We Are Poets is an amazing new award winning documentary about spoken word. It follows the story of Leeds Young Authors, an inspirational group of young people from Chapeltown in Leeds as they compete in Brave New Voices, an international American slam competition for young people. See below for a link to their opening sequence which was aired on channel 4 a few days ago. It'll take you direct to Channel 4's website for Random Acts, which has a host of other spoken word videos on it too.


http://m.channel4.com/4od/random-acts/3375912

Heres a great poem performed by an American Slam Team from Denver

Slam Poetry Techniques

Our Masterclass and final slam days are quickly approaching. Here are some tips to remember, which you can practice at school or at home.

1. Know Your Poems

-      Its important to be as familiar with your poems as possible, this allows you to give a better performance. If you can, itd be great if you can learn your poems by heart.

2. Add tone, pace and intonation in your delivery of poems

-      When reading a poem, try and use as many vocal techniques as you can. Play with the pace of the poem, some lines you should read quick, some slow. Experiment with tone, if you are asking a question, make sure you raise your voice at the end of a sentence. If the poem is a serious piece, make sure you read it with as much conviction as possible.

3. Gesticulation, movement, body posture and eye contact.

-      A performance starts as soon as you stand on the stage. When you start make sure you look confident. Start with your feet a shoulder length apart, your back straight and your head held high. Remember you are performing to an audience, so try and make eye contact with different audience members. If this makes you nervous, concentrate on one space at the back of the room, and try and project your voice so everyone can hear you. It often works well if you add hand gestures to certain lines, or can add movement to your performances.

4. Enjoy yourself.

-      Its not easy to perform to an audience, and you can feel nervous, especially when reading something you’ve written. But remember the audience want to see you succeed, and if you are having fun, an audience can tell, and slam judges will mark your piece accordingly. Also, this is all about self expression, this is a chance for you to express what you have to say. 

Danum School

The third and final of my days taking the South Yorkshire Poetry Slam into schools saw me  and Charlotte head over to Danum academy to work with some year 7's and, as a one off, some year nines (with some year 8s watching)

The poems written were all fantastic, ranging from supernatural preoccupations to the Iraq war to the sinking of the Titanic; anyone who says kids only see poetry and rhyme as a vehicle for nonsense and glib comments would have been challenged by the intensity and intelligence on show from the pupils.  We ended the day with a really strong bunch of twelve who are hoping they can beat Balby Carr (winning the whole slam is a distant second to this particular aim of asserting dominance over local Doncaster rivals)

All the young people seemed to have a great time and the school was welcoming and accommodating to the oft frantic pace these Slam days can create; it's a cliche but all the kids deserved to win or go through. It isn't the prizes, maybe it's not even the poems it's the participation that counts.  Building something from nothing, creating something out of yourself, making poetry  

Andrew McMillan

Teachers!

Heres a good exercise you could lead with your pupils to stop them censoring themselves when they are writing. Taken from www.poetryclass.net where there are lots of other exercises listed by Key Stage. 

Free Writing

Aims
To encourage fluency in writing.
To practice writing without self-censoring.

Materials
Pen/pencil
2 clean pages

Step 1
Introduce Guidelines:

1. Keep your hand moving.  (Write everything)
2. Be specific. Not tree, but sycamore. Not car, but Mini.
3. Don't think. Go with your first thoughts.
4. Don't worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar.
    (You can go back to this after the exercise)
5. You are free to write the worst rubbish ever written.
    (Give yourself permission to make mistakes!)

Step 2
Try this timed writing for three minutes.
Begin it with 'I remember...' and keep going.
When you get stuck and feel you have nothing to say, write, 'I remember...' again and keep going.
Once you get going try to follow your mind where ever it takes you.
After the three minutes, stop.

Step 3
Now go for another three minutes. Begin on a clean sheet.
This time begin with 'I don't remember...' and keep going.
What are the things you don't care to remember, but remember underneath all the same.
Keep going, even if you write 'how can I write about what I don't remember...' Write.

Variations
I want.../ I don't want...
I like.../ I don't like...
I am.../ I am not...

Follow-up
Refine into a more structured piece. (e.g.10 syllables per line)
Use as a basis for an exercise in re-writing from a draft.

Example

"...
I don't remember the sound
the jab of your words shattering me
as you chatted on dismissing a quiet plea
saying again don't be boring shuddering
as another piece hit the playground tarmac
spreading into a pool of once-me
trampled again and again
by my big sister's silences and refusals
to look me in the eye at least
I don't remember my wanting you
to do the enid blyton best friend thing
and rescue me from the little girls that bullied me
..."
Extract from 'Forget' by Dorothea Smartt
(p.27-8, Connecting Medium, Peepal Tree Press, 2001)

---

© Dorothea Smartt, adapted from Natalie Goldberg's 'Wild Mind', Rider, 1991

Great Poem from Michael Rosen, do you know any teachers this strict?!

Balby Carr

The first workshop as part of this great slam project was certainly a baptism of fire; ninety year seven kids, split between three poets (myself,Charlotte and Sarah) with an ultimate 12 winners being chosen to go forward. 

Each poet took thirty kids off to work with them on some initial ideas and, from this selection, 24 were invited back for a further masterclass; it was such a great mix of kids, those who were already confident, those who were shy and those who had never written before-everyone produced incredible work and it was a shame the competitive element of the day meant that only a few of the children could progress

The final 12 are a great choice though and represent a full cross section of the year group; they should be a force to be reckoned with at the south Yorkshire final in the summer!