One of the enduring understandings with which I wanted my students to walk away from our poetry unit was the power of the spoken word. The power of the spoken word extends beyond simply a poetry slam or read aloud but implies the power of individual voice and students’ ability to advocate for and express themselves. This unit and enduring understanding connect directly to my question of inquiry in relation to verbal engagement in class. While there is a time for listening and reflecting in class, much learning and development takes place through speaking and debating in discussion.
In order to try to get my students to reach this understanding through a poetry unit or at the very least to have them thinking about the idea, I tried to increase participation by exposing students to a wide range of activities and forms of poetry. I experimented with various activities from students sharing their definitions of poetry to text renderings to full class discussions and reading aloud to small group and partner activities in which I asked students to create meaning or their own collaborative interpretation of a poem.
On one of the last days of the poetry unit, I showed my students a few examples of slam poetry, which coincided with a discussion on how poetry is meant to be read (aloud or silently) (see Artifact A). This discussion was very interesting and students reacted by talking with and to each other after the slam poetry without my direct facilitation or interjections which was very exciting. At the day’s conclusion, I felt my students had an appreciation for the power of a voice and rhetoric.
The activities of the poetry unit as a whole were fairly successful. I felt from jotting down brief, qualitative notes after each class, the participation was up and that students seemed engaged. However, the distribution of voices like always remained unequal; those who tend to participate most often did, while those who tend to be taciturn kept quiet. Some new voices were heard in small group discussions; nevertheless, there was never an equal amount of verbal participation among all students.
I wanted each student to present one of their original poems; as the unit went on, the range of participation levels remained standard for both of my 9th grade classes and I became more and more excited about each student having to present, opening up the floor, even if just for one day for all students to have the same amount of air time. Thus, at the end of the unit, the final assessment was for students to create a mini-portfolio of their work in which they revised three original poems and wrote a reflection about their creative process. On the final day of class, I required each student to read aloud one of their original poems at the front of the class for a participation grade (see Artifact B).
During the week leading up to the presentation day, I continually reassured students that all they had to do was simply read aloud a poem in front of the class. I did not expect a memorized presentation or even for them to do anything beyond simply reading the poem aloud. Moreover, I promised students that I would bring in some food in an attempt to lighten up the atmosphere and reinforce to students that they were in a safe space. Many students expressed being nervous to read their poems aloud.
Only two students in my classes objected vehemently against having to present because of their nerves and fear of public speaking (both were girls who are high performing yet rarely participate verbally in class). I explained to each that everyone was required to read aloud and it was practice with public speaking; I even shared an anecdote about myself as a high school student terrified of public speaking and how I got over my fear. Eventually, the two agreed to present and did a fantastic job. They each were quite nervous to start but walked away from the podium with wide smiles on their faces with the looks of accomplishment.
Before the presentations began, I repeated a few times the protocol for presentations: students would be silent and respectful while their peers presented and if students needed to get up or use the restroom they had to wait until between presenters. I also had a spreadsheet, which I showed and told them I would be marking points off for behavior if necessary. I was pleasantly surprised by how supportive the classes were of one another. They cheered each other on and clapped without my initiation after each presenter (see Artifact C). Perhaps part of this was attributed to the extrinsic motivation of a grade. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was overwhelmingly positive and well-behaved.
All in all, I felt the day was a success. I was thrilled to have every student’s voice in the classroom that day. It was equally thrilling because the words that they were sharing were not answers to my prescribed questions but instead their own original poems that expressed pieces of themselves. There was an energy in the room that is not always present in the class as well as a high level of respect for each other, creating a safe zone. Going forward from this unit and specific exercise, I wonder how I can keep that momentum rolling and continue to promote engagement and verbal participation throughout the next unit on The Odyssey. I am interested in trying the Harkness model as well as a fishbowl activity to see how they go and if they are useful to the class in terms of encouraging all classmates to speak through student-to-student interactions.
In order to try to get my students to reach this understanding through a poetry unit or at the very least to have them thinking about the idea, I tried to increase participation by exposing students to a wide range of activities and forms of poetry. I experimented with various activities from students sharing their definitions of poetry to text renderings to full class discussions and reading aloud to small group and partner activities in which I asked students to create meaning or their own collaborative interpretation of a poem.
On one of the last days of the poetry unit, I showed my students a few examples of slam poetry, which coincided with a discussion on how poetry is meant to be read (aloud or silently) (see Artifact A). This discussion was very interesting and students reacted by talking with and to each other after the slam poetry without my direct facilitation or interjections which was very exciting. At the day’s conclusion, I felt my students had an appreciation for the power of a voice and rhetoric.
The activities of the poetry unit as a whole were fairly successful. I felt from jotting down brief, qualitative notes after each class, the participation was up and that students seemed engaged. However, the distribution of voices like always remained unequal; those who tend to participate most often did, while those who tend to be taciturn kept quiet. Some new voices were heard in small group discussions; nevertheless, there was never an equal amount of verbal participation among all students.
I wanted each student to present one of their original poems; as the unit went on, the range of participation levels remained standard for both of my 9th grade classes and I became more and more excited about each student having to present, opening up the floor, even if just for one day for all students to have the same amount of air time. Thus, at the end of the unit, the final assessment was for students to create a mini-portfolio of their work in which they revised three original poems and wrote a reflection about their creative process. On the final day of class, I required each student to read aloud one of their original poems at the front of the class for a participation grade (see Artifact B).
During the week leading up to the presentation day, I continually reassured students that all they had to do was simply read aloud a poem in front of the class. I did not expect a memorized presentation or even for them to do anything beyond simply reading the poem aloud. Moreover, I promised students that I would bring in some food in an attempt to lighten up the atmosphere and reinforce to students that they were in a safe space. Many students expressed being nervous to read their poems aloud.
Only two students in my classes objected vehemently against having to present because of their nerves and fear of public speaking (both were girls who are high performing yet rarely participate verbally in class). I explained to each that everyone was required to read aloud and it was practice with public speaking; I even shared an anecdote about myself as a high school student terrified of public speaking and how I got over my fear. Eventually, the two agreed to present and did a fantastic job. They each were quite nervous to start but walked away from the podium with wide smiles on their faces with the looks of accomplishment.
Before the presentations began, I repeated a few times the protocol for presentations: students would be silent and respectful while their peers presented and if students needed to get up or use the restroom they had to wait until between presenters. I also had a spreadsheet, which I showed and told them I would be marking points off for behavior if necessary. I was pleasantly surprised by how supportive the classes were of one another. They cheered each other on and clapped without my initiation after each presenter (see Artifact C). Perhaps part of this was attributed to the extrinsic motivation of a grade. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was overwhelmingly positive and well-behaved.
All in all, I felt the day was a success. I was thrilled to have every student’s voice in the classroom that day. It was equally thrilling because the words that they were sharing were not answers to my prescribed questions but instead their own original poems that expressed pieces of themselves. There was an energy in the room that is not always present in the class as well as a high level of respect for each other, creating a safe zone. Going forward from this unit and specific exercise, I wonder how I can keep that momentum rolling and continue to promote engagement and verbal participation throughout the next unit on The Odyssey. I am interested in trying the Harkness model as well as a fishbowl activity to see how they go and if they are useful to the class in terms of encouraging all classmates to speak through student-to-student interactions.