Sweet: Slam Poetry and Taylor Mali's Tribute to Teachers

With the 2010-11 academic school year closing, I dedicate this post to all the teachers I've had the pleasure of working with and learning from.

 


This piece is a slam clip of Taylor Mali - teacher and slam poet performing his poem, "What Teachers Make."  My daughter sent this to me a while ago and want to 'pay it forward' to all the parents and teachers who work with their kids to help make them the best they can be.

A note on slam poetry: Slam poetry is a poetry competition in which poets recite original work which is then judged by selected members of the audience. Slams feature a broad range of voices, styles, and content (although many challenge some 'absolute' authority), and scoring is based on both performance and the poem itself.  Poetry slams are now being successfully introduced in schools (particularly inner-city and urban schools) as well as performing venues to further motivate and reinforce kids' literacy skills.

One more gem on proofreading and editing: "The The Impotence of Proofreading"- also by Taylor Mali. Note that this is NOT for kids- as there is some adult content in it but it's intelligent and well worth your time as it clearly illustrates the importance and the difficulty of editing. I hope no one takes offense - that is not my intent and I apologize if it does.  I just couldn't help myself:

I would love to dedicate the comments sections to stories of your favorite teachers or favorite teaching moments, although always feel free to leave questions and posting requests!