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Mini-Lesson Example Video

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"Tony Steinberg: Brave Seventh-Grade Viking Warrior," by TAYLOR MALI

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General Lesson Plan resources for Poetry and Communication (Read or Write to Oral) 

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General Lesson Plan resources for Poetry and Communication (Read or Write to Oral) 

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Poetry: Read Aloud Lesson Resources

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Poetry Out Loud is not intended to replace classroom activities like creative writing. In fact, the two naturally complement each other. For that reason, we have created a number of optional writing activities and lesson plans for teachers.

Do you have some great Poetry Out Loud lesson plans? Email us at mail@poetryoutloud.org to share your ideas!

For further ideas on poetry instruction, visit the Poetry Foundation's Learning section.

Lesson Plans by Eileen Murphy that complement Poetry Out Loud

Speaking Poetry: Exploring Sonic Patterns Through Performance
Students engage in a variety of vocal activities and performance techniques based on word sounds and then prepare a recitation for small group performances and compare their interpretative choices as part of the reflection process.

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Skip to main content Poetry Out Loud is not intended to replace classroom activities like creative writing. In fact, the two naturally complement each other. For that reason, we have created a number of optional writing activities and lesson plans for teachers. Do you have some great Poetry Out Loud lesson plans?

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Writing in the Rhythm: Spoken Word Poetry in Urban Classrooms (Language and Literacy Series) 

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Writing in the Rhythm: Spoken Word Poetry in Urban Classrooms (Language and Literacy Series) 

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Book Recommendation (not in UMW library) that would be a great resource for teachers utilizing this type of poetry in the classroom

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Example: lesson to use to connect past poems to use of spoken poetry

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Cite: explanation/justification standards that are met by poetry out loud and spoken word poetry

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Poetry Out Loud fulfills the following NCTE Standards: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12. Teachers who make use of the optional writing activities and lesson plans will also satisfy Standard #5.

1. Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience.

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

4. Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.

7. Students conduct research on issues and interests by generating ideas and questions, and by posing problems. They gather, evaluate, and synthesize data from a variety of sources (e.g., print and non-print texts, artifacts, people) to communicate their discoveries in ways that suit their purpose and audience.

8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

9. Students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language.

10. Students whose first language is not English make use of their first language to develop competency in the English language arts and to develop understanding of content across the curriculum.

11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Poetry Out Loud aligns with the following Common Core Standards depending on each individual teacher's lesson plan.

Anchor Standards for Reading (RL.9-10, RL.11-12)

Key Ideas and Details

1. Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text. 2. Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas. 3. Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.

Craft and Structure

4. Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone. 5. Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole. 6. Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

7. Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words. 8. Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence. 9. Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors take.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

10. Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.

Anchor Standards for Language (L.9-10, L.11-12)

Knowledge of Language

3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate. 5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings.

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NCTE and Common Core Standards | Poetry Out Loud

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Poetry Out Loud fulfills the following NCTE Standards: 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12. Teachers who make use of the optional writing activities and lesson plans will also satisfy Standard #5.

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10 performances included

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Spoken word artist Lemon Andersen begins today's talk with the poem, " Please Don't Take My Air Jordans," written by Reg E. Gaines in 1994.

My Air Jordans cost a hundred with tax.
My suede Starter jacket says Raiders on the back.
I'm stylin', smilin' looking real mean,
Cause it ain't about bein' heard.
Just about bein' seen.

For Andersen, hearing this poem was a click moment. As he shares in today's talk, given at TEDYouth 2011, this poem showed him the power of spoken word. After hearing it, he began following Gaines obsessively.

"I thought poetry was just self expression," explains Andersen. "[Gaines] handed me a black-and-white printed out thesis on a poet named Etheridge Knight and 'The Aural Nature of Poetry' ... What Etheridge Knight taught me was that I can make my words sound like music. Even my smalls ones, the monosyllables - the ifs, ands, buts, what s. The gangsta in my slang could fall right on the ear."

To hear Andersen tell his story with beautiful lyrical flow, watch his talk. After the jump, some others who've performed spoken word on the TED stage.

It's hard to get one's brain started on a Monday (especially if you stayed up to watch Curiosity last night). To get synapses firing, here are three killer spoken-word performances from last month's TEDxBoston. Kemi Alabi: Unlovelies in the Key of C Major Boston University student and slam poet Kemi Alabi takes us to the world

This spring, TED headed on the road, visiting 14 cities across six continents on the hunt for untapped talent. The idea behind the sweeping search: to let you, the TED community, weigh in and vote on which speakers you'd like to see ascend the stage at TED2013. After holding one-night salons in Amsterdam, Bangalore, Doha,

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10 spoken word performances, folded like lyrical origami

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Spoken word artist Lemon Andersen begins today's talk with the poem, " Please Don't Take My Air Jordans," written by Reg E. Gaines in 1994. My Air Jordans cost a hundred with tax. My suede Starter jacket says Raiders on the back. I'm stylin', smilin' looking real mean, Cause it ain't about bein' heard.

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Spoken Poetry Example: Education Focus

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Taylor Mali: What teachers make | TED Talk

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Ever heard the phrase “Those who can’t do, teach”? At the Bowery Poetry Club, slam poet Taylor Mali begs to differ, and delivers a powerful, 3-minute response on behalf of educators everywhere.

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Connections: Popular Culture, Social Justice and Spoken Word Poetry

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JSTOR Article: "Every Voice Matters: Spoken Word Poetry in and outside of School" by Wendy R. Williams 

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JSTOR Article: "Every Voice Matters: Spoken Word Poetry in and outside of School" by Wendy R. Williams 

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Academic Article in support of teaching spoken word poetry (NCTE)

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Every Voice Matters Spoken Word Poetry in and outside of School  pdf

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Influence on Students: Implementing Spoken Word Poetry in the Classroom

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Influence on Students: Implementing Spoken Word Poetry in the Classroom

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EdWeekly Article: benefits for teaching this type of unit or lesson (student-based)

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Educators, YouTube revive ancient art

Thousands of years ago, the ancient Greeks recited epic poems aloud. Actors have breathed life into Shakespeare's soliloquies since the 16th century. Now, a pair of poet-educators are working to bring the rich art of spoken-word poetry to students from kindergarten to graduate school.

"The powerful and important thing about spoken word is, it doesn't matter what the words look like on paper," said Sarah Kay, a poet and the founder of a nonprofit organization that brings spoken-word poetry to schools. "It's about what it sounds like when you say it out loud."

While poetry long has been a staple of K-12 English classes, spoken-word poetry, an art form that extends from the beat poetry of the 1950s to contemporary rap, is less commonly taught. But Ms. Kay and other educators who have worked with her organization believe that kind of poetry may be especially well-suited to connecting with young people at an emotional level, making traditional poetry more accessible to students, and sharpening their critical-thinking skills.

"It inspires them to actually start putting pen to paper. If their curriculum is not inspiring them, something like this can," said Ruben Zamora, a Sunnyvale, Calif., school librarian and poetry adviser who invited Ms. Kay's organization, Project VOICE, for Vocal Outreach Into Creative Expression, to perform at his school.

Ms. Kay conceived the idea for the project in 2004 as a way to share the art of spoken-word poetry with students in her high school, the United Nations International School in New York, and revived it in 2007 with the help of her friend Phil Kaye, a fellow spoken-word poet, while both were at Brown University. Together, the young poets expanded the program to tour schools across the country and around the world, including the United Kingdom, Singapore, and South Africa.

Their mission? To entertain, educate, and inspire.

Creative Process

They begin each of their school visits with a show, introducing students to their art form with an original spoken-word performance.

"A lot of students have never seen spoken-word performed," said Ms. Kay. "What we try to do with each performance is show them how many different options of the art form there are."

Then, in workshops of about 25 students each, Ms. Kay and Mr. Kaye try to build on the school's existing curricula and help students create and perform their own spoken-word poems.

One of the first two schools where they performed was Mr. Zamora's. They visited Fremont High School, in Sunnyvale, in 2009 at his request.

"Through the workshop process, students write and create ideas," he said. "They form a poem and then share it and they produce some really good stuff."

Project VOICE returned to Fremont in 2010, 2011, and 2012, and the school is hoping to bring the poets back next school year.

Fremont senior Sioeli Kaho was a freshman when he first saw a voice performance at his school.

"I remember walking into the room kind of skeptical, thinking how I'm not a big poetry guy," said Mr. Kaho. "But, watching them, I was like, wow, this is actually really interesting."

He's been a member of Fremont's spoken-word club ever since.

According to Mr. Zamora, attendance at the open-microphone events held by Fremont's spoken-word club has more than doubled since the voice workshops.

"Ms. Kay and Mr. Kaye catapulted that whole culture on our campus," Mr. Zamora said.

He noted that a handful of teachers at Fremont now incorporate spoken-word in their classrooms, giving students several creative options in place of a standard report. Those include multimedia reports and essays, songs, or spoken-word poems.

"These options all still meet the teacher's rubric and criteria, but now students have the freedom to be more creative," said Mr. Zamora.

Tool for Common Core

Project VOICE's approach to poetry may be timely as schools in most states move to teach the Common Core State Standards and in keeping with the new standards' focus on text complexity, said Eileen Murphy, a member of the National Council of Teachers of English.

"Poetry is in a unique position to offer teachers a complex, and many times brief, text when time is a sparse resource," said Ms. Murphy, the founder and CEO of ThinkCERCA, which stands for Claim, Evidence, Reason, Counterargument, and Audience, located in Chicago, which aims to help teachers encourage critical thinking in their students.

The emphasis on having students create their own works in teaching spoken-word poetry adds a deeper educational dimension to the lessons, according to James Catterall, a professor emeritus at the graduate school of education and information studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, who specializes in arts and human development. "Teaching poetry and teaching art are different things," he said. Teaching poetry is "the teacher pouring content into the kids. [Creating spoken-word] is more than just memorizing or understanding. It's asking kids to think critically."

While there hasn't been much research on the learning benefits of teaching spoken-word poetry, Mr. Catterall said, "working out expressions in an art form is bound to boost cognitive development and [students'] ways of thinking and their approach to problems."

Engaging Students

Another spoken-word educator is Peter Kahn, who taught it for nine years at Oak Park/River Forest High School in Oak Park, Ill. He recently left to launch a spoken-word education training program for teachers at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

He said the medium can have a transformative effect on students.

"It improves students as readers and writers, their critical thinking and analysis, their self-confidence, their literacy skills," he said.

In his years as a spoken-word educator, Mr. Kahn found that students who were otherwise disengaged because of problems outside the classroom benefited the most.

"If you're scared, you can't take in new information," he said. "Spoken-word allows kids to get those problems down on the page, to share them verbally, and to get rid of that background noise."

Fremont student Sioeli Kaho concurred: "Spoken word gives me a way to act out and say how I feel and talk about anything that bothers me. It's a way to let out a little steam."

Diane Luby Lane, who started the Get Lit-Words Ignite spoken-word-poetry program in Los Angeles, found the same to be true. Many of the students she works with are at risk of dropping out of school or, if not, are still dealing with major problems in their lives.

"They're supported in turning their stories into art. It affects their whole relationship with school and learning."

Because students typically get little exposure to spoken-word poetry, Ms. Kay said she and her colleagues have found that students are often "hungry for it" once they get a taste. "We know not every school has the means to have a big arts program, but that shouldn't stop students from having access. That's one of the things we're working on."

Project VOICE is funded through grants and from the fees charged to schools for each visit. The charges are determined by how much time the poets spend at the school. Mr. Kaye and Ms. Kay hope to raise enough money during the coming year to subsidize schools that wouldn't otherwise be able to fit the program into their budgets.

Before the teaching artists leave a school, Project VOICE helps them continue to boost the spoken-word presence on their campuses. That includes everything from providing them with information on resources in their area to helping set up spoken-word poetry clubs.

Expanding Horizons

Another way the art form is spreading is through technology. "Even 10 years ago, spoken-word was hard to find unless you lived in a city," said Mr. Kaye.

Now, sites like YouTube give students the opportunity to see a variety of poets and performances from all over the world. Several YouTube channels are dedicated solely to spoken-word, including Speakeasynyc, which features performances from poets across the nation.

In an effort to expand Project VOICE, Ms. Kay and Mr. Kaye recently hired a new poet to join their team and hope to gradually add more. In the meantime, Ms. Kay and Mr. Kaye are working on developing a text version of their curriculum, so that schools and teachers will have a solid foundation to build on after their visit.

Said Mr. Kaye: "We're trying to create a structure that lets our visit be as long-lasting and impactful and meaningful as possible."

Spoken-Word Poetry Performances

Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye, of Project VOICE, perform "An Origin Story," describing how they met and how their friendship grew:

Junior Herrera, 20, of East Los Angeles College performs "Can I Speak About My Culture":

Aishah Allah, 18, a graduate from Hamilton High School in California performs "Confetti":

Published in Print: September 18, 2013, as Spoken-Word Poets Bring Words to Life for Students

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Spoken-Word Poets Bring Words to Life for Students

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Thousands of years ago, the ancient Greeks recited epic poems aloud. Actors have breathed life into Shakespeare's soliloquies since the 16th century. Now, a pair of poet-educators are working to bring the rich art of spoken-word poetry to students from kindergarten to graduate school.

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Video: Speaks programs and highlighting authentic voices 

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Video: Speaks programs and highlighting authentic voices 

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empowering students through Spoken Word Poetry

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Edutopia's new series profiles young people who are making their learning more authentic by taking it into their own hands, on their own time. This series is produced by Mobile Digital Arts and Twin Cities Public Television, as a companion to an hour-long PBS special that is now available to watch.

More Resources on Poetry

Bay Area-based Youth Speaks is the leading nonprofit presenter of spoken word performance, education, and youth development programs in the country. Youth Speaks' mission is to create safe spaces to empower the next generation of leaders, self-defined artists, and visionary activists through written and oral literacies. Youth Speaks challenge young people to find, develop, publicly present, and apply their voices as creators of social change. Keep up to date with Youth Speaks on Twitter.
Visit the Is School Enough? series page to see more videos on informal learning.

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Spoken Word Poetry Empowers Students to Use Authentic Voices

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Edutopia's new series profiles young people who are making their learning more authentic by taking it into their own hands, on their own time. This series is produced by Mobile Digital Arts and Twin Cities Public Television, as a companion to an hour-long PBS special that is now available to watch.

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Article: Spoken word poetry raises student voice, literacy and confidence

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Article: Spoken word poetry raises student voice, literacy and confidence

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rom poetry slam competitions to in-class recitations, educators are using the medium to engage students in learning with topics they're passionate about.

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In the Sharon Public Schools in Massachusetts, students are exercising their spoken word prowess in the district's first ever Poetry Slam . The district is opening the series of events - which will culminate in a final event April 25 at Sharon High School - to all students in the system, with some working on their pieces after school or during scheduled time at their school library.

High school library media specialist Cathy Collins, who grew up listening to her father recite Yeats, Dickinson and Shakespeare at the kitchen table, firmly believes the Poetry Slam project has an opportunity to bring her students closer to poetry while helping them find their own voices.

"Through creation of a safe space for poetry recitation, confidence and trust develop," Collins, a librarian and media specialist for Sharon Public Schools, told Education Dive. "In my experience, even the quieter students will take part with encouragement and support from peers."

Spoken word poetry is a unique hybrid, with written words memorized like lines in a play and said aloud with a performer's flair. While studying and writing any poetry helps students develop literacy skills, spoken word also helps students build social and emotional skill sets including self-awareness, communication and self-confidence. Plus, as educators note, it's not a bad way to get kids excited about a literary genre that doesn't typically engender cheers.

Engaging students with poetry

, a high school English teacher at the Academy of American Studies in New York City for the past 19 years, drafted her own curriculum around spoken word poetry when she first started teaching. Working with the Academy of American Poets through a month-long program, Goshko crafted Gigi Goshko four distinct lessons - which are still available online as a unit called "Voice" - as a way to engage her 9th-grade students and help "get their feet wet with poetry," she told Education Dive.

Goshko, currently on sabbatical for the year, would begin the unit with spoken word and segue into how to use language to make commentary on social issues.

"When you can bring something like that, and align with Common Core, it's a good way to hook the kids," she said.

co-author of " Penny Kittle - 180 Days: Two Teachers and the Quest to Engage and Empower Adolescents " who taught at Kennett High School in North Conway, New Hampshire, for 21 years - uses March Madness-style brackets, getting students to argue why one spoken word poem should be able to move to the next round over another. She picks all the poems for the first set and then allows students to pick their own favorites.

"Kids get into groups, and debate and sell each other on which one is best, and which one should win," Kittle, who now teaches freshman composition at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, told Education Dive.

To Jeanne Wolz, a former teacher who now runs the blog Teacher Off Duty , spoken word's ability to touch on modern, real-world issues - things young people are familiar with, rather than events that occurred hundreds of years ago - can also help students connect with the genre. Students can draw on what they're passionate about, rather than completing a paper on a topic they're assigned.

"Slam poetry is the perfect medium for students to explore what matters to them, work on delivering it in a powerful way, and have a captive audience to listen to their message," Wolz told Education Dive. "Slam poetry gives students permission to take off their masks and write from the heart - and you can't get much closer to a teacher's dream than that."

Enhancing performance skills

As its name suggests, spoken word needs to be told aloud - performed in a setting where cadence, rhythm and often a sense of staging come into play. Getting up in front of people and having to read what they've crafted requires students to tap into their self-confidence. That's not always a strength for every child, and yet Wolz says knowing that they have to deliver a spoken word piece aloud at the end of crafting it can help them discover something about themselves they didn't know they had.

"It can be the push for students to get the courage to stand up and speak in front of their classmates," she said. "It also helps them see the incredible messages they're capable of as writers."

While not centered on spoken word, the Poetry Out Loud program is also focused on turning poetry into a performance piece. Students pick one of more than 1,000 poems to memorize and then deliver them aloud. While they don't write their own poetry as they would with spoken word, the same act of standing up and speaking before a group of people helps students tap into the language and understanding of a piece, said Justine Haka , program manager for the Poetry Foundation, which co-created Poetry Out Loud with the National Endowment for the Arts.

"In order for the students to be able to memorize the poetry and in turn give it back to the audience, they must internalize the poem," Haka told Education Dive. "Many students will research the poem, its context and its author to try and figure out why the poem was written. The contest asks the performers to step into the author's shoes and into the language of the poems. It's a much more in-depth, active study of the poetry."

Teachers take part, too

Getting students engaged in spoken word does require more than searching out YouTube videos of spoken word poets, pushing play and asking kids to craft their own. Instead, educators should be prepared to jump in and take part in the process. Students who are uncomfortable with the process of writing, in particular, will benefit from mirroring teachers who aren't afraid to show their own spoken word skills - live and in-class.

Kittle said she would often show students, in front of the class with a document camera, how she was crafting words, revising a line and thinking as she put together her own work. The goal is not to intimidate them, but to expose them to what it takes to create and express an idea and thought, which educators hope students can eventually do whether they become spoken word poets or not.

"I think to teach any kind of writing, the teacher has to write," she said. "You have to expose the struggle of really good writing, throwing that first thought on the page and then going back and listening to it."

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Spoken word poetry raises student voice, literacy and confidence

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In the Sharon Public Schools in Massachusetts, students are exercising their spoken word prowess in the district's first ever Poetry Slam . The district is opening the series of events - which will culminate in a final event April 25 at Sharon High School - to all students in the system, with some working on their pieces after school or during scheduled time at their school library.

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poets and performances links included

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I don't know about you, but the loudest collective groan to ricochet off the four walls of my classroom occurs the moment I announce the start of our poetry unit. Without fail, students go into panic mode. They offer to do double the homework for a month if we could just read another novel. I guess I can't blame them. After all, I'm pretty sure I was terrified of poetry in the 8th grade.

As I grew older, however, I realized that poetry isn't just a "necessary evil," arbitrarily embedded in our curriculum. Quite the opposite. It must be taught because it's literature at its finest. Today, I adore poetry. How can one not love visualizing the exquisite pictures that are so vividly painted in our minds by the meticulously chosen words that flow so effortlessly throughout a poem?

I guess it's easy for me to say. But try telling that to a group of 14 year olds! It never ends well. At least at the start of the unit.

You see, I realized that as wonderful as classic poetry may be, many 21st century students fail to make real-life connections with the works of Shakespeare, Whitman, and Thoreau. And in this day in age, making connections while reading is imperative for the vast majority of kids whose minds tend to roam quicker than ever.
"Wait...you mean he just lived alone in the woods for over two years? No phone? No Fortnite?!"
Not in 1845, kiddos!

Knowing that I still had to ensure my students understood basic concepts such as figurative language, tone, mood, rhyme scheme, etc., I set out to completely transform my poetry unit. I decided to take a big risk. I removed many of the classics and replaced them with contemporary, spoken word pieces. Ultimately, it was one of the best decisions I've made regarding my curriculum.

How can one not love visualizing the exquisite pictures that are so vividly painted in our minds by the meticulously chosen words that flow so effortlessly throughout a poem? Click To Tweet

Why Spoken Word Poetry?

With today's students desiring to make a real connection to lesson material, spoken word poems are ideal additions to poetry units. If you were to ask students to identify the characteristics of poems they'd most likely enjoy, spoken word poetry would find all the pertinent boxes checked. Spoken word poems often tend to be dramatic (√), discuss issues today's teenager can relate to (√), and full of pure, unadulterated passion (√).

In 1984, American poet, Marc Smith created the first known poetry slams in which poets were pitted against one another in front of a live audience. These performances were judged by both the content of their piece as well as their on-stage performance (tone, gestures, etc.).

Spoken word later gain popularity in the early 2000s when Russell Simmons began airing Def Poetry Jam on HBO. Today, spoken word poetry continues to grow at a rapid pace. Earlier this year, Rudy Francisco performed a spoken word piece on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. A poetry performance on late-night TV! There's something you don't see every day!

Over the last two years, I've found that my 8th grade students become so engaged in any lesson dealing with spoken word poetry. Even my most reluctant writers have found their voice during the unit. It's an unbelievable outlet for these kids who, at their age, are frequently having to deal with a whirlwind of uncontrollable emotions.

Last year, I had so many students fall in love with the art of spoken word that I started my school's very first Spoken Word Poetry Club. I can't tell you how rewarding it was to see these amazing students taking creative risks in hopes of improving their craft through the cathartic process of poetry writing.

Where to Start with Spoken Word Poetry?

There's so much spoken word poetry out there these days. Understandably, it can be overwhelming at first. I would most certainly recommend visiting Button Poetry, a site dedicated to the promotion of spoken word poets from all over the world. Their YouTube page has an extensive list of performances to show your students. For the most part, many of the poems are safe for school. However, there are plenty of pieces that contain adult language, sexual references, and more. Just be sure you're previewing any video prior to showing in class!
Here are some of the videos that have garnered the biggest reaction from my students over the last two years:
That's it for me, friends! Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for two new episodes of our podcast, Pondering Education next week! CLICK HERE TO CATCH UP WITH LAST WEEK'S EPISODES!

Take care of yourselves and each other!

Ryan
Links to Websites of Aforementioned Poets
About Ryan McHale

Ryan McHale has just started his 9th year as an English Language Arts teacher in Milford, Massachusetts. He's presently working with 8th graders in hopes of getting them academically and socially prepared for the challenges that await them in high school. In addition to fulfilling his role as a classroom teacher, Ryan serves as the Curriculum Coordinator of his building (Grades 6-8), serves as the advisor to the school's Gay-Straight Alliance, and is currently working to earn his Doctoral Degree in Educational Leadership from the University of New England.

Visit Ryan's Website: www.ponderingeducation.com
Listen to Ryan's "Pondering Education" Podcast
Header image photo by Trust "Tru" Katsande on Unsplash

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Let Spoken Word Transform Your Poetry Unit!

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Students often fear the poetry unit. Whether they think it be too difficult or too boring, many kids groan when teachers say, "It's Time for Poetry!" It doesn't have to be that way. Let spoken word poetry transform your classroom!

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Audio Literacy Website: great resource for listening activities with spoken word poetry/readings

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The Slowdown podcast hosted by Major Jackson delivers a different way to see the world - through poetry

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Tips for Teaching (Remotely): Bringing Spoken Word Poetry into the Classroom

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Tips for Teaching (Remotely): Bringing Spoken Word Poetry into the Classroom

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Online Options for Teaching/Learning about Spoken Word Poetry

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Previous Routine Next Routine
This routine uses poetry to spark personal reflection and to open doors for discussions about what's happening in students' lives and the world. We recommend Tracy K. Smith's daily podcast, The Slowdown, for this routine. In each five-minute episode, Smith explains what the poem she's chosen means to her and then reads it out loud. Other sources for poems, many of which have audio recordings, include the websites Split This Rock, Poets.org, Poetry 180, and Poetry Foundation.

Face-to-Face Learning

Write or project the title of the poem and ask students to predict what it might be about. Play The Slowdown episode or, if your poem is from a different source, play a recording or read the poem out loud. Then have students read the poem to themselves and respond to one of the following questions in their journals:

What's worth talking about in this poem?

What is your favorite line and why?

What does this poem make you think about?

Have students place a star by one idea in their journal to share in a Wraparound activity, pair-share, or small-group discussion.

Remote Learning

Share your screen to project the title of the poem as students log in to class. When they've all arrived, ask students to use the chat to predict what the poem might be about. Then share The Slowdown link with the poem so students can read along, and play the audio recording. Next, have students read the poem to themselves and respond to one of the following questions in their journals:

What's worth talking about in this poem?

What is your favorite line and why?

What does this poem make you think about?

Move students into breakout groups for a few minutes to discuss what they feel is worth talking about in the poem.

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Previous Routine Next Routine This routine uses poetry to spark personal reflection and to open doors for discussions about what's happening in students' lives and the world. We recommend Tracy K. Smith's daily podcast, The Slowdown , for this routine. In each five-minute episode, Smith explains what the poem she's chosen means to her and then reads it out loud.

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Tips for Teaching: Bringing Spoken Word Poetry into the Classroom

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Tips for Teaching: Bringing Spoken Word Poetry into the Classroom

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This resource was originally designed for use in a face-to-face setting. For tips on teaching with poetry in a remote or hybrid learning environment, check out our Slow Down with the Slowdown Routine.

Since poetry slams gained in popularity in the 1990s, youth from around the world have competed individually and in teams in local, national, and international spoken word tournaments. "Contain[ing] elements of rap, hip-hop, storytelling, theater, jazz, rock, blues, and folk music [and] characterized by rhyme, repetition, improvisation, and word play," spoken word poetry is meant to be performed, heard, and experienced. Since the first poetry slam in a Chicago jazz club in 1986, the genre has provided youth with a creative and impactful way to explore issues of identity, belonging, prejudice, gender, social justice, and race.

As we continue to celebrate National Poetry Month this April, the following teaching ideas can help bring spoken word poetry into your classroom to help students raise their voices to make personal, social, and political statements about the issues that impact their lives and communities.

Explore Issues of Perception and Stereotyping

To help students grapple with complex issues of identity, membership, and belonging, consider teaching one or both of the following spoken word poems.

Facing History student Jonathan Lykes' award-winning spoken word poem, "Perception" (04:08), explores how prejudice influences our decisions about helping others.

Amina Iro and Hannah Halpern confront Muslim and Jewish stereotypes in their spoken word poem (03:19) at the 2013 Brave New Voices quarter finals.

After students listen to each of these poems, have them complete a rapid-fire writing response and then share a word or short phrase from their response in a wraparound.

If you would like your students to write their own spoken word poems, you might ask them to write a journal entry that responds to a question or line in one of the poems. For example, use the following prompt to have students explore the questions that Lykes asks in the opening lines of "Perception":

"How do they see me? How do I see them?"
Write about a time when you felt like how you were perceived was different from how you perceive yourself.

Students can then use their journal entries as a starting place for their poems. You might include mini-lessons about literary devices such as imagery, figurative language, alliteration, consonance, dissonance, assonance, and repetition. After students have written, workshopped, and revised their poems, celebrate with an "author's chair," where students share their poems with the class or publish them in a class book.

Explore Bullying through Spoken Word Poetry

According to the National Prevention Bullying Center, in 2016, one in five students reported being the targets of bullies. Spoken word poetry can provide a space for individuals who have been the target of bullying, or those who have witnessed it, to tell their stories. Before sharing one or both of the following spoken word poems with your students, you might ask them to create a concept map for bullying and discuss your school's bullying policy. Also, make sure your students know where to go for help if they experience or witness bullying or cyberbullying.

To This Day
In the animated version of Shane Koyczan's poem "To This Day" (07:36), or in his TED Talk To This Day. . .for the bullied and the beautiful (11:57), Koyczan recalls childhood memories of being taunted and called names and reflects on how being outcast affected him and others like him who were considered different and made objects of ridicule and cruelty by their peers. (Note: While the TED Talk version of the poem contains one word of profanity, the animated version does not.)

My Lungs
At the 2015 SLAMbassador, the United Kingdom's biggest youth slam, winner Jay Hulme shared his experience of being stereotyped and bullied as a transgender teen in his spoken word poem "My Lungs." Watch his TEDxTeen performance of "My Lungs" (00:00-03:10). At the end of his powerful performance, Hulme makes a compelling call to action to his listeners to be upstanders in the face of bullying. (Note: This poem contains one word of profanity, so it is important that you preview it before showing it to your students. You might also facilitate a discussion about the purpose and effect of Hulme's language choice in this moment.)

After watching one of the above videos, provide students with space to reflect on the experience in their journals. If you would like your students to do a closer analysis of one of the poems, the transcript for To This Day. . .for the bullied and the beautiful can be found on the TED website. You might create a set of text-based questions and then lead students through a save the last word for me discussion. Finally, have groups brainstorm ways to offer support to a friend or peer who is being bullied, explaining that offering words of encouragement in private can help an individual who is the target of bullying feel supported and less alone. For additional Facing History resources on bullying, consult our featured collection Using Bully in the Classroom.

You can find additional resources for teaching spoken word poetry at Poetry Out Loud and The Poetry Society, which includes information about SLAMbassadors, the national youth poetry slam championships.

Bring Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment Poetry into the Classroom

You can find additional poems to bring into your classroom on the Poetry Foundation website, which offers a broad range of poems, including a selection of Poems of Protest, Resistance, and Empowerment that give voice the voiceless who are afraid to speak up or have been silenced in the face of discrimination and injustice. This selection includes poems from the Holocaust, apartheid South Africa, the civil rights movement, and Black Lives Matter and could supplement Facing History readings and units found in Holocaust and Human Behavior, Teaching Holocaust and Human Behavior, Choices in Little Rock, or our South Africa lesson.
This teaching idea was created to celebrate National Poetry Month. For more ideas on how to use poetry in the classroom, view the teaching idea Use Poetry to Teach About Identity.

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How to Bring Spoken Word Poetry into the Classroom

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This resource was originally designed for use in a face-to-face setting. For tips on teaching with poetry in a remote or hybrid learning environment, check out our Slow Down with the Slowdown Routine. Since poetry slams gained in popularity in the 1990s, youth from around the world have competed individually and in teams in local, national, and international spoken word tournaments.

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Poets.org: Amplifying Voices Through Spoken Word Poetry Lesson Plan

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Lesson 3: Poetry as Social Commentary

After developing a foundation for analyzing poetry by using the strategies outlined in Lesson 2, students will read and discuss a selection of poems that specifically focus on themes that have been previously addressed in the literature read in class through out the year. Students will continue to examine the significance of these themes as they materialize in the writings of a diverse group of poets. Among the themes that will be addressed are isolation, oppression, loyalty, sexism, autonomy, feminism, justice, and survival. Students will examine ways in which poets speak about these themes. They will begin to appreciate poetry as another medium for authors to express commentary on the pressing social issues of the times.
Poems and Books Used
"The Certainty" by Roque Dalton
The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass
"Public School 190, Brooklyn, 1963" by Martín Espada
"The Colonel" by Carolyn Forché
" Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes
A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen
A Separate Peace by John Knowles
"Coal" by Audre Lorde
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
"Nativity: For Two Salvadoran Women, 1968-87" by Demetria Martinez
"Postcards from El Barrio" by Willie Perdomo
"To the Pay Toilet" by Marge Piercy
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Learning Objectives
In this lesson, students will

read a selection of poems;

examine the significance of specific themes that manifest themselves in the writing of a diverse group of poets;

explore how authors rely on personal experiences in their writing;

examine how poets write about the pressing social issues of the times;

investigate how these social issues impact political, economic, and social systems;

draw parallels between how authors express themes in their books and how poets express themes in their poems; and

conduct research and write an essay.

Time Frame
Eight sixty minute classes
Resources and Materials
copies of aforementioned poems
copies of biographies on the poets
copies of related writings from novels and other written works
pen/paper
Activities

1. Have students brainstorm, discuss, and review how the themes of isolation, oppression, loyalty, sexism, autonomy, feminism, justice and survival materialized in the literature read through out the year.

2. Create individual "Theme Webs" that highlight the aforementioned themes' roles in the following literature: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, "Julius Caesar," To Kill a Mockingbird, A Separate Peace, and "A Doll's House."

3. Split the themes up into groups of two. Concentrate on each group of themes for two class periods.

4. Distribute copies of the poems, from the aforementioned list, for each theme addressed in class.

5. Conduct readings in class for each poem.

6. Facilitate discussions that focus on meaning and similarities and differences in the poems and the books. Have students make analogies between the themes used to express social commentary by the poets and the themes used by other writers to express social commentary.

7. Students will write a comparative analysis of one of the aforementioned poems and one of the aforementioned works of literature.

8. Conduct reasearch on the Internet for the Follow Up writing assignment.

Follow Up
Each student will be required to go on the Internet to research and identify a poet that they feel addressed social commentary in their writing. Students are to read a minimum of two poems by that poet. Students are to analyze the poems, according to strategies in Lesson 2, and highlight the social issues that the poet addresses in his/her writing. Students should pay particular attention to common themes that are present in the poems and the works of literature read in class through out the year. Students are to write a critique about the poet. In the critique, students should, in a detailed discussion, address whether they believe their chosen poet effectively expresses social commentary in their writing.

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Lesson 3: Poetry as Social Commentary After developing a foundation for analyzing poetry by using the strategies outlined in Lesson 2, students will read and discuss a selection of poems that specifically focus on themes that have been previously addressed in the literature read in class through out the year.