So I'm an infrequent visitor to freestyle, although I definitely lurk on occasion. I do most of my online writing stuff over in GD.

Anyway...I'm going to be teaching a performance poetry class in the next few months, and I'm wondering if anybody has any thoughts/suggestions for texts or videos that I should invest in (I've got a local public library buying stuff for our course, so I guess it's not really my investment).

Any thoughts? Any exercises you all particularly like to use?

This might be stating the obvious, but Def poetry??

My first response would be is to not forget the classic poets and study classic styles. Don't assume students know what meter is, or what a sonnet is. Some students are really good at writing their own free verse, and can get away with it in contemporary poetry scenes, but the having the knowledge of these classic forms, I feel, is essential.

It's a short class--five weeks, ten sessions--so I don't think I'm going to be able to go deep in depth with them in terms of the classics and structure. We'll be focusing on them putting their thoughts into words, and I think that showing them a lot of the Def Poets (carefully selected, of course) will be the best place to start.

You can always use about ten minutes of just one class session to briefly explain the usage and/or effectiveness of being able to vary from different types of meter to create a presentation that stands out. Also it would be a good idea to inform them of how poetry can work just as well with a strict rhyme scheme as well as without: or even with a mixture. Just a few ideas.

His meter is crazy! His puncuation is crazy!
Slam, spoken word is a good thing to focus on, but I would bring in poems that aren't necessarily for spoken word sake, to show the contrast. You know? What is for reading, and one is for reading out loud and reciting.

You can't slam an e.e. cummings poem with the greastest of ease. A good exercise from this would be to come up with a poem that isn't meant for slam, and have your students add their own meter in style, breaking lines where they want, putting pauses where they feel necessary, and maybe have a couple of them perform it.

I want to use Def Poetry Jam at the high school where I work at because of some of the artists, but my question is this: Is it appropriate (with all the cussing) and interesting enough to garner their attention?

play music and allow the students to write the first thing that comes to mind...five, ten minutes should do.

writing to jazz music has always brought me really interesting results.

i remember writing some crazy cracked out shit to a couple ornette coleman records.

perhaps i should revisit this exercise.

big up!

I would say that if you're going to choose DPJ as your foundation, you might want to consider its beginnings: poetry slam.

And if you're going to start with that, then you should really check out: http://www.poetryslam.com/modules.php?name=Store and get the educational version of "Slam Nation" from them.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not knocking DPJ (well...not entirely), as it has opened a lot of doors for spoken word. But a lot of the poets seen got their start with poetry slam and with slamming on a national level. At the very least purchase the educational version for historical reference, if nothing else. While the material is dated (ie the competition that the documentary covered), the performances are as potent now as they were 10 years ago when the documentary was filmed.

Also check out:
http://books.heinemann.com/products/E00965.aspx

This book was created for the purposes of teaching spoken word and poetry slam to the young people.

many thanks

of course.

Def Poetry is cool, but Slam was the before before.

There's a book called, "The Spoken Word Revolution: Slam, Hip Hop & the Poetry of a New Generation" by Mark Eleveld and Marc Kelly Smith. It contains poetry from 75 different poets. It moves through different types of performance poetry, describing the origins and contexts of beat/slam/hiphop/etc. poetry. And it comes with a CD with over 50 tracks (i think) of performed poetry from cats like Roger Bonair-Agard, Patricia Smith, Beau Sia, Saul Williams, Taylor Mali, and many more I can't remember.

Good luck with your class.

soul.

Sorry if I missed it somewhere in this thread -- But did you mention the AGES of your pupils?

I might have a suggestion, but it depends upon the age group that you're catering to, nahmean?

I think it is essential for high school students (intrested in verse) to have a basic grasp on the "orthodox" terminology of poetry, for intance: aliteration, allusion, rhyme scheme, internal rhymes, blank verse, etc., maybe even some metric.

At the very least they should understand the difference between similes and metaphors: not because this is some fundamental thing to poetry, but it's an oft made mistake that snobs can jump up on.

Examples are necessary. Excercises might be useful.

The student needs to recognize that these terms are not some box of tools that needs to be raided every time he or she picks up a pen.

The terms of poetry are necessary to discuss poetry, to understand what makes a poem good; they do not need to be remembered when writing poetry.

It's a point rarely made clear.

^Dude^ pretty much stole my thunder -- (My thoughts exactly) -- *More or Less* -- :9


I had an idea, but it's prolly too late now -- and/or -- Not enuff time to incorporate it into the program -- But maybe next time:
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High school poets brainstorm, get help writing through IPG online

By Matthew Thorburn -- News and Information Services


A high school student at Lansing's Waverly High School uses a modem to connect to the U-M, then begins downloading poems written by students in Germany and Japan. Another student reviews a printed critique of her poem from the U-M mentor, a student majoring in English and education.

Meanwhile, Waverly students continue to revise their latest poems, which they will later upload to the U-M. Still others are brainstorming book titles and themes for the poetry journal they will assemble at the end of the semester.

What sounds like a busy day at a publishing house is just another day in the life of high school students participating in the U-M's International Poetry Guild (IPG).

Students from around the world are meeting in IPG's electronic classroom to share a common interest poetry. Developed at the School of Education, IPG unites students in an on-line conversation devoted entirely to their own writing.

Participants recently met their computer cohorts and their student mentors from the U-M at the IPG Young Poets' Conference in Ann Arbor. More than 60 students from three Michigan high schools Howell, Waverly and Auburn Hills took part in the day-long program of workshops and readings.

Two U-M seniors, Mary Biddinger and Bich Nguyen, taught a workshop called "Off the Wall Writing Exercises." Biddinger and Nguyen gave the students 20 Little Poetry Projects, a kind of recipe for writing poems, because "we wanted th em to use different language and different topics," Biddinger says. The mentors encouraged the students to avoid clichés and strive for "fresher language, to write about concrete things instead of ideas," she adds.

The two mentors also held individual workshops. "So many of the poems we get in IPG are about love," Nguyen says, explaining the motivation behind her second workshop, "Focus on Love Poems." Students read a selection of conte mporary love poems, then Nguyen took them for a walk through the Law Quadrangle. "I wanted them to take inspiration from the architecture and from nature, and write a love poem," she says.

Nguyen emphasized the wide range of approaches poets take in dealing with this tricky topic. "We discussed different ideas of what love poems are about," she says. "They can be mean, linking love with hate. Sometimes they don't even have to use the word love." The workshop closed with students reading their poems aloud, "to build confidence," Nguyen says.

High school poets also read from their work at the Ann Arbor Barnes and Noble bookstore, and taped their work for "Living Poets," a radio show produced by WCBN, the U-M's student-run radio station. The visiting poets also sat in on several English classes on campus.

The IPG Young Poets' Conference reinforced the poetry guild's role in providing a place for high school students who otherwise might not have a peer community of poets, says IPG Director Jeffrey Stanzler.

"There are people in IPG, peers in other schools and the U-M mentors, who take their writing seriously and honor the effort that goes into the work," Stanzler says.

"IPG offers a safe environment for people who don't ordinarily have a place to get together. Unlike activities such as theater or sports, poetry is often solitary. IPG provides a rallying point for poets."


(((Good Luck Anywayz)))