Three Lives Revolutionized through Spoken Word Poetry

Kahn despised poetry for the longest time. Even as a high school English language arts (ELA) teacher, he taught the bland, obligatory poetry unit in which students looked for poetic devices. They complained and fought back. It was a disaster. In 2003, he returned to the Chicago area with the epiphan...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEnglish journal Vol. 111; no. 3; pp. 101 - 103
Main Authors Kahn, Peter, Robinson, Christian, Levin, Adam M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Urbana National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) 01.01.2022
National Council of Teachers of English
EditionHigh school edition
Subjects
High Schools
Jay-Z (rapper)
Language arts
Oral literature
Poetry
Rap music
School Administration
Secondary schools
Students
Teachers
Teaching
Tuition
Writers
Writing
United Kingdom
Illinois
United States > US
Chicago Illinois
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Summary:Kahn despised poetry for the longest time. Even as a high school English language arts (ELA) teacher, he taught the bland, obligatory poetry unit in which students looked for poetic devices. They complained and fought back. It was a disaster. In 2003, he returned to the Chicago area with the epiphany that he could no longer operate as a traditional ELA teacher, and drafted a proposal to become the school's spoken word educator. While he was away, a researcher from Harvard University came to our school to study what was then called the "achievement gap," and in interviews with Black students, his name was frequently mentioned as someone who had encouraged and motivated them to succeed. With that knowledge, and the conviction that he could do this programming elsewhere, he held firm in his rationale to receive release periods for all five classes to implement his plan.
ISSN:0013-8274
2161-8895