EXPLORING OUR VALUES THROUGH POETRY
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Youth
WORKSHOP 12: POEMS ON STAGE: EXPLORING POETRY OUT LOUD
BY KAREN HARRIS
© Copyright 2008 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 6:57:41 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
This is the first of three workshops dedicated to planning the Poetry Slam, although reminders and plan suggestions for a possible fund-raiser were provided in previous workshops. Workshops 12 and 13 outline the planning process. Workshop 14 focuses on the actual performance. If your group desires planning workshops more than two weeks before the performance, adjust your schedule. You can hold Workshops 12 and 13 earlier in the semester and schedule one or two workshops between those and Workshop 14. You can also rearrange the workshops in this program or design your own workshop. See Workshop 13, Alternate Activity 1: Rainy Day Plan, for ideas that fit the latter model. However, do not start planning the Poetry Slam too early, because you want to give the group time to bond before working on the performance, and you do not want the group to lose enthusiasm because of overplanning.
Be prepared to spend additional time outside of the workshop, if needed, to ensure the success of the Poetry Slam. If needed seek additional help from youths' families, your religious educator, minister, or writers within the congregation.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
ACTIVITY | MINUTES |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Poetry Out Loud | 15 |
Activity 2: Speaking Our Own Words | 20 |
Activity 3: You and the Poetry Slam, Part I | 15 |
Faith in Action: Planning a Choral Reading | 20 |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: Poetry Out Loud | 15 |
Alternate Activity 2: The Spoken Word | 20 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
This workshop begins the preparations for a Poetry Slam. Asking youth to perform for non-peers is a challenge. Think back to such a performance you might have had in your youth or childhood. Did you volunteer to perform or was it thrust upon you? Were you anxious during your preparations? Who helped you? Was the final result an affirming experience? If not, what would have made it so? Realize that any steps you take to help youth remember the Poetry Slam as a positive experience are important. Never underestimate the valuable role you play in the lives of participants. Hold and cherish this knowledge.
WORKSHOP PLAN
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Use the Opening designed by your group or the one provided below.
Gather around the chalice. As a volunteer lights the chalice, ask the group to focus on the word "cooperation." Invite participants to speak freely into the space a word or two that they associate with the word "cooperation." When enough time has passed for everyone who wishes to speak to do so, close by saying,
May the space we create here today be wide enough to hold all our individual ideas and deep enough to allow those ideas to grow, to fruit, and to provide seeds for new beginnings.
Introduce today's workshop with these words,
Writing a poem is an act that certainly can be its own reward. However, as an art form and a mode of communication, poetry lends itself to sharing with an audience. A Poetry Slam, or a public poetry reading, provides a forum to do just that. Unlike some poetry slams, ours will not be a competition, but a cooperative performance that allows everyone to contribute according to his/her own talents.
When you release a poem into the world, it ceases to be a private treasure or an unconnected object. Your poem suddenly has a new power: the power to affect others. A number of questions arise: For whom, or to whom, did you write your poem? Would you prefer that someone read it or hear it? What do you hope your reader or listener will feel? Think? Do? How can you fine-tune your poem to "speak" for you most clearly?
Today, as we hear and create create poems, we will pay attention to how a poem that is read aloud can touch the listener. Next time we meet, we will select poetry that we ourselves have written and poems by other, favorite poets to share with an audience in a public poetry event. After that, we will host our poetry-reading event.
ACTIVITY 1: POETRY OUT LOUD (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants listen to or watch a recording of poetry read aloud, silently read the printed text of the same poems to themselves, and then compare the experiences.
Provide a context for the poetry participants will hear/see: Where was it recorded? Who is the poet? Who was the audience? Ask participants to observe their own reactions as audience members, such as how the poetry reading makes them feel, so they can share their responses at the end of the exercise.
Play the recording. Then hand out the printed text of the poem and ask participants to read the poem silently to themselves. When they are finished reading, play the recording for a second time. Repeat the process for two to four different poems.
Using these questions as prompts, lead a discussion about how voiced poetry differs from poetry on the printed page:
Encourage participants to keep their observations about spoken poetry in mind as they prepare a Poetry Slam for an audience.
Including All Participants
At the beginning of the activity, ask participants if the sound level is high enough. Often it is difficult for people with hearing impairments to speak up and ask for greater volume. By asking the question, you provide the space for that request to happen.
ACTIVITY 2: SPEAKING OUR OWN WORDS (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants craft their own poetry with special attention to how the poem will sound when performed aloud.
Explain that participants will have some time in the workshop to write poetry of their own; tell them how much time they will have to write. Remind them that they can also work on their poems at home.
Tell youth that, unlike many poetry exercises in which participants write poems for their own satisfaction, they WILL be asked in this case to read their poem(s) aloud to the group. Participants should craft their poems with attention to how they will perform the poem and how it will sound. Reassure participants who might be uncomfortable with the thought of reading their poetry to an audience that only those who wish to read aloud will do so. Others will have an opportunity to participate in the Poetry Slam in other ways that you will discuss later.
Distribute journals and pencils or assign computer workspace to participants. Invite participants to begin working on a poem. Offer a free-writing exercise to youth who want help getting started. Have these participants write, "I want you to know... " and keep writing from there. After three or four minutes, provide a second sentence starter: "It hurts when... " Finally, give this sentence starter: "I feel better when... "
Give the group a five-minute warning when their writing time is almost up. When participants are finished writing, organize them into pairs or groups of three and invite them to read their work aloud to one another. Remind participants that they always have the right to pass if they would rather not read their poetry aloud.
ACTIVITY 3: YOU AND THE POETRY SLAM, PART I (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The group comes together to shape their Poetry Slam. Before leaving at the end of this workshop, each participant will decide whether to work on crafting her/his own original poetry for performance, select and practice a poem by another poet for performance; or play a behind-the-scenes role in the Poetry Slam.
Announce that the group needs to plan the logistics of the Poetry Slam. Start by making sure everyone knows the date, time, and place for the event.
To keep ideas for the next workshop, ask a volunteer to record the ideas generated in the discussion that follows, the poems participants suggest, and the roles participants decide to take. Have the group consider and decide:
Once the group has established some event parameters, facilitate the assignment of roles. Encourage each person to choose a role from the following list:
Encourage individuals to commit to specific roles until all key roles are filled.
While it can be a good idea to expose shy youths to performance possibilities and, likewise, a poor idea to assume that quiet youths prefer a backstage role, be mindful that pushing someone into a role s/he is uncomfortable with can backfire. The youth may feel unsuccessful, and the job may not get done.
NOTE: In this model, the leader acts as the event's producer and director and oversees all roles and decision-making processes. However, one or more participants in your group may be capable of and want to take a leadership role in planning the order of poems for the event, stage-managing the event, preparing flyers or event programs, or leading the optional fund-raising activities. When you place a participant in a leadership role, be sure to support the youth by providing a clear scope of responsibility, resources (such as yourself, other participants, use of an office photocopier, and the like), and appreciation.
Before the group meets for the next workshop, participants who plan to read a poem aloud should (a) either write their own poem or pick a previously written poem from their journal, or choose a poem by another poet; and (b) practice performing the poem. Participants who offer to do advance publicity may draft a flyer before or during the next workshop. Inform them about print publicity that has already been placed.
Give participants five minutes to talk with others they need to work with and make plans for the next workshop. Publicity people might bring art for a flyer. Audio/visual coordinators might start a list of equipment they need. Poetry readers could practice or decide the order in which they will read.
Including All Participants
If possible, use a microphone for the performance. Explain to participants that this is important because sometimes it is difficult for those with hearing impairments to speak up and ask for amplification. By providing a microphone without being asked, you avoid putting people in an uncomfortable position. In addition, see if your congregation has assisted listening devices for the hearing impaired, noting that these only work when a sound system is used.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Use the Closing designed by your group or the one provided below.
Recite together Reading 712 from Singing the Living Tradition:
Do not be conformed to this world,
But be transformed by the renewing of your minds.
— Romans 12
Extinguish the chalice.
FAITH IN ACTION: PLANNING A CHORAL READING (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants prepare to add a choral reading that will involve the congregation in the Poetry Slam. This long-term Faith in Action is composed of four activities: Planning a Choral Reading, Practicing the Choral Reading (Workshop 13), Performing the Choral Reading (Workshop 14), and the Choral Reading Review (Workshop 15).
Explain to participants that a choral reading takes place when a group or "chorus" of readers recites a written work. It is a unique way to perform a poem, and, in this activity, it is coupled with a unique way of creating a poem that involves the entire congregation.
In a choral reading of a poem, individuals may read a single word, line, or stanza independently or in unison. They may repeat particular portions of the poem. They might include music and/or movement. Answer any questions the group has about choral readings, and then decide if you will include one in your Poetry Slam. A choral reading can be an ideal way to include youth who may be shy about reading alone. It is not necessary to have everyone participate in the choral reading; if you have three or more interested youth, you can proceed.
One way to involve the congregation is to invite members to submit short poems to workshop participants. In Workshop 13, youths will use submitted works to craft a new, hybrid poem for the choral reading. You need to get the word out quickly that you are seeking submissions. You could hand out flyers immediately before or after the regular worship service, send out a congregation-wide e-mail, or appeal directly to a writers group if your congregation has one.
Decide whose e-mail address can be made available for submissions, and place a box for submissions in a convenient location at your congregation. You need submissions by the next workshop, so make sure the deadline is included in flyers and e-mail messages.
Decide who will collect the submissions. Also, decide whether you want to include copies of the original poems in your program. If so, get poets' permission to do so before the next workshop. Make sure each poet understands that bits and pieces of their poem will be used to create a hybrid poem and that some poems might be used more extensively than others. Explain that the choice of material used from each poem is not an indication of how much participants like or dislike a particular work; it only reflects how well the words fit into the new poem.
The Faith in Action in Workshop 13 leads you through the next steps of creating a hybrid poem and practicing the choral reading.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Planning a performance for workshop participants is a big job. Take time to check in with your co-leader on how each of you is feeling. Is the work divided evenly between you? Do you both feel the preparation is going as planned? If not, what can you do to get plans on track?
After monitoring your own level of stress or anxiety, review how the workshop participants are dealing with plans for the Poetry Slam. Hopefully, most participants are enthusiastic and actively assisting in the preparation.
Examine the newsprint from Activity 3, You and the Poetry Slam, Part I. Is anything missing? Highlight roles that have not been assigned. You will have a chance to fill these in during Workshop 13. Review the responsibilities and decide who will lead which ones.
TAKING IT HOME
One ought, every day at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture, and if it were possible, to speak a few reasonable words.
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
DURING TODAY’S WORKSHOP…We discussed the difference between reading poetry and hearing it. We started our preparation for the Poetry Slam.
Date/Time/Place for Poetry Slam: _____________________________________
My role in the Slam: ________________________________________________
REFLECTION QUESTION:
You can write a poem and keep it to yourself, and you will know exactly what it means to you. Once you share it with someone else, however, you lose control over its meaning as the audience will have its own interpretation. What does that feel like?
EXPLORE THE TOPICS FURTHER WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS…· Make sure your family knows what is expected of you in your role in the Poetry Slam. If you will need transportation or other help, ask family members and friends for support. Do not forget to invite them to the Poetry Slam.
· If you have never been to a Poetry Slam, ask your family and friends if they have and, if so, what it was like. Better yet, locate a poetry slam or poetry reading in your town or city and invite family, friends, and other workshop participants to attend it with you. If you cannot locate a reading nearby, check your local TV listings or rent a DVD, such as the Poetry Hall of Fame Collection, from Netflix or a video store. You might also see if your local library has such a DVD or video you can borrow.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: POETRY OUT LOUD (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants listen to and watch the leader read poems aloud, read the printed text of the poems to themselves, and compare the experiences.
Before you read a poem aloud, ask participants to observe their own reactions as audience members and be prepared to share their responses at the end of the exercise.
Read a poem aloud. Then hand out the printed text of the poem and ask participants to read it silently to themselves. When they are finished reading, read the poem aloud a second time. Repeat the process for two to four different poems.
Using these questions as prompts, lead a discussion of how voiced poetry differs from poetry on the printed page:
Encourage participants to keep their observations about spoken poetry in mind as they prepare a Poetry Slam for an audience.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: THE SPOKEN WORD (20 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants take turns reading a poem aloud to a partner or a small group. After each reading, the listeners provide feedback on the "performance." When the exercise is finished, participants gather for a large-group discussion.
Have youths form pairs or small groups, and explain the exercise:
When the exercise is finished, gather the entire group and lead a discussion based on the following questions:
FIND OUT MORE
Youth Speaks Online (at youthspeaks.org/) is the nation's leading non-profit presenter of spoken word performance, education, and youth development programs.
The Library of Congress poetry page (at www.loc.gov/poetry/) has links that enable you to listen to poetry read aloud.
Glazner, Gary Mex, ed. Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry. San Francisco: Manic D Press, 2000.
POETRY ANTHOLOGIES: There are literally hundreds of poetry anthologies. Availability will be a factor in which ones you use. Before bringing any resources to the group, make sure the content is appropriate for youth. Look for violent images, sexual or other inappropriate language, mature situations, and stereotyping. Aim for ethnic, racial, gender, and cultural diversity. Consider asking a local youth librarian for suggestions. Here are a few anthologies to consider:
Cosman, Carol, Joan Keefe, and Kathleen Weaver, eds. The Penguin Book of Women Poets. New York: Penguin Books, 1978.
Collins, Billy, ed. Poetry 180: A Turning Back to Poetry. New York: Random House, 2003.
Reed, Ishmael, ed. From Totems to Hip Hop: A Multicultural Anthology of Poetry Across the Americas 1900-2002. New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2002.
Roman, Camille, Thomas Travisano, and Steven Gould Axelrod, eds. New Anthology of American Poetry. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2005.