How to Create a Space to Try Something New

Discovering Slam Poetry and The Power of Words

Jerry Seinfeld told a joke a few years ago about a study that said people’s number one fear was speaking in public. Number two was dying. His punch line was that at a funeral, more people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.

When I started working as a producer, I learned very quickly that everyone needs a safe place to take a creative risk. This is as true for young slam poets in a classroom as it is for musicians in a studio or actors on set. So if we want students to take a creative risk and write and perform slam poetry (especially for the first time) we need to create a safe place for that to happen. Creating this space is the first thing I need to do when I come into a new school.

I’d like to tell you how I do it. This is the first lesson in my online slam poetry course for teachers which I’ve available for free. You can CLICK HERE to check it out.

I start the session by getting students to help me create word banks of metaphors and similes. (most of the time I just call them expressions) I start by calling out a line and ask the students to fill in the blank, and then write their answers on the white board.

“Has anyone ever heard the expression, life is like a box of…”

Someone will yell, “chocolates!”

“How about, your room looks like a…”

“Disaster zone/tornado/bomb went off,” are typical answers.

“He’s as cute as a…kitten, button, puppy.”I want to fill the room with voices, because it generates a creative energy that draws everyone into the process whether they’re calling out answers or not. After we have developed word banks of at least 5 metaphors and 5 similes, (feel free to write more) I ask students to write 2 lines each.

I give them a lead into their first line, “your words hurt like…” and I ask them to use a metaphor or simile to describe words that have hurt them. Their second line starts with, “your words are beautiful like…” and again I ask them to use a metaphor or simile.

When they start handing their papers in, I’ll get lines like,

“your words are like grizzly claws and teeth that tear me apart like a serrated blade”

“your words feel like Lego under my bare feet”

“your words are as beautiful a sunset that takes my breath away”

“your words feel like Advil with the power to heal”

The session is called The Power of Words, and I want students to tap into their own memories of times people either hurt them or encouraged them with words. I want to highlight the power of words in our life, and why they are worth investing in.

 We don’t spend a lot of time, maybe five minutes. As soon as they’re done I get them to pass their papers into me, and I compile their lines into one group poem on the board at the front of class. Then I slam it for them.

This session is all about creating a safe place for students to try something new. By passing their paper in to me, there is the safety of anonymity, cause no one knows which line they wrote. Giving them some common word banks and lead lines provides just enough structure that the exercise flows easily when I go to put their lines together.

This lesson introduces the idea of slam poetry and encourages creative risk taking while providing a safe place to take the first step. It also shows how our individuality and creativity is not in competition with those around us. What invariably happens is students realize their writing is just as good as anyone else and they go away knowing that they can do it.

The Slam Poetry in Schools course I’ve created for teachers, comes with instructional videos for each lesson. Each lesson includes worksheets and learning objectives that you can download and print, along with ‘sample’ slam poetry performance videos. I provide everything you need to use slam poetry in your classroom. It’s the best material I’ve developed over the last decade for $99.95

One of the things that makes this slam poetry course so unique and valuable for educators is that it was created for students in schools. Working in classrooms with teachers helped me create lessons that reinforce core learning objectives and support existing curriculum.

I have to tell you a really sweet (and pretty hilarious) story about an elementary student who wanted to perform his poetry in front of the school so much, he pushed through stage fright and tears and even threw up backstage. It seriously felt like some kind of rock and roll tabloid story you’d hear about Keith Richards at a Rolling Stones concert! Haha…I’ll tell you all about it next time.

If you’re interested in using slam poetry with your students, but you’ve never written it, performed it or even seen it live…I provide absolutely everything you need. You can CLICK HERE for more info.

 

Hi, I’m Rik Leaf,

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

Developing the Slam Poetry in Schools training course for teachers, is a passion project 10 years in the making.

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