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Performance and Publishing
Description
Spoken word performance is a powerful way for students to publish
their work and build a variety of language arts skills. As a strategy connected
to critical pedagogy, it provides students with a creative way to address
a political issue important to them and advocate for change.
Dale Allender, Associate Executive
Director of NCTE, suggests, "To engage students in spoken word instruction,
teachers can explore the West African griot tradition, participate in language
study and language play, read widely in the political arena, and work on
dramatic readings and analysis." Teachers should ask students to read
books, articles, or short stories in which the griot is invoked or present
in the text. For example, students might read the introduction of the Malian
epic Sundiata and note the humorous, sometimes grandiose
expressions from the griot as he begins to tell the tale of Sundiata, the
legendary Malian king.
The experience of listening to, creating, and performing spoken word pieces
involves an appreciation of dialect and semantics. Teachers should encourage
students to analyze the different ways in which people use language on a
regular basis. As an assignment, teachers can divide students into groups
and send them to a variety of settings -- for example, a mall, an auction
house, a barbershop or salon, and a courthouse. Students should record how
people use language in these settings. They can note levels of formality,
turn-taking, pitch, speed, figurative language, bilingualism, multilingualism,
and code-switching. When they return to class, students then can compare
notes. Students can also try out the expressions they heard through role
play. Contrastive analysis is another, more formal and focused language
study activity, through which students contrast various dialects of English
in a given verbal expression.
To help students take on roles and perform effectively, teachers can engage
students in language play activities such as reading Doctor Seuss stories
aloud. Students should read in character, varying speeds and/or emphasis.
They can do the same with nursery rhymes, jump-rope chants, or proverbs.
The spoken word tradition requires the performer to inform, enlighten,
or entertain an audience with a political message. In order to do this,
students should read a variety of perspectives on contemporary and historic
issues. For example, students should read a story in mainstream media outlet
such as The New York Times. Then they should then look
for information on the topic in alternative or ethnic publications such
as The Nation, Exxtra, or Africana
(http://africana.com). This kind of wide, comparative reading should be
ongoing, but it can be focused for a specific assignment.
Benefits
Spoken word in performance is a creative way for students to extend their
work beyond the classroom and express their ideas to their community. Teachers
can organize poetry slams or spoken word performances in their classroom,
school, community centers, libraries, or bookstores. They can also videotape
or audio-record student performances and stream them on a Web site or send
them to another class, their school's Parent Teacher Organization, or the
school board.
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Roundtable Discussion