Tag Archives: Susan Buttenwieser

The Power of Spoken Word Performance in the Classroom

It is fairly safe to say that not every student is immediately open to poetry.  Especially at first.  We’ve all had the experience of coming into a new classroom and, after explaining the basic tenet of most poetry residencies – writing and reading poetry – receiving blank stares or less than enthusiastic responses.

One effective way to hook students’ attention and interest is to listen to poets read their work or watch poets perform, not only on that first day, but throughout the residency.  And thanks to the Internet and modern technology, it is now relatively easy to do that in the classroom, even when an author visit is not possible.

Charles R. Smith’s “Allow Me to Introduce Myself” is full of rhythm and musicality as he describes his abilities on the basketball court.  Students literally dance in their seats listening to it and want to hear it again and again.  It’s a great example of the use of hyperbole, description and show don’t tell.        

Writer and actor Daniel Beaty’s piece “Knock, Knock” details his experience growing up with a father who was in prison for most of Beaty’s childhood.  Not only is the piece itself powerful, but Beaty’s performance of his monologue is completely engaging and inspiring.

By starting off with an activity that students most likely do in their spare time—listen to music, watch videos—it can help demystify poetry and make it more accessible, especially for reluctant readers and writers.  It truly brings the poet’s words to life, right there in the classroom, in a way that is otherwise impossible to replicate.  This also models for students the significance of reading their own work out loud.  How the best medium for their words, their stories, their voice is actually themselves.

-Susan Buttenwieser

Susan Buttenwieser is a prose writer and T&W teaching artist.  To read more about Susan, go here.

Personal Geography

    “I sense that humans have an urge to map—and that this mapping instinct, like our opposable thumbs, is part of what makes us human,” Katharine Harmon writes in her introduction to You Are Here: Personal Geographies and Other Maps of the Imagination, a collection of artists’ maps including both real and imagined places.  “Part of what fascinates us when looking at a map is inhabiting the mind of its maker, considering that particular terrain of imagination overlaid with those unique contour lines of experience.”
    The maps in the book include the Italian artist Sara Fanelli’s "Map of My Day," which breaks down the typical child’s routine into nine sections including breakfast, school and playground, depicted in a bright, playful painting.  In John Fulford’s The Walk to South School 1964-71, 2003, the artist recreates his walk to school for his nieces who attended the same school thirty years later.  He includes places that are no longer in existence such as a tree house and a baseball diamond, as well as additions by the girls like a Stinky Spot and a tiny orange Fiat.
    I’ve used both these maps in a lesson on personal geography that combines writing and visual art and is especially effective towards the end of the residency.  It also provides an opportunity for students to convey or express something that they may not have been able to, such as a death or another painful event.

For a complete lesson plan on how to incorporate personal geography into your teaching practice, go here.

-Susan Buttenwieser

Susan Buttenwieser is a prose writer and T&W teaching artist.  To read more about Susan, go here.