PERFORMANCE POETRY
A Great Way to get Students Engaged
Performance poetry is an extremely engaging form of poetry which incorporates poetry with intonation and features of drama to emotionally stimulate the audience.
There are different forms of performance poetry including 'spoken word' and 'slam poetry'. Spoken word is the recital of a poem, whereas Slam Poetry is a competition with specific rules such as a time limit and voting criteria.
Performance poetry has become increasingly popular on social media and youtube as well as television programs such as Def Poetry Jam.
Many performance poems cover themes such as politics, race, gender, environment and sustainability; which means that it is a great way to get students intersted in poetry whilst exposing them to different perspectives on real world issues.
Taylor Mali - 'What Teachers Make'
One for the teachers, a brilliant poem about how teachers can make a difference.
Eunice Andrada - 'Pacific Salt'
Sustainability is an issue of that is of vital importance in the modern world and is an issue that is required to be covered in the NSW syllabus. Poems such as 'Pacific Salt' provide an insight into the issue of sustainability and connect with the viewer on a personal and emotional level.
There are many examples of performance poetry that address this issue which students may find engaging, enjoyable, and educational.
Lily Meyers - 'Shrinking Women'
When teaching English to high school students we endeavour to expose them to different perspectives and to develop their skills of critical thinking and understanding.
Gender is an issue which provides an insight into perspectives which they may not have given attention. Poems such as Lily Meyers' 'Shrinking Women' offers a personal dialogue on gender roles in society and their effect.
Darius Simpson - 'Genocide'
Offering more on 'people' and 'perspectives' are powerful performance poems such as 'Genocide' by Darius Simpson. This poem discusses the issue of racism and the killing of African Amerians.
Declan Furber-Gillick - 'Remember'
In this poem 'Remember' by Declan Furber-Gillick he talks about the current condition of Aboriginal people in Australia. This is another example of how powerful performance poetry can be and how it can offer students the opportunity to think about issues such as Indigenous perspective differently.