Juli
Kendall's
2004-05
READING/WRITING
WORKSHOP JOURNAL
Entry #11
Doin' the Continental Poetry Slam
Our MiddleWeb Reading/Writing listserv has just finished participating in an Online collaborative project. It was a poetry slam! If you are not sure what that means, reread the poem above. It explains it as well as anything I'm ever seen. So how did this all start? Last Spring, as usual, the conversation on the Reading/Writing listserv turned to poetry. Musing about online communities and students writing poetry, longtime listserv member Bill Ivey had a brainstorm. He suggested we try to pull together an online poetry slam and said he would be glad to coordinate. Teachers could volunteer to be involved, have their students post poems on a website dedicated to the project, and then students could read each others poems and post appropriate comments. It sounded like fun, so several folks signed up. As fall came around, Bill queried the listserv again, to ask if there were any others who would like to join and more people signed up. The group agreed to have the project go from mid–November to mid–December. Enter Keith Mack, veteran teacher turned Educational Consultant and Media Designer, the online technology coordinator for the project. He set up a website, actually a blog site, so each teacher had a blog where they could have students post their poems. He arranged it so that all comments posted by students would need to be approved by the teacher before they appeared on the website—a great added feature. To get our students going, just before Thanksgiving, I handed out a stack of poetry books, and we spent a week reading published poems and talking about what makes a poem great. After reading lots and lots of poems, everyone agreed that a poem needed to be written so that the reader could visualize what the writer was saying. So we focused on details. Our poems were posted on the website during the first week in December and the fun began. Almost as soon as the poems were up, the comments from other students started flooding in. With all the comments for our students' poems—well over 250—there were only one or two that I felt needed to be deleted. They weren't actually "bad," just a little insensitive. And such great constructive criticism the kids got on their writing. The surprise to me was how well they took suggestions from others. It was a huge growth experience for them! We even got our new, enthusiastic principal involved, and one evening he personally posted a comment to each one of the 25 Whittier Poets. Then, on his weekly 15 minute closed circuit school news cast, Wizard TV, he chose two of the kids to read and discuss their poems. They were so excited! Our Deputy Superintendent of Schools was drawn in and posted a comment to our school poets as a whole. "What fun to read poetry from students that can have so much fun with words," she wrote. " I am so impressed at the level of your understanding with your chosen topics. I also like how descriptive every poem was...they made me laugh, smell, wonder and taste. Whittier students are the best!!" When teachers needed help Keith posted these suggestions about commenting on poems:Banging on a garbage can,
Bam bam bam.
Mattie says it's time
For a poetry slam.Everybody's talking poems.
Everybody's laughin' poems!
Josh is drinkin' poems!
Amelia's wearin' poems on her feet!
The sky is filled with poems!And Jacob rides a poem on the sidewalk
While Doria pours poems out of a pitcher.
Ratchit throws a poem at your back, ouch!
It's poem time, you have poems circling around your headYou've got a poem in your pocket
A poem on your tongue, did you know that?
You can be the poet and you can be the poem too.
Yesssss!– From Hey You! C'mere, a poetry slam by Elizabeth Swados
We weren't the only ones involved in the poetry slam—there were lots of other schools in lots of other places. How did things go for them? Here are a few responses.
We're starting to get poems posted and students are starting to enter comments. Here are some tips: COMMENT QUALITY
Rather than the quick student response of "I like it" or "Good Job!" we would like for students to enter a bit more to show some thinking about the poem. See some good examples at http://tinyurl.com/5traf. Suggestions for things to comment on:
1. What connections did you make with this poem (thoughts, feelings, other writing or other things you were reminded of)?
2. What words, phrases, images or poetic techniques did you find particularly effective?
3. Do you have any questions or suggestions for the poet?
(You might post these 3 questions by computers for students to refer to.)
Hello from Canada,
Just a quick note to let you know the poetry slam made the local paper with a picture included. The headline reads: Bonner students slam headfirst into poetry
POETRYSLAM: Students getting buzz from sharing their work on the net with fourteen other middle schools across the continent
The reporter interviewed students while they were reading and responding to poems.
Thanks to all of you and your students for all your hard work!!
Alexis
Alexis and others,
I want you to know that my students have been responding so well to your students' comments. And lets face it, hearing the same thing I would say about the positive aspects or way to improve my student's work goes a long way. For instance, one student who wrote a nice piece about snow that ended with "It's all good." Thanks to comments he realized it didn't make sense to throw in that phrase. His final to me does not include those words.
Also, I have a student who does barely any work without cajoling and...well it is a long story...and I know you guys deal with this too. Anyway he wrote a rather silly poem about a dog and flatulence (But he wrote!!!!)and has been reading comments that make him realize he could do better.
Tena
A BIG "THANK YOU!" TO BILL AND KEITH FOR THIS INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY!Tena, Thank YOU!!
This has been sooooo much fun. Something happened today that I need to share. My students are required to choose a published poem, block it and prepare it for an oral presentation after Xmas. One of my students wanted to know if she could choose two of the poems from the poetry slam. We had a class discussion, and we have decided that in addition to the published work everyone will choose their favourite poem or two from the slam, tell who the poet is and where they are from, why they chose it and then give an oral interpretation of the poem.
Wow! Does it get any better than this!! Kids excited about each others work!!
Alexis from Canada eh!!Thanks, Keith and Bill, for setting this up for us.
My students have not been able to be as involved as they'd like for some institutional reasons, but they have been amazed that people commented on their work. Thanks to all of you who responded to my kids' writings. We have a poetry cafe coming up in January where my kids will present readers' theater productions from scripts they wrote based on the Handbook for Boys poem from the slam, and other student poems will provide "filler" between skits.
BeverlyWinners?
Are we going to choose a winner or winners? (Of course I feel this has been just a win–win event anyway) I don't personally care, but my some of my students have inquired. Perhaps I will have them decide the criteria for what makes an exceptional poem, nominate and vote within the classroom. Actually, now I think about it, that is exactly what I will do!
Tena
And, as always, we vow to Leave No Poem Behind!
Read
poems from George Bonner Middle School
Resources page for our Reading/Writing Project
