But in my mind, shouldn’t all picture books be great read alouds? I guess there are many instances where they wouldn’t have to be such as nonfiction picture books or those peaceful “quiet” picture books. I think I’m just partial to those fun rollicking laugh out loud “performance” picture books because (as a former first grade teacher) I love entertaining children. When I taught first grade in the past, I loved having my students study and learn to write poetry. In fact, I was so obsessed with it, that I would often do poetry all year long and sometimes steal time from other subjects just to have more time for poetry. After my students would write their own poems, I would have them perform this poetry in front of their parents at a Poetry Café Night. Everyone loved it. And even though we did talk about the elements of performing their poetry, these things weren’t thought about during the writing process. It was only after the poetry was written did we consider how it would be performed. Over the past few years I’ve discovered a type of performance writing where all those elements are considered as part of the writing process. This form of poetry is called Spoken Word Poetry. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Arts defines it as the following: Spoken word poetry is poetry that is written on a page but performed for an audience. Because it is performed, this poetry tends to demonstrate a heavy use of rhythm, improvisation, free association, rhymes, rich poetic phrases, word play and slang. It is more aggressive and “in your face” than more traditional forms of poetry. http://www.nelson-atkins.org/images/PDF/Calendar/PoetrySlam_SpokenWord.pdf These are the types of poems that you would hear in a Poetry Café or at a Poetry Slam. These poems are great for self-expression. And for this reason, I would love to further explore this idea with the students I teach. But also, I’d like to explore it more for myself as an author. When I write a picture book, I don’t want to just sit down and write a story. I want to write a story that is performance worthy. Below are a few links to some great performance poems. (I’m in the process of trying to collect poems that are “age” appropriate for little ears.) Because of the nature of the emotional subjects in the poems, it’s hard to find ones that can be shared with elementary students. But I’m determined to find them. (So if you come across some, please let me know.) Reading Allowed (as in permitted.) by Taylor Mali (Start at minute 1:10 to skip all the funny, but racy stuff at the beginning.) Because once upon a time we grew up on stories and the voices in which they were told. We need words to hold us, for the world to behold us for us to truly know our own souls. What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali Letter to a Playground Bully by Andrea Gibson Alicia Keys P.O.W. I’m a prisoner of words unsaid. Just lonely feelings locked away in my head. I trap myself further every time I stay quiet. I should start to speak but I stop and stay silent. And now I’ve made my own hard bed Inside this prison of words unsaid. There is an amazing project called Project Voice that can teach students to become Spoken Word Poets. http://www.projectvoice.co/ This is a spoken word poem by Sarah Kay and Phil Kaye about how they met and started Project Voice. Some of my goals in exploring Spoken Word Poetry: · Create a collection of Spoken Word Poetry suitable for younger students. · Bring Project Voice to my students and teach them how to write and perform it. · Study some of the spoken word poems and analyze them for their poetic elements and use what I’ve learned in my picture books. Some additional Spoken Word Poems: Why I Hate School But Love Education- Suli Breaks I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate- Suli Breaks To This Day Project -Shane Koyczan Have you ever heard of Spoken Word before? Do you know of any good ones? If so, share them below.
10 Comments
6/23/2014 03:05:08 am
Standing ovation! This is an amazing post! So many great examples- especially Andrea, age 8.5, and so much incredible information. Thank you, Mandy!
Reply
6/23/2014 04:29:21 am
Excellent information, Mandy. You taught me something new about the genre of poetry. Sharing a link with you. The title of the post is "Kids Feel the Power of Poetry in Perfomance. http://www.edutopia.org/poetry-slam-global-writes
Reply
Mandy
6/23/2014 04:32:41 am
Thanks Suzy!
Reply
6/23/2014 04:53:37 am
Wow Mandy!!! I love this. I want to work on this with my kids this summer. Thank you for such a phenomenal post!!!!
Reply
6/23/2014 07:00:20 am
Mandy, Andrea's letter is nothing short of genius. Beautiful!
Reply
Charlotte Dixon
6/26/2014 11:47:16 am
Inspiring post, Mandy. I am absolutely blown away by Andrea Age 8.5.
Reply
lauren
5/17/2015 02:08:53 am
I love listening to and watching spoken word poetry, but I can't find any videos that would be appropriate for elementary aged kids. Have you had any luck finding some? Thanks!
Reply
Sunshine
4/24/2019 10:51:30 am
Here are some kids doing spoken word. I bet you may have already seen it. I am putting together an intro for my class. I enjoyed their work and thought you would too. Thanks for your work.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
We are so excited to be mixing things up at CBA, beginning with some delicious additions to the Blogfish. Meet our awesome bloggers!!
Here's our lineup: 1st Mondays begin with awesome multi-published former student Shirin Shamsi who will be focusing on Muslim and cultural kidlit. 2nd Mondays will feature super smart Melissa Stoller whose career is taking off with several new books. 3rd Mondays will feature Bryan Patrick Avery, published writer, man of mystery, and professional magician among other things. 4th Mondays will feature STEM, STEAM & SEL obsessed author Kourtney LaFavre sharing delightfully dorky, quirky, and fun info. And 5th Mondays we'll be taking a break Archives
May 2023
|