511269

research-article2013

EUSXXX10.1177/0013124513511269Education and Urban SocietyFiore

Article

Pedagogy for Liberation:

Spoken Word Poetry in
Urban Schools

Education and Urban Society

201X, Vol XX(X) 117
The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/0013124513511269
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Mia Fiore1

Abstract
The Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, hip hop of the 1980s
and early 1990s, and spoken word poetry have each attempted to initiate
the dialogical process outlined by Paulo Freire as necessary in overturning
oppression. Each art form has done this by critically engaging with the world
and questioning dominant systems of power. However, unlike the Black Arts
Movement and early hip hop, spoken wordwith its growing foothold in
urban classrooms and contemporary culturemay be in a unique position to
facilitate unprecedented social change by providing students with a platform
from which to question and negotiate the conditions of their lives.
Keywords
educational reform, social justice, urban education
In the essay Literacy for Stupidification: The Pedagogy of Big Lies, Donald
Macedo (1993) has presented a critique of the American educational system,
which he argues produces students who are not critically literate. In fact, the
intended result of the American educational system is a deeply indoctrinated
majority that is unable or unwilling to read the world critically, because they
have been taught literacy for cultural reproduction: a way of reading the
world which maintains the status quo and discourages independent thought.
Macedo (1993) has maintained that the majority have invested in a system
1Drew

University, Jersey City, NJ, USA

Corresponding Author:
Mia Fiore, Drew University, 378 3rd St. #4R, Jersey City, NJ 07302, USA.
Email: myaflower1@aol.com

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Education and Urban Society XX(X)

that rewards them for reproducing and not questioning dominant mechanisms
designed to produce power asymmetries along the lines of race, gender, class,
culture, and ethnicity (p. 186). Certainly, many examples can be cited to
support the argument that we have, indeed, been indoctrinated, and that this
indoctrination comes at the cost of tremendous oppression. According to
radical scholar, educator, philosopher, and activist Paulo Freire, in order for
oppression to be effectively combatted, it is the oppressed, not the oppressor,
who must take the lead and become an agent of change. The oppressed must
first recognize his oppression, then reflect critically upon the world, and
finally, act upon the world to effect transformation contingent upon dialogical process between oppressed and oppressor, and thus on the ability of the
oppressed to articulate his condition.
The Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, hip hop of the 1980s
and early 1990s, and spoken word poetry have each attempted to initiate
Freires dialogical process, critically engaging with the world by questioning
dominant systems of power. However, unlike the Black Arts Movement and
early hip hop, spoken wordwith its growing foothold in urban classrooms
and contemporary culturemay be in a unique position to facilitate unprecedented social change by providing students with a platform from which to
question and negotiate the conditions of their lives. Many teachers and scholars argue that studentsparticularly those in inner city schoolsshould be
encouraged to speak their truths, in their words. When the beliefs and experiences of students are starting points from which their education is built, they
are more likely to be engaged, to ask questions, to read the world critically. In
this essay, I will discuss my experience as a spoken word poet in two northern
New Jersey public schools, as well as the experiences of other educators and
poets, to support my position that spoken word poetry should be added to the
curriculum in urban schools.

If Spoken Word is a Much Needed Voice of

Change, Why Is It Not Being Heard?
Simply put, hip hop pervades streets and homes, radio waves, and air waves;
Snoop Dogg can be seen everywhere from Black Entertainment Television
(BET) to Nickelodeon to Pepsi commercials. It seems there is no contest.
Though most, if not all, major American cities house poetry slams and open
mic venues and many college townsif not the colleges and universities themselvesare following suit, compared to hip hop, spoken word remains an elite
culture. On any given Friday night in the New York area, a teen can turn on Hot
97.1 FM and be treated to a world famous disc jockey (DJ) spinning the latest
Camron and Vadowhile being introduced to Mumathe Dip Sets latest

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derogatory term for women, or journey to the Lower East Sides Nuyorican
Poets Cafe, and pay 12 dollars after waiting an hour or two on line to hear the
Friday night poetry slam. Unless, of course, that teen is among the lucky (but
growing) few to have a somewhat progressive teacher with a penchant for
experimentation.
On the eve of a visit to a charter school in a large, Northern, New Jersey
city where a colleague and I had been invited to perform our poetry for seventh graders, I could not help but notice the resonance of a line from a Lupe
Fiasco song playing on the radio. This song by a rapper many would classify
as conscious, acknowledges the father thats there, the kids in the ghetto
. . . that dont wanna be there, and finally, the teachers not scared to tell
those kids thats livin in the ghetto . . . that the world is theirs. Immediately,
I thought of the teacher who had extended the invitation, telling us that he and
his students had been discussing women, race, stereotypes, and the glass
ceiling, and that poems tying into womens issues and race would be appreciated. As an aside, he mentioned that the students would LOVE your Top
10 Reasons Not to Date a Thug. I mention this request not to satisfy my own
vanity, but because 10 Reasons Not to Date a Thug is a poem I am hesitant
to perform at the university where I teach. Its content, use of slang, and inside
jokes reveal my familiarity with the street world, a familiarity which, as a
teacher and a presumed model of good behavior, I do not know I am
allowed to have. The teacher who has invited us to the charter school, on the
other hand, has informed me that the poems do not need to be about sunshine and butterflies . . . our students write about and can handle gritty issues,
revealing that he is not only concerned about his students, but also in tune
with them.
Shortly before 7:30 a.m., we were led to a large, empty classroom into
which the entire seventh gradeI would guess about 150 studentsbegan to
file. Both my colleague and I performed, then the students were invited to ask
us questions. Though there were more questions than time allowed for, the
specificity and range of the questions seemed proof of two things: that the
students had been listening quite carefully and that they were genuinely interested. In addition, on three occasions, the question as to whether I had really
dated a thug was posed. To me, this seemed to indicate not only that the
students found some poems more provocative than others but also that the
teacher who had invited us had taken the time to learn what interested his
students, and had had the good sense to recognize the importance of their
interests. As a teacher, specifically a teacher in an inner city school, why is it
so important that he learn the interests of his students?
Gloria Ladson-Billings (2006) has argued that teacher education is
highly flawed, because anthropology classes rarely appear in preservice

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Education and Urban Society XX(X)

teacher education. This omission means that preservice teachers do not

learn about their prospective students in relation to their unique histories,
racial and ethnic backgrounds, environments, and social networks. Instead,
most preservice teachers take a series of foundations courses in history,
philosophy, and sociology of education . . . and there is a strong concentration in psychology that includes courses in child or adolescent development, cognition and learning, and exceptionality (p. 104). Given the nature
of their preparation and the often unchecked assumption of these teachers
that their own beliefs and practices are simply correct, rather than a product
of their own culture, many teacher education students from middle-class,
suburban backgrounds make assumptions about the beliefs, practices, and
shared values of their students and their students communities, as well as
assumptions about the psychological impact of students beliefs, practices,
and values.
To demonstrate cultural ignorance she typically observes in students,
Ladson-Billings (2006) has included one preservice teachers Critical
Incident journal response: My students are so surprised that I am 25 years
old and dont have any children of my own. I try to explain that Im not married but they say, You dont have to be married to have children. I know
that having children out of wedlock is part of their culture (p. 105). Rather
than locating her decision to delay motherhood in her own middle-class cultural beliefs, the teacher assumes that her behavior is normal, perhaps even
right, and that her students insistence that You dont have to be married
to have children is the result of their culture. In addition, their culture is
inferior; rather than describe it as a culture which prioritizes child birth and
family, it is one which embraces having children out of wedlock. Because
their culture is inferior, it becomes easy for teachers to then conclude that
its impact on the students is negative, and a frequently cited negative impact
is low self-esteem. Partially to blame, for Ladson-Billings, is the way that
American culture maintains a narrative of the individual (pp. 105-106).
Consequently, we tend to locate problems within the individual rather than
look beyond the individual to the complex web of interaction between individual, family, community, school, and societal factors (p. 106). In support
of her argument that teachers often take the liberty of assessing their students
self-esteem, Ladson-Billings provides another Critical Incident journal
response from another preservice teacher:
I worked hard to get to know DAndre. He is a bright boy but he also has so
many problems. Chief among them is his low self-esteem. I try to do things that
will help him feel better about himself. I feel that if he had higher self-esteem
he could experience more success in the classroom. (p. 105)

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It seems culture functions as a double-edged sword. A teacher who understands or perhaps even is familiar with her students can use this understanding to be a more effective educator. A teacher who is culturally ignorant is
likely to cite culture with authority as one of the primary explanations for
everything from school failure to problems with behavior management and
discipline (p. 104). There is, however, hope, if teachers can learn to recognize the cultural underpinnings of their own beliefs, attitudes, and practices,
they may become more open to the power of culture to shape the learning
experiences of the students they will teach (p. 107), which we can see in the
case of the seventh-grade charter school teacher.
Due to the success of our initial visit, my colleague and I were invited to the
schools monthly poetry slam. That Thursday at noon, we met in the same
classroom, and again about 150 students filed in. We were told that 20 students
had signed up to perform, and that we were to score the poems on a scale of 1
to 10 (10 being the highest) based on style, content, and body language. Finally,
a teacher reminded the students to be respectful of the performers. Though
students at this school wear uniforms, there are special days when they may
dress as they please. This was one such day, and the students had dressed to
impress. The first performer was no exception. The earrings she wore to match
her green dress seem to emphasize the importance of this day, this moment. She
told the attentive audience that This is titled Behind My Smile:
Some wear fake smiles
Behind those is pain
How do I know?
I too wear a fake smile . . .
While everyone else is asleep, I am just starting my homework.
Do I look like Cinderella to you? . . .

Though her delivery was a bit shaky and her poem would benefit from
revision, the students showed their support by snapping when a particular
line struck a chord with them, and overall, we were off to a good start. Another
of the students to perform was a petite, precocious girl of 12. Her poem was
called Five Reasons to Live, and she told us that it was inspired by Mia
and her Ten Reasons Not to Date a Thug. She proceeded to break down her
five reasons, (a) Joy, (b) Love, (c) Fun, (d) Celebrities, and (e) Hate, using
vivid imagery, details, and even the word cacophonous. Another female
student stood out. Her poem began with a prompt my colleague had given
her: On the Way to School:

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On the way to school,
The bus may seem the safest place, but is it?
You see the kids who sit alone, staring out windows . . .
Ambulance sirens
Kids ask who got shot
In our society thats how many get killed
Candles representing a family member who died
Is this how we have to live?
How many more have to die? . . .

Though most of the students need to develop confidence, speak louder,

learn to enunciate, and above all, keep writing, it was clear that they had a lot
to say. It is also important to note that the success of this event was most
likely a result of their teachers intense encouragement and provision of a
celebratory platform through the poetry slams he had introduced earlier in the
school year.
In the two months that followed, my colleague and I went to the school
three times to work with any students who were interested in staying after
school to write poetry. In anticipation of the common complaints that I dont
know how to write a poem and I dont know how to start, we gave the
students two prompts, and the option of going in their own direction. By our
third after-school workshop, we were coaching students to perform their
poems at the last slam of the year, which a handful of teachers and parents
would be attending. I found myself working with two girls who were best
friends. Each had written a poem using the prompt Where I Live, and each
had written about the city in which she lived; however, while one of the girls
lived in an area she described as ghetto, the second did not, and was quite
proud of her good block. We suggested they perform a group piecethat
is, perform together, responding to one another, as if in dialogue:
Students #1 & #2: Where I live
Student #1: Where I live, you dont have to worry about parking in the street,
and in the morning, your car isnt there
Student #2: Well where I live, your car is locked at all times
Student #1: Well where I live, you can leave your child at home, and not find
them in a pool of blood

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Student #2: Where I live, all the kids stand on the corner . . . sagging they pants,
and looking for a fight
Student #1: Well where I live you dont have to worry about getting jumped
when you walk down the street
Student #2: Well where I live used to be a peaceful, non-violent project
Students #1 & #2: Where we live is [ . . . ] New Jersey.

The big day had arrived. After a cookout featuring hot dogs, hamburgers, and
music, we made our way into the classroom, which was even more crowded
than I had seen it. One of the two girls I had been working with was on the verge
of tears. She told me that her friend did not want to perform, she was afraid,
there were eighth graders in the audience. Fortunately, we were able to change
her friends mind. Neither girl had ever participated in a slam, and I doubt I am
alone in saying that I was quite proud of them. The first girl had memorized her
lines, and said them with a tone that let the audience know that these words were
important, though her partners delivery was not quite as lively or smooth. One
precocious poetess told us to Love like the kitten loves its yarn, love like the
Frenchman loves his wine, love like the grapes love the vine, love baby, just
love. A quiet girl performed a stirring piece about molestation. A small boy
performed a beautiful poem, about identity. After the slam, the teacher, my colleague, and I tallied up the scores to see which students had placed first, second,
and third. In addition to bragging rights, each of these students would also
receive a Visa gift card ($75.00, $50.00, and $25.00, respectively), which the
teacher had purchased at his own expense. Because two students had tied for
third, he decided to buy another gift card over the weekend, and announce the
winners the following week, at an assembly. He also asked if we were interested
in meeting with a core group of students regularly during the upcoming school
year to develop a slam team, with an ultimate goal of sending a representative to
the annual, city-wide Be The Change ceremony.
Like the seventh-grade teacher mentioned above, an English teacher at a
local public high school, also in a large Northern New Jersey city, invited me
to speak to and perform poetry for her students. Due to the seemingly overnight migration of singles, couples, and entire families who presumably have
been knocked out of their previous zip codes due to the current economic
crash, the change in this city a la gentrification is more than palpable. It seems
that as soon as one building is gutted and converted into a condominium,
another follows. A simmering tension between renters, owners, and developers is the result in this neighborhood which surrounds the high school, up to
a major intersection which serves as a dividing line of sorts: one block down
are the three sets of housing projects. The students, whose classrooms sit

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dead in the middle of this great contradiction, typically cross the intersection
during their lunch breaks and wander down a side street to buy candy from
the Korean bodegas or pizza. What do they think of the disparity?
GreatSchools, according to its Find a School pitch, is
the countrys leading source of information on school performance. With
listings of 200,000 public and private schools serving students from preschool
through high school and more than 800,000 parent ratings and reviews,
GreatSchools has become the go-to guide for parents aiming to make a smart
school choice. (GreatSchools, n.d.)

Why do I think that the parents of students at this particular high school
(which has received a GreatSchools rating of 2 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being
the highest) do not have the luxury of making such a choice?
On the morning of my invitation as I approached the school, uncertain as
to which direction I was to walk in order to reach the correct entrance, I
stopped a middle-class woman leaving what appeared to be the schools parking lot. Excuse me, I asked, can you please tell me where Exit 1 is? She
frowned and told me, I dont live here. I watched her cross the street to a
recently converted condominium complex which rents the parking lot at the
high school for its residents. Faculty and staff, I learned later, park about a
block away, in a make-shift lot beneath a state highway. Inside, after walking
through metal detectors, signing in, and being photographed, I was escorted
to the auditorium, where classes were being held temporarily. As I was early,
the period prior to that in which I had been invited to speak to was still in
session. As I looked around, out of approximately 30 students, maybe half
were following along as the teacher read the texta young adult novel titled
The Hunger Gamesaloud. When she paused to ask if, for example, her
students knew what pelt meant, a portion of those who had been busy texting stopped and attempted to hide their phones. Many others clearly did not
care, and continued texting. When the period ended, I was greeted warmly by
the teacher, who informed me that there would be more students than
expectedsome of the male students had elected to stay, because I was
cuteand two other teachers opted to bring their classes. I had the opportunity to talk with one of these teachers; a 20-year veteran, no less. When I
asked how she liked teaching here she laughed good-naturedly, and told me
Every year it gets worse. When I asked what compelled her to continue, she
said, I love it. You got to.
Meanwhile, the students had begun to file in. I would say between 80 and
100; enough so that once they were seated, I was not able to make eye contact
with all of them. And though I had been teaching at the University level for 7

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years, though I had been, at this point, volunteering in Newark for 3 months,
I must admit to being a bit nervous: If these kids did not listen to their teachers, why would they listen to me? Three minutes of performing a poem I had
written earlier that year about my own studentsmost of them middle to
upper middle classshowed me that my fears were not unfounded; there
were blank stares, and texting resumed. Yet it also showed me that what lay
before me was an opportunity. So I said, Im going to do my favorite poem:
Ten Reasons Not to Date a Thug. After stating the title of the poem, in
addition to fully rapt attention, I was met with laughter, in which I joined.
Those seconds of laughter revealed a common frame of reference. I went on
with the poem, knowing I did not need to explain phrases like snow flake,
a minute, or make moves, and I am fairly certain that through the usage
of these phrases, I was able to gain a greater level of access to the students,
perhaps even a level of trust. By the end of the poem, the tone of the room had
become more serious. One female student seated in the front row raised her
hand, and asked if I needed a hug. Three male students who had been talking
when I first took the stage were quiet. As I walked to my seat, one turned;
You really been through that he said. I nodded.
Then something wonderful happened. The auditorium of 16-year-olds in
the school that demonstrates the extent to which it values its faculty by allocating parking in a construction site under a freeway, demonstrates the extent
to which it values its students by approving a curriculum which implies that
listening to a teacher read aloud is learning, was quiet as a male student said
that he would do a poem. As he stood before us, he warned his classmates
that they better not laugh. The teacher leaned over, whispering that a member of his family had been killed that year. In the days that followed, the
teacher contacted me, informing me that more than a handful of students had
come forward, admitting (I use this word because when I had asked the students if any of them wrote, I received a chorus of No) that they had poems,
asking if she or I could read them, and provide feedback? Needless to say, we
were ecstatic. As it was the end of the school year, we agreed that an attempt
to start the slam team I had alluded to, taunting them with the fact that my
seventh graders at the charter school had been slamming, was unrealistic. We
also agreed to start a slam team in the coming school year.
High school slam teams are a growing trend which arguably began in the
early 1990s with June Jordans Poetry For the People movement in the Bay
Area and now flourishes nationwide with the help of volunteering poets, openminded teachers, Youth Speaks, Brave New Voices, and citywide competitions. The presence of spoken word and slam poetry in schools has become so
pronounced that it has even been documented in the critically acclaimed films
To Be Heard (Martinez, Legiardi-Laura, Shaffer, & Sultan, 2011) and Louder

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Than a Bomb (Jacobs & Siskel, 2010). Encouraging students to write about
their feelings and experiences in the form of a poem acknowledges that they
have something to say and that it is important, while showing that poetry does
not belong to an elite, inaccessible world. The time I have spent volunteering
has shown me first hand what studentseven those who are well aware of the
chaos and violence that may erupt at almost any timecan achieve when they
believe their voices are valued. As Anne Haas Dyson has noted in the foreword of Maisha T. Fishers Writing in Rhythm: Spoken Word Poetry in Urban
Classrooms (2007), the close connection the seventh-grade teacher encouraged his students to make between their lives at home and their lives at school
is not found on the public agenda these days (p. x). Dyson goes on to say
that above genuinely engaging students, the goal is to mold them into correct speakers and writers. This narrowness, this setting of school apart from
their neighborhoods, separates children from all that grounds them (p. x).
Hence, Fishers desire to study the Power Writers of University Heights High
School in the Bronx. Taught by soul model Joe, the class is an elective
offered by the alternative high school, meeting Monday after school, Friday
morning, and Saturday morning. Students are asked to express their truths, to
expand their vocabularies, to push beyond ascribed lives (p. 5), and to gain
a sense of empowerment, because, as Joe explains, quoting Freire, education
is always an act of intervention in the world (p. 5).
Fisher has informed her reader that The aim of this book is to explore
how a community of young writers with the guidance of attentive and interested adults (re)defined literacy and what it meant to be literate using the
medium of spoken word poetry (p. 4), yet her study explores much more. It
has shown how students who were angry that they had to live in these conditions . . . wanted to protect their younger siblings and themselves from cycles
of untimely deaths, poverty, and the temptation to surrender to it all (p. 3)
thrive with a culturally relevant pedagogy which not only encourages, but
requires that they draw from their lives, values, and experiences to respond to
those very conditions. One of Joes copilots, Roland, poet, filmmaker, and
board member for The Nuyorican Poets Caf, describes these students as
rebels because what they have all done is rebel against the little slot, the
little block in the pyramid that society has chosen for them (p. 12).
Underscoring the power and access one gains through literacy, he adds that
they have chosen to rebel in the deepest, most profound way with their . . .
literacy (p. 12).
Perhaps emboldened by Rolands ideal that the more you can express
about yourself and the world around you, the more powerful you can become
(p. 14), it seems clear, when examining the samples of the students poetry
which Fisher has provided, that these students do not want to be passive

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actors in life. For example, during one session, 16-year-old Karina shares a
poem about a friend who had first inspired her to write, an old friend of mine
that Ive known since I was six. He passed away (p. 26):
But luxury and cash wasnt the only wealth he had
Not knowing the innocence he lost would make even the cold-hearted sad
So to become so rich with love and power
Soon everyone would envy
He would soon become a victim of a bad deal gone deadly
I loved this young man, although a boy
He grew up way too fast
Being a child not raised by parents
People stare as if they dont understand . . .

Nineteen-year-old Eli shares one of his poems, after quoting Malcolm Xs

speech The Ballot or the Bullet:
Mama tells me to stay sane in an insane world
Full of pain
Where your life is not worth one grain of sand or dust
Just give me a hand.
Honestly, compassion is a must . . .
Its primal
Rage against everything thats natural in the natural world
Saying shit like hypocrisy
And using/confusing vernacular to have you, him, her, and me
Not to think what they say is contradictory . . .
I need to hit the books
Otherwise Ill be missing important things out there
Out there I go and look
Nobody cares
But all I see here in NYC is

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Racism, sexism, phobia extraordinaire
Just take a good look out there baby
You just have to be aware (p. 30)

In both cases, we can see that these students think critically about the
world as they experience it. Karina realizes that this young man . . . grew up
way too fast, as he had to fend for himself, though it cost his innocence and
life. For Eli, to stay sane in an insane world, he needs to hit the books,
and remain vigilant. We have to depend on one another, he urges, because
Nobody cares. Joes response to each of these students is important, not
only to them, but also to the rest of the class, for it shows the students that
their voices and experiences are valued. The students also see that they can
learn not only from Joe, but also from one another, and that Joe also learns
from them. In fact, Fisher has observed that Joe addressed Karinas poem
but also made eye contact with everyone, as if the feedback was meant for
them as well (p. 27). Joe acknowledges Karina as a modern day Blues singer
who has share[d] with us your sense of loss (p. 27). He also describes the
piece as serious and introspective. Furthermore, Joe demonstrates his
familiarity with Karinas reality by asking When did he die? and when
were you able to write about the death? (p. 28); he is not uncomfortable
when discussing about Karinas friend. Turning now, to Eli, when he was
reluctant to share a piece, believing it was unfinished . . . Joe . . . urged him
to let the work go out to the group (p. 29), not only because he voiced concerns that Eli put too much pressure on himself, but because the feedback he
was to receive from the group would likely be helpful. For example, Karina
told Eli: I thought your piece was interesting . . . you actually put your
thoughts on the government (p. 32).
In the last chapter of the book, Fisher has argued that more teachers and
more schools must follow suit and guide students in building literate identities, explaining that such an identity enables a student to be a critical reader,
a purposeful writer, and a confident speaker (p. 92). For Fisher, this begins
with what students already know, with their truths. It means Holding student
work up as worthy of attention, even when it still needs improvement (p.
92). It makes sense, then, that students reported that they did not feel judged,
worried about being wrong, nor did they feel, as they had in regular
classes (English and other), a profound alienation from the curriculum. Fisher
has also noted that Students in this writing community contradicted monolithic depictions of minority students as anti-intellectual, or punitive to peers
who demonstrate care for school and learning (p. 95), as they often shared
their poems with one another before and after class.

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One Power Writer, Syesha, is quoted, reporting If my peers [from Power

Writing] see me in the hallways they tell me to go to class (p. 96). While Pearl
recognizes the impact of writing and a literate identity on her self-esteem,
lamenting that while many young women believe attracting male attention
means having the hair, the skin, and the figure but not the mind (p. 96)
she enjoyed the positive attention she received from peersmale and female
who valued her opinion of their poetry. Overall, it seems that these students
recognize the tools they have been given, and are eager to defy stereotypes, in
school and beyond. Their story, told in To Be Heard, lays a foundation for the
argument that given the heightened volume of the educational debate these
days, their message [that spoken word is a powerful learning tool] and
approach merits close attention (To Be Heard, n.d.), and I could not agree
more. The educational gap between the haves and the have-nots has become
an issue of such great concern that many see education as the Civil Rights
Movement of our time. Yet there is no national dialogue regarding the systematic implementation of a spoken word curriculum in public schools.
That there is no national dialogue is perplexing, especially because there
are a number of studiesJocson (2009), Fisher (2005, 2007)documenting
the positive impact of spoken word poetry in the classroom. In her study, A
Unified Poet Alliance: The Personal and Social Outcomes of Youth Spoken
Word Programming (2010), Weinstein has used interviews and observations
compiled over three years (2006-2009) of working with Wordplay, a teen
poetry group in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to support her position on spoken
word poetry: It helps students develop literate identities; builds literacy skills,
self-esteem, motivation; and fosters a sense of community. As such, it is
Weinsteins hope that educators and academics pay attention to the potential
for the arts generally, and literacy arts in particular, to help us think differently about teaching and learning (p. 22). Weinsteins work is theoretically
framed by New Literacy Studies, a scholarly movement which posits literacy practices as multiple and as based in specific social contexts. This frame
encourages examination of not only literacy practices themselves, but of the
power dynamics always at play in communicative situations (p. 6).
Weinstein believes that within the forum of spoken word poetry, young
people can and do engage directly with these power dynamics while expressing their social identities. Her study Feel These Words (2009) has discussed
nine of her former students, dubbed The Writers, who
fit into categories of youth too often representedby the media, politicians,
even the school systems that are supposed to serve themas deficient in the
kinds of characteristics and skills that both reflect and are supposed to lead
them to middle-class status. (p. 2)

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Education and Urban Society XX(X)

By drawing attention to the social context in which the privileged majority

situates these teens, looking at the ways each teen practices literacy (composition of poetry, narrative, or rap lyrics), then looking at the ways in which
this literacy is the product of social context and discussing the extent to which
dominant power structures are challenged, Weinstein has presented a glimpse
of what a curriculum influenced by New Literacy Studies might look like.
Such a glimpse is important because it honors not only what students need to
be taught (literacy) but also what motivates them to learn. Weinstein has
stated in no uncertain terms that teachers should shift their perceptions of
students from individuals who know little or nothing about the right way to
write to people who have deep funds of knowledge on which to draw as they
negotiate various forms of composition (p. 9).
I agree that such a shift would benefit students immensely, giving them a
sense of agency and empowerment while reducing the tension between the
often separate spheres of home and classroom. However, I find Weinsteins
study to be of limited use in the campaign for widespread implementation of
spoken word poetry classes in public schools. I say this because though she
initially met each of The Writers when they were her students, Feel These
Words chronicles, as Weinstein herself acknowledges, the imaginative writing of these nine teens outside the classroom. I understand that Weinstein
knowingly chooses writing produced by the students on their terms and on
their turf to demonstrate the degree of engagement possible when students
voices and concerns are not devalued, yet I also believe that if the type of
widespread change public schools and public school students so desperately
need is to be effected, a more compelling demonstrationone containing
more tangible, quantifiable benefits in the classroomwill be necessary.
Though not a product of the public school curriculum, Youth Speaks,
founded in 1996, presents the annual Brave New Voices International Youth
Poetry Slam Festival, in which poets ranging in age from 13 to 19 compete.
In an attempt to put the current impact and potential of Youth Speaks into
perspective, it is worth noting that in 2009, the Brave New Voices Festival
featured over 500 teen Poetry Slam Champions from 45 parts of the country
and 5 additional cities across the globe, representing over 50,000 young poets
in their local communities (Youth Speaks Incorporated, n.d.). With this type
of reach, informed by beliefs and goals outlined on the Youth Speaks website
(youthspeaks.org/about-youth-speaks/),
As we move more deeply into the 21st Century, oral poetry is helping to define
the new American Voice. By making the connection between poetry, spoken
word, youth development, and civic engagement, Youth Speaks aims to
deconstruct dominant narratives in hopes of achieving a more inclusive, and

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Fiore
active, culture. Believing that young people have the tools to take control of
their lives through language, Youth Speaks encourages youth to express
themselves using their own vernacular. (Youth Speaks Incorporated, n.d.)

it certainly seems that if it has not yet effected change, Youth Speaks is in
a position to do so. Perhaps the most important of Youth Speaks components
is the Residency Program. First, a group of established poets visit the school
to perform, thus providing a concrete model of what Youth Speaks poets do
on stage. Then, a trained poet-mentor goes into a school and collaborates
with the teacher to develop a spoken word curriculum, using themes the
teacher identifies. Residencies can last from 5 to 10 weeks to an entire semester or even a full year. Poet-mentor Talia Taylor says,
The students are allowed to be a part of the learning process . . . by bringing
their own personal narratives into the text that they are reading. In addition to
reading the book and breaking down the narrative theme, they add their own
narratives so they can compare and contrast how their life correlates to the text
theyre reading.

Of this added dimension, Balboa High School English Teacher Amanda

Bowen notes that the students arent just regurgitating what they think the
teacher wants to hear, theyre really bringing themselves through (DeWolf,
2010). In terms of the programs specifics, Bowen says that once a week,
Youth Speaks slam champion Jose Vadi comes to the class, often beginning
with video of a poet performing. Vadi briefly discusses the poem with the
students, touching on dominant themes, and asking for any words or images
that come to the students minds. These words and images are written on the
blackboard, then students are given a guiding question and 15 minutes to
write a poem.
Despite the apparent success of this innovative pedagogy and the recent
trend of introducing spoken word and slam poetry in urban schools, there are
critics. Fisher acknowledges that All too often there is an assumption in the
education community that promoting student self-awareness through writing
and performance means that students are not acquiring the skills they need
for academic literacy (p. 14). Still there are other critics, also in educational
communities, who believe that in lower income communities, insurmountable problemssuch as distrust of school personnel, poverty, crime, inadequate health care, lack of transportationrender activities such as poetry
slams painfully inadequate in improving much, as more concrete steps
such as provision of child care or provision of transportationare viewed as
more beneficial (Berliner, 2006; Keller & McDade, 2000).

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Education and Urban Society XX(X)

Culture typically functions as a double-edged sword in urban schools. As

Ladson-Billings has argued, teachers in urban schools who are not familiar
with their students culture display a level of ignorance which leads them to
make assumptions about those students and cite low self-esteem as the cause
of students academic and disciplinary problems. On the other hand, teachers
who understand their students and recognize the importance of their students
culture and interests are likely to create a genuine learning community in
which students are actively engaged. In recent years, spoken word has become
popular with progressive teachers who recognize that introducing this form of
poetry can change their students views of literature as well as their relationship to it. I see this change for myself when I visit English classes to talk with
students about spoken word. The reaction is always the same, though it varies
in intensity and degree. The studentsmost of whom seemed visibly bored
only minutes beforeare surprised to learn that this is poetry, and they are
excited, because they want to try it, too. In addition to changing students
views of literature, Spoken Word asks that students write about what is important to them. The last time I volunteered in a school, for example, I asked the
students to write a poem. The poem could be about anything, as long as it
included the following prompts and responses to them: Everyday I see . . .,
Everyday I say . . ., Everyday I ask . . ., One thing I know for sure is . . . Their
poems varied in subject matter, from nagging mothers to the ills of the ghetto.
The point is, the students were eager to tell their stories.
Authors Note
This article is a chapter of my doctoral dissertation, received August, 2012.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Author Biography
Mia Fiore is a Spoken Word artist and educator. Her doctoral work explores the
impact of Spoken Word poetry as an agent of change when compared to The Black
Arts Movement and Hip Hop, both of which challenged dominant systems of power,
but ultimately have fallen short in changing the conditions of the urban poor.

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