Brave New Voices: The YOUTH SPEAKS Guide to Teaching Spoken Word Poetry

Over the last several years, YOUTH SPEAKS after-school poetry workshops have helped turn hundreds of student writers into passionate poets. And now, Jen Weiss, director of YOUTH SPEAKS New York, and Scott Herndon share some of the secrets of their successenabling you to transform your poetry lessons into a dynamic learning environment, where students develop not only a passion for poetry, but clear and powerful expression.

Utilizing student examples from their spoken word poetry workshops, Weiss and Herndon present their methods and outline a practical five-week course that fosters poetic awareness by focusing on writing, self-reflection, and performance. Designed specifically for middle and high school English classrooms, Brave New Voices offers teachers an overview of spoken word poetry and explores the relationship between poetic forms, youth expression, and performance. Ultimately, teachers will discover guidelines for staging a teen poetry slam, enabling students to unlock their poetic passion in front of their peers.

Ultimately, Brave New Voices provides teachers with a "how-to" guide to staging a teen poetry slam, enabling students to unlock their poetic passion in front of their peers. For all levels of students and developing artists, from the shy to savvy, here is a way to spark a love of poetry. For students already composing poems, here is a way to help them take a powerful step forward in their growth as writers. And for teachers, here is a way to liberate poetry from dry textbooks by tapping the poetic potential within the next generation.

Scott Herndon is completing his Ph.D. in English at NYU and has been a mentor at YOUTH SPEAKS for three years. A nonprofit literary arts, education, and cultural resource center for teenagers in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, YOUTH SPEAKS offers free and ongoing public performance and publication opportunities, after-school workshops, in-school presentations, and mentoring programs.

In 1999, Jen Weiss piloted YOUTH SPEAKS in New York City and has been its director ever since. A nonprofit literary arts, education, and cultural resource center for teenagers in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City, YOUTH SPEAKS offers free and ongoing public performance and publication opportunities, after-school workshops, in-school presentations, and mentoring programs.