While I’ve never been particularly drawn to
poetry, I think slam or spoken word is a fascinating text type that I’d love to
explore more. My first experience with slam was about seven years ago at a French
cabaret-type soirée featuring artists and storytellers of all kinds. It was a
fundraiser dedicated to reducing illiteracy around Montreal, and one of the
artists just mopped the floor with her 20-minute rhyming rant about the state
of education in Quebec. Before that night I’d never experienced a performance
that existed as a hybrid between the spheres of rap, oral storytelling, and
classical poetry.
What I like about slam is that it
speaks to students with myriad backgrounds; it is not an exclusive, elitist, or
pretentious art form. It can be dirty. It wiggles and jives along the line of
standard/nonstandard language and allows the writer to feel more at home using
structures and vocabulary choices that might otherwise receive a slap on the
wrist. Slam also is an excellent vehicle to encourage social critique and
introspective self-analysis. As Bronwen Low notes in her article Slammin’ School, slam is very often a
platform for deep social reflections—in her experience, students’ slam poetry
tends to explore topics that are outside the conventional themes of love and
interpersonal relationships so cliché among teens today. Slam helps students to
play with grammar conventions and vocabulary choices, and it allows them to
express hidden angsts, frustrations, and desires in a way that essays or
narrative fiction cannot do.
Low talks a lot about how slam can
open up a safe space for marginalized communities to voice their critiques. One
student noted that minority (in her case, black) students tend to have a better
cultural awareness and incorporate themes of injustice into their work. Central
to slam’s power is the fact that it is a performed art. Student poets feed off
the reactions of the audience and use dynamics and intonation to further hone
their craft.
While I’d love to explore the use
of slam poetry in my content area, I’m not certain how to actually teach slam other than modeling or using
exemplars. I am not a poet, and I don’t think I’d be a great mentor. As a
second language specialist I am really drawn to the theatrics of the language
and can see lots of rich discussions involving synonyms and rhyming words. But
how do you teach cadence and rhythm of language to L2 learners who can’t hear
syllable stress?
I like how you've worked Bronwen Low's work into your own words and made the connections between social commentary and poetic expression. I also like how you are trying to think of ways to work the analysis of slam poetry into language instruction for L2 learners.
ReplyDeleteI think your deep understanding of the significance of Slam poetry and attraction to the theatrics of language is a pretty good start on knowing how to teach it! I think if you open up spaces for students to experience and experiment with different art forms in the classroom, they teach themselves anyway :)
ReplyDeleteI think your deep understanding of the significance of Slam poetry and attraction to the theatrics of language is a pretty good start on knowing how to teach it! I think if you open up spaces for students to experience and experiment with different art forms in the classroom, they teach themselves anyway :)
ReplyDeleteI think that your deep appreciation of the art of Slam and interest in the theatrics of language put you in a great position to introduce students to it. I've always found that if you open up the space in your classroom for students to experience and experiment with different art forms, they teach themselves!
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