From Flyer to Slammaster Planning a Poetry Slam by Theresa Sotto

Teach your students art of the poetry slam!

Poetry competitions date back to ancient Greek Olympics when poets competed for laurel crowns. Since then, poets have donned boxing shorts to "spar poetic," writers have competed in poetry "circuses," and MCs have rapped in freestyle competitions.

In 1986, Marc Smith founded the first poetry slam in Chicago, paving the way for poets to slam in cafés, bars, and theatres all over the world.

When planning your poetry slam, start out by "giving props" to the forefathers and you’ll foster pride and enthusiasm in all participants. Keep the following tips in mind.

Hype it up...with students' help.

Announce the slam over the PA system at least one month in advance. Send letters to parents. Paper the school with flyers. Try asking artistic students to design flyers that would capture their peers’ attention. The more people in the audience, the more excitement will be generated, and the more successful the slam will be.

Know your rules.

Tell students that this is a professional-level slam, and therefore all contestants must abide by the rules followed in National Poetry Slams.

1. Don’t perform for more than three minutes
2. Don’t use props or costumes
3. Don’t read work you didn’t write.

If you have other rules—those of your classroom or school community—make them clear from the beginning.

Tap into the inner actor.

Tell students that reading their work is great, but performing their work is infinitely better. Coach students with acting tips: shifting inflections in voice, strategically-placed pauses, animated gestures and facial expressions will all go a long way. Show videos of master slam poets and encourage careful note-taking.

Make it official with esteemed officials.

Nothing makes parents more enthusiastic than participation from outside the school community. Invite one or two local writers to judge the contest and a gregarious slam poet to act as the Slammaster (the host). You could consult the English Department of a nearby university for recommendations. Just make sure you reserve one spot on the judges’ bench for a member of the audience!

Judge the judges.

Each poet will receive a score between 1 and 10. Tell the audience that if they don’t like a particular judge’s score, they should say so—loudly. And vice versa. This is part of the fun. Be sure to remind judges that many of these young poets are writing and/or performing for the very first time; they should be fair but never harsh.

Raise the Roof.

If the audience favors a particular poet, they should cheer, holler, stomp the floor—anything to give the performer the thundering applause he/she deserves. Try involving the audience in the final decision. You could use judges in the first round to pick three finalists; then in the second round, the audience determines the winner. The loudest applause wins.

Remind all participants that fun comes first.

It’s easy for contestants (at any age!) to get caught up in the competitive aspect of the slam. Emphasize that all participants in the slam are talented poets, and downplay the value of judges’ scores. Judges are just an added bonus to spice up the event. The most important rules, by far, are to take pride in their artistic talent and concentrate on having fun.

Sources:

• Anglessey, Zoe, ed. Listen Up! Spoken Word Poetry. New York: Ballantine Publishing Group, 1999.
• Eleveld, Mark, ed. The Spoken Word Revolution. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, Inc., 2003.
• Glazner, Gary Mex, ed. Poetry Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry. San Francisco: Manic D Press, 2000.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Theresa Sotto serves as a Program Consultant to ARTSEDGE.