songs instead of singing it. Sometimes when I hear music, I never paid much attention to the meaning of lyrics. I often read it and easily clarified about the song's interpretation.
DeleteEva,
ReplyDeleteI loved your response to this article. The one thing I really remembered from last semester which made me think of this article was that poem that Profesor Cosby had us watch. I can't remember the name of it, but I will try to find it. That poem was the first time I had experienced this thing called slam poetry and it was SO powerful. The words in which were spoken were coming from this women's real life situations, and everyone in the audience was captivated and listening to her hardships that she had experienced in her lifetime related to race. To answer your first question, 'How would you formulate a lesson plan in which spoken work poems are included?' I think that this would start out as a poetry unit. You could start out be investigating different types of poetry, then it can lead to watching slam poetry, then finally writing your own. I think what you mentioned and the article mentioned on students sharing their life experiences through this poetry is important. These students need to feel like they have a voice. They need to feel like they matter, and poetry is a great way in which students can learn while also expressing themselves. According to Woodard and Coppola, "Broadening the audience for student writing through performance gives youth opportunities to (re)present themselves, transcending single storylines that school has boxed them into. (2018, pg. 63).
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DeleteGreat response Ashley, I'm glad to hear that you have a great connection to dis topic about spoken word poetry. I I agree with that poems are powerful and very inspiring in many levels. Great ways on how you would implement a the tasks within your lesson plans. It's important that students create their own poems. I believe each student have alot to say about certain topics/issues.
DeleteEva ,this post was great girl! Spoken poetry honestly has my heart. I’ve seen a lot of it being done it schools that I grew up in on the south side and I can see that it truly brings people closer to others and closer to themselves, realizing what they have been holding in or realizing what makes their voice special. Perhaps proposing a specific topic that can allow creativity in the classroom and growth in spoken word would egnite a fire in students and as they see their classmates unfold and even ya as the teacher they begin to realize that it is a safe space which is what is most important. Allowing students to help in lesson planning and being reflective of academia is important but making sure they feel secure with knowing who they are in order to do that is the basis they need.
ReplyDeleteVery awesome you enjoyed the blog, I agree with what you wrote about students' issue of holding in their thoughts and realizing they have a voice. It does take certain windows for students to share their stories as they were told not speak about their problems in class. It is an issue and teachers should reserve students from sharing what is in their minds. Students need opportunities to speak their minds through literacy project. As future educators, we should not limit out students from sharing their stories. With those opportunities, like you said, help them find a safe environment which was their classroom all along.
DeleteNice job, Eva! I would first encourage students to think of one song/poem that resounds with them, and explain the meaning of the song. I’d like them to share their thoughts with the class or a small group around them. Then, I’d ask them to think of a topic that moves them. It can be the same topic as their chosen song or a new one. I would ask that they write a poem about their chosen topic. They can get creative with topics, and feel free to name topics that are abstract.
ReplyDeleteThen on another day, I would have them revisit their poems, and start thinking about how they would present it orally/rythmically in a class poetry slam.
I think younger students can share and receive feedback, but we should remind students to present their opinions/critiques in a respectful way.
Students could talk in small groups, or choose to write their comments on a note card to share with their buddy that they’re critiquing.
We would include different examples of spoken poetry from different cultural backgrounds. As teachers we can encourage our students to express their culture/thoughts in their spoken poem.
Thank you Christa! I love your ideas. I'm a big music fan and I would take your advice about examining the meaning behind a song. I've received so much messages from songs and it is not a bad idea to use this instead of poems. Besides there is a similarity between spoken word poems and songs. Having discussions about it is a great way to hear your students thoughts, opinions, and interpretations. Students can gain a lot of influence from songs and it can help them create their own piece. Teaching students on how to give feedback in an appropriate way is very crucial. It would be a mess if a student had only mean words to say about a student's work. Group feedback is a great idea too. Writing on note card is beneficial for students who don't want to speak aloud to the class. I believe teachers can mix both poetry and cultural. Poetry comes in different forms formulated by other cultures.
DeleteEva,
ReplyDeleteI think the idea of spoken word poems are a great idea. I think the problem is getting it started with the students. I believe you should start off the idea with giving a little assignment of writing a poem. I think reading a book to the class that is short to read in a day or so and then doing a poem on the ideas it created, after reading a book to the class. Then move on to a big lesson or a project like the children did on the video. It would advance the idea for poems in the room even more I believe. I believe feedback is important. I think the opinions should be looked at carefully, because one should not feel like they should be silenced. But a good teacher should be the moderator of the talk. I feel like a circle feedback on a topic might be best for an open popcorn idea from one to another. I think after the lesson is started, you can make it a free poem style. I love having poems during class time. I feel like it was not enough to really get in school for the standards or time getting in the way.