POETRY SLAM
Whether it's dancing, singing or reciting poetry- our students love to perform. Throughout the course of camp, students learn about different forms of poetry and consistently practice writing and performing poems. At the end of the camp, the students have the option of practicing their skills and competing in a slam poetry competition.
Program Goals:
Poetry staff work to strengthen the students’ academic skills of reading comprehension, writing, and vocabulary through writing poetry. The students learn about various poetry styles and apply them to their own writing; in this way, they simultaneously learn and critically think about their emotions, environment, and actions while practicing coherent articulation of their thoughts.
Key Program Activities:
The Poetry curriculum utilizes the same themes of community, identity, self-expression, dealing with adversity, problem-solving, making a difference, support for Cleveland, and goal setting in teaching the concepts of poetry slam. The forms of poetry taught included free verse, haikus, rap, sonnets, and blank verse. The students combined all of these components to answer various, theme-sensitive prompts such as identity, community, loss, and hope. After answering the prompts, the Poetry instructors demonstrate and help the students perform their poems in front of a live audience twice per summer.