1. Spoken Word: Expanding Literacy Off the Page
Jeanne Zeller

2. “I Hate Poetry.”

3. Problem “I HATE POETRY.”
Curriculum  abstract drills, mono-modal teaching and literacy
Not engaging
Not utilizing students’ strengths
Not immediately applicable
Little opportunity for intrinsic motivation
Why is this a problem?
This student is going to be resistant to any benefits that writing might have

4. What do we need? Lessons that foster…. Lessons that utilize…
Engagement
Conversation
Critical thinking
Real-world practice
Sense of urgency
Sense of empowerment
PURPOSE
Lessons that utilize…
Multiple literacies
Technology
Creativity
Critical thinking
Intrinsic motivation
Stage of development (Erikson)
The student’s voice
Erik Erikson’s

5. Solution
Devise a literacy activity that is different enough to be immediately engaging, yet sufficiently accessible that students can feel confident to use it for identity exploration.
Thereby increasing take-up, purpose, urgency, motivation for critical thinking, everything

6. Introducing….
Spoken Word.

7. Involved Literacies Reading Writing Performance Collaboration
Technology
Critical thinking
Creativity
“Side” Benefits=…or the benefits I believe should form prioritized goal of lessons as a whole

8. “Using students’ personal and cultural experiences is key
“Using students’ personal and cultural experiences is key. When students’ prior knowledge, identity and culture are validated, not simply as background story or as token forms of inclusion but as the main context for their work, students are more willing to invest themselves in their learning process and move beyond what they already know.” Gallagher, K. and Ntelioglou, B. Y. (2011)

9. Performance Literature
“Multi-modal literacy” (Gallagher)
Dialogue with culture
Collaborative
Rich in symbols (Gallagher)

10. “Using this social power of drama to help students encounter ideas and experiences different from their own is an imaginative way to raise fundamental issues of difference in class- rooms and to challenge the constraining social roles so often ascribed to high school students.” Gallagher, K. and Ntelioglou, B. Y. (2011)

11. Spoken Word “Multi-modal literacy”(Gallagher) Dialogue with culture
Focuses on “voice, identity and empowerment.” (Fisher)
Dialogue with culture
Highly accessible(Kay)
Speaking+Listening
Collaborative
Rich in symbols
Immediately available audience
“Strategic, purposeful, and always linked to meaning” (Fisher)
Natural

12. Structuring a Unit

13. How I did it… Day One Day Two Drew on prior knowledge of poetry
Gave model of Slam Word
Discussed differences
Began collaborative poem
Day Two
Finished collaborative poem
Performed and recorded poem

14. How I’d Add to it Next Time…
More time (1-2 weeks)
More scaffolding
Writing in a grouppartnersindividual (Vygotsky)
Brainstorming
Sarah Kay’s “List” Idea
Example (10:20-11:25)
Literary elements
Performance

16. Works Cited
Gallagher, Kathleen, and Burcu Yaman Ntelioglou. "Which New Literacies? Dialogue And Performance In Youth Writing." Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 54.5 (2011): Academic Search Premier. Web. 22 Apr < true&db=aph&AN= &site=ehost-live>. Fisher, Maisha T. “From the Coffee House to the School House: The Promise and Potential of Spoken Word Poetry in School Contexts.” English Education, Vol. 37, No. 2, Literocracy: A New Way of Thinking about Literacy and Democracy (Jan., 2005), pp