There is a nation-wide poetry recital competition that is called Poetry Out Loud and my cooperating teacher has decided to get a few of her classes involved. Basically the competition consists of students reading a poem out loud and they are evaluated on their performance. First there is a school competition, then there is the states competition, and finally is the nationals competition. For our classes, my CT and i decided that participating in the school contest was not mandatory, but highly encouraged and even an offer of extra credit!
The students are required to choose a poem from the extensive list provided on the Poetry Out Loud website. This factor provided quite a bit of concern and complaining from my period 7 class because many of them wanted to write their own poem! I had to tell them I wish the competition worked that way, but it is of a different form than poetry slams. I loved that they wanted so badly to be able to write their own poetry and told them to find a poem on the site that they can picture themselves having written.
It is still very early into the process and the competition isn't until next month. But I am excited to see my students perform their poems in class and then hopefully in the school's competition!
Awww Kay you are so made for this...I can just see you giving them the courage and push they need to conquer this step. It's nice to know that your students want to write their own poetry and it's too bad they can't. I'm sure we will hear more about the competition until then good luck with all:)
ReplyDeleteKayla! I am DYING to get the information on this! PLEASE let me know- it looks like something I would love to share with my classes for the poetry unit.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate they can't perform their own poem, but it might be cool to share with them all the different ways a single poem can be interpreted. It's all about how it's performed- it can tell a different story based on every speaker. In that way, I guess you can stress they will be making it their own. Performing poetry is a whole different ball game than writing it!
Lucy- That is so sweet! Thank you so much :) I really am rooting for them and I think they finally can see that and are trying to get their work done to make me happy, haha!
ReplyDeleteKayla- I will give you the info ASAP! the website is poetryoutloud.org- check it out! All the poems that can be used in the competition are on that website. Thanks for the tips on making it their own, they are starting to get into it!