Amplifying Student Engagement and Voice through Slam and Spoken Word Poetry By: Katie Katkich

 Amplifying Student Engagement and Voice through Slam and Spoken Word Poetry

By: Katie Katkich

Imagine this: You flip open your teacher planner.  You scan the pages and notice that today you will begin a new unit within your classes.  Poetry.  Excited to get your kids inspired and engaged, you prepare for the week to come.  Organizing activities and texts, you know that this unit will be one where voices are heard, students find their power, and even the quietest of students find themselves dancing with the words on the page in front of them. 

On the first day, there is an undeniable energy buzzing within the room.  As the week progresses, you find your desk scattered with poetry collections and sticky notes from students covered in ideas – each one a spark ready to catch fire and to be explored.  Poets ready to emerge from the ashes and take flight.  As students explore the likes of Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou, their eyes sparkle and they are entranced by the power of the spoken word, eager to shape their own words in just the same way.

Does this sound like your classroom, or are you smirking yet?  Far too often this is anything but the reality English teachers find themselves in when introducing poetry to students.  Simply utter the word, and students dramatically throw themselves to the ground kicking and screaming.  The word is more often than not met with skepticism, boredom, and panic.  Students can be seen visibly sinking in their seats, bracing for what they assume will be weeks of forced rhyming and the dissection of poems they “just don’t get.”  Groans will be heard as a few optimists gleefully sit quietly amongst their peers, individuals burying their excitement beneath the collective dread.  

For many students, poetry feels abstract, intimidating, or worse, irrelevant.  They cringe at the slightest mention of it and drag themselves through the readings, assignments, and activities with heavy sighs and reluctant groans. That’s where slam and spoken word poetry come in – poetry that isn’t just locked away in some dusty textbook or written in a language that appears to be from another century or world for its young readers. Slam is intense and jarring.  It is alive and pulsing with emotion. It is raw and relevant.  It engages with an audience, evoking energy and passion, pushing limits, and demanding a response. Because slam and spoken word poetry combine the elements of writing, performance, and audience participation, these elements bring new life to an artform students consider to be dead.  When students hear individuals sharing their stories, their struggles, their feats, and their lives, something shifts.  There is a seismic jolt in how poetry is viewed, consumed, and respected.  Students quickly realize that poetry is much more than just identifying rhyme schemes and a poet’s use of metaphor.  It is about expression.  It is about shared stories.  It is about sucking the marrow out of life and sharing it with others to consume.  

Introducing slam and spoken word poetry into the classroom creates a bridge to the poetic world.  It allows poetry to become palatable for students, and to close the initial gap of resistance. It promotes engagement, turning poetry into something that they have to study and into something that they then get to experience.  With each line written or explored, a classroom becomes a place where voices matter, words carry weight, and where poetry becomes a tool for connection. Slam and spoken word poetry serves as a window and a door, allowing students to see themselves, to see others, and to immerse themselves into worlds they have yet to explore.  In order to create these connections, slam poetry and spoken word’s power can be tapped into through the fostering of  self-discovery, prioritizing individual stories, and building an environment that is supportive and encouraging. These aspects create a powerhouse that allows for students to interact with poetry on a relevant, meaningful, and engaging level.  More importantly, it serves the needs of each student in developing an understanding and respect for the world and others around them. Curating and implementing activities that foster these skills is the cornerstone of effective slam and spoken word integration.

Developing Unique Voices &  Fostering Self Discovery Activities

• “This I Believe” Poem: Adapted from NPR’s “This I Believe” essays, students  craft and perform a spoken word piece about a core belief that shapes their worldview.
• "Dear Future Me" or "Dear Past Me" Letters to Spoken Word: Students write letters to their past or future selves, turning them into spoken word pieces that explore growth, change, and self-discovery.
• The Unfinished Sentence: Students are provided with sentence starters and then expand their response into a spoken word piece that explores personal truths.
• Snapshot of My Life Photo Response:  Students explore personal photos and choose a single moment from their life that represents a larger theme and tell it as a spoken word piece.  The implementation of vivid sensory details and strong emotions are encouraged to bring the moment to life.

Prioritizing Individual Stories Activities

• My Name, My Story: Inspired by Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, students explore the meaning of their name, its history, how they feel about it, and how it reflects their identity. They then transform their reflections into a spoken word performance.
• Portrait Poem: Students create a portrait of their culture that includes insight and exploration of their traditions and deeply held beliefs through the use of descriptive language. This writing exercise can be paired with the creation of a physical portrait they create.
• Soundtrack of my Life: Students think about the soundtrack of their life, choosing sounds (not just music, but laughter, sirens, whispers, arguments) that have shaped them.  They then build a spoken word piece incorporating these sounds to tell their personal story.
• Six Word Memoirs: Students start with a six-word memoir, expand it into a free-write, and transform it into a spoken word performance that delves into personal experiences and emotions.

Supportive and Encouraging Environment Activities

• Community Agreements Brainstorm: Before diving into performances, students co-create a list of guidelines for a respectful, supportive space. This can include active listening, snapping instead of clapping, giving constructive feedback, and respecting different perspectives.
• Affirmation Graffiti Wall: After performances, students write positive words or phrases on a large sheet of paper about what they connected with in their classmates' pieces. This creates a visual reminder of support and appreciation.

• Story Swap Pair Writing: Students pair up, share a personal story verbally, and then write a poem inspired by their partner’s experience. This can build empathy and help students see the power of different perspectives.
• In House Slam or Poetry Cafe: Hold your own in house slam or cafe reading!  Throw on some smooth jazz, bring the hot tea and delicious treats, and enjoy each others’ stories and insights!

So, imagine this:  You flip open your teacher planner once more, but this time, something has shifted.  Poetry is no longer met with groans and rolling eyes.  Instead, it is alive, buzzing, and deeply personal.  Your classroom hums with a newfound energy.  Students are engaged and on-task.  They are feverishly typing or writing.  They are even fluttering around the room, eagerly sharing their work and their stories.  They are providing support to one another and driving each other towards success as they provide feedback and insight into each other's observations, descriptions, and ideas.  The sticky notes, once tentatively sparks, are now ablaze in the heat of collective creativity and passion.  

Poetry is a force of nature.  It strikes cords and prompts individuals to move and for others to be moved.  It holds a power that once tapped into, can become a catalyst for personal growth, community building, and much more.  This transformation happens when the study of poetry steps outside of the dusty textbooks, and becomes a lived experience.  An experience, where poetry provides a platform for students to explore their emotions, build empathy, and amplify their voices.  Slam and spoken word poetry is a tool that bridges the gap between literature and life.  By doing so, it allows for self-expression, social-emotional learning, and cultural awareness to be fostered and spread.  It ultimately redefines what poetry can be.  More importantly, it redefines ways in which individuals can connect, empower, and create change.  So, the next time you turn to that poetry unit in your planner, try not to brainstorm ways in which you can teach poetry to your students, but rather brainstorm ways in which how you can ignite poetry for them – turning your classroom and their time spent with it into a place where they can warm their souls and light the world around them.

Finding Support for Opposing Censorship: Resources from the National Council of Teachers of English By Sarah Miller

Finding Support for Opposing Censorship: Resources from the National Council of Teachers of English

By Sarah Miller,

Senior Coordinator of Book Initiatives, NCTE 

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has long devoted attention to intellectual freedom in education. With the volume of work that NCTE does and the multiple demands on educators, it is not always possible to remain up to date on all that is available. This post aims to inform you about how we provide support and to connect you to the resources that are most useful to you.

The Intellectual Freedom Center is NCTE’s support hub for teachers facing censorship and advocating for intellectual freedom in education. Its guiding principle is that all students have the right to materials and education experiences that promote open inquiry, critical thinking, diversity in thought and expression, and respect for others. The work has long been grounded also in The Students’ Right to Read position statement. Our resources bring these ideals to fruition by supporting educators and students to fulfil the goals of access to education as foundational to a democratic society.

NCTE uses four methods to support intellectual freedom:

Advocate: Position statements and resolutions are created and updated by NCTE members, reviewed extensively, and voted on by NCTE leaders to become solidified. They are publicly available and indicate NCTE’s official positions on various issues. Censorship is just one theme among many for these documents, but it is one that is requested and used widely. Our position statements and resolutions are referenced by teachers, libraries, districts, news outlets, and more. We encourage you to become familiar with those most relevant to you and use excerpts anywhere they may be useful.

 

Support: In addition to leading the way with advocacy documents, NCTE also proactively provides resources to educators. The most important of which is the first of its kind book rationale database. There are more than 1,400 rationales available – a number that continues to grow – and all are created and reviewed by other teachers. Titles include classics such as To Kill a Mockingbird and The Bluest Eye as well as newer titles like The Hate U Give and Milo Imagines the World. There are books for readers grades Pre-K through 12+. Sections of the rationale include book information like plot summaries and Lexile levels, what standards the text meets, suggested teaching approaches, potential for censorship challenge, settings teachers recommend using the text for, and additional resources that expand educators’ options for deepening understanding of the text and related subject matters.  

 

Respond: The Intellectual Freedom Center receives and responds to censorship reports. Anyone is welcome to fill out a school censorship report. The concerns and challenges are reviewed and cataloged. If needed or requested, NCTE will curate appropriate resources. We also document the types of challenges and escalate as needed. Escalation looks different depending on the circumstances of the report and membership status, but all the information is useful for helping us to continue to evolve the work of intellectual freedom in education. 

 

Partner: NCTE has a formal partnership with the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). We collaboratively to create resources and consult on individual cases with permission. We also sign dozens of letters annually that are sent to schools and districts to express concern or support for best practices for book selection, book reviews, and policy updates. NCTE is also a long-time member of the Banned Books Week Coalition, has a long working relationship with the American Library Association and their Office for Intellectual Freedom, and is a close partner in the Unite Against Book Bans campaign. PEN America is another close partner in the fight against censorship, sharing resources, expertise, and opportunities. NCTE works closely with state and regional affiliates, like WPCTE, to further this cause. And we have close relationships with publishers, authors, and many other organizations doing intellectual freedom work.

For those of you attending the WPCTE conference next month, I will share additional information there about NCTE’s resources, including at breakout sessions focusing on rationale creation and use. I am also happy to answer any questions or provide additional support. You can reach me at IntellectualFreedom@ncte.org. 

Thank you for the work you do to support students and literacy every day. It is seen, honored, and appreciated.

Hearing the Music in a YA Verse Novel by Lliam Shaw and Hannah Lewis

 Hearing the Music in a YA Verse Novel

English Festival’s 2025 featured author Susan Hood’s Alias Anna

by Lliam Shaw and Hannah Lewis

The English Teacher Who Couldn’t Tell a Sonata from a Sonnet*

When Hannah read Alias Anna, collaboratively written by Susan Hood and protagonist Zhanna’s real-life grandson Greg Dawson, in preparation for her first WPCTE English Festival virtual book club session with her 10-12th-graders, she was immediately struck by the musicality: first of all, verse novels already lend themselves to a certain rhythmic or melodic way of reading, even when written in free verse. Were we to judge a book by its cover, Alias prepares us to engage with music before we even crack the book, with the Balbuso Twins’ and Laura Mock’s beautiful cover design featuring (ostensibly) protagonist Zhanna dressed in a piano-key-and-sheet-music scarf. 

Once she started reading, though, she knew that music was playing a much larger role in the text than she could unpack herself. From the moment Ukrainian Jewish girl Zhanna describes her childhood attraction to the mournful music of funeral processions in “Music was the Magnet” (Hood & Dawson 19) to her radio performance of Bach’s Two-Part Invention No. 1 in C Major, played entirely in the dark (40), to her death-defying run away from where the Nazis held the Ukrainian Jews to rescue her treasure–a piece of sheet music she could already play by heart, Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu (101), up to her incognito performance of the Chopin Scherzo in B-flat Minor–played as “Anna” for an audience of loathed Nazi officers (184) and even her poetically just performance of her beloved Fantaisie-Impromptu before an audience of liberated Jews as herself, Jewish Zhanna (271), music drove the story in ways that Hannah couldn’t understand with her limited knowledge of Central-and-Eastern European classical music traditions. She reached out to a colleague who connected her to Lliam Shaw, middle-school music teacher and classical music enthusiast, who was happy to share his expertise with Hannah’s eager English Festival students

Music History as Human History

Lliam is a believer of the self-coined phrase “Music history is human history.” There is always a connection between what is going on in the world, or “textbook history” as he calls it, and what is going on with the music output at the time. When he examined the musical selections in Alias Anna, it was easy to see how the specific pieces were chosen for emphasis, as they serve purpose in both a narrative and historical context. Bach’s music, specifically his music for keyboards, is known for its intricate sound and deep spirituality, but most notably, its demanding technicality. Bach transcended just composition, just as Da Vinci did engineering, and Newton did physics, becoming both the pinnacle and the foundation of the field. The choice to specifically name Bach was not just some grab-bag idea, but a thoughtful one, representing Zhanna’s technical mastery and her profound spiritual connection to her instrument – she doesn’t need to rely on seeing the keys because, whether it be in memory or muscular, the music is within her.

The Chopin pieces are especially weighty, considering their historical significance and context, which may have escaped the English Fest students’ attention without Lliam’s expertise. Chopin was a Polish composer who, just like Zhanna, witnessed political upheaval, living through both the November Uprising of 1830 where Poles rebelled against Russian rule, and the 1848 February Revolution in Paris. His music, while not outrightly political, represents his belief in independence and nationalism, a symbol the Nazis were more than willing to erase. There are other comparisons between Chopin and Zhanna, too, such as their virtuosity recognized at a young age, dedication to the piano, and deep familial connections, which make the choice to emphasize Chopin clearly effective, as much as the mention of Bach.

Not only is the choice of composer a refined pick, but the specific pieces too. Chopin’s Scherzo in B-Flat Minor is a turbulent, expressive piece with extreme technical demand, which many believe to be his most outright radical composition, directly influenced by his feelings of the political revolutions he witnessed in real time. Listen to the composition, linked here and above, and you can hear the chaos within the music. 

The irony of her performance can not be overstated enough, and Hood highlighted that in her retelling – Zhanna is a Jewish girl, actively hiding among her enemy as Anna, masterfully playing music composed by a Polish composer, who had similarly witnessed political persecution, to an audience who wants to eradicate both Jewish AND Polish culture and history. The piece reflects both the complexity of the situation and the immense internal struggle Zhanna is feeling at the very moment of performance. 

When you listened to the performance, could you hear it?

Collaboration for Stronger Classrooms

The role of music in Alias Anna exemplifies how young adult verse novels can interweave creative elements to enhance both meaning and form. Many verse novels inherently carry rhythm or musicality, and the collaboration of Hood and Dawson adds an extra layer to that. Susan Hood collaborated with an expert–Zhanna’s very own grandson–marrying the authentic story of one with the narrative capabilities of the other. 

Just as Hannah reached out to Lliam to better understand the musical complexities and nuances, Hood’s collaboration with Dawson allowed her to capture both the historical facts and the profound emotional resonance of the real story of a real person, playing real music with real history. This all goes to show how much collaboration in both the creation and interpretation of literature can enrich our understanding of it, whether it’s an author working with a primary source, or a teacher partnering with a colleague to unlock a deeper meaning for her students, and in turn, herself.

We will end with a call to action: 

What expertise do your colleagues hold that could enhance the experience of the readers in your classroom? Ask around and find out!

Streamline Student Research with Learnics By: Elizabeth Pernelli

Introduction by WPCTE Executive Director Carol Frow 

A year ago, I met a lovely lady, Elizabeth Pernellii,  at a conference and chatted with her about Learnics, a Google extension that seemed to be an answer to many of my needs concerning research, keping materials neatly in one place, and citing sources, so I eagerly accepted three free evenings of training on this system. It was great!  So, I invited Liz to contribute to our blog so that others would hear about this program!

Navigating Book Bans: Keeping Choice Alive in the Rural Classroom By: Dr. Mark A Curcio

 Navigating Book Bans

Keeping Choice Alive in the Rural Classroom

While writing my dissertation on the development of male adolescent readers, I explored a range of theories that shape student growth—topics like student choice, reading fluency, and stamina all played central roles. But one issue came crashing into focus as I wrapped up my study: the contentious topic of book bans and censorship. It’s a debate that resurfaces yearly, sparking intense discussions among ELA teachers and making headlines nationwide. This isn’t just a distant controversy; it’s impacting real classrooms, especially in rural communities, shaping what students read and how freely they engage with literature.

During my studies, I noticed a clear divide in attitudes toward censorship that often reflects the “urban-rural political divide.” From my experience as an adjunct professor in the city of Pittsburgh and a full-time high school teacher in a rural community, this divide is hard to miss. Generally, urban areas lean more liberal, while rural regions tend to be more conservative. And it’s often in these rural, more conservative areas where we see the most challenges to books in school libraries. 

A “rural area” is designated as one with a population of less than 1,000 people per square mile. In Westmoreland County, several school districts are considered rural due to their geographic location, low population density, or the communities they serve. Although the county includes more urbanized areas, especially around Greensburg, much of the land is rural, with small towns, farmlands, and natural landscapes characteristic of the Appalachian region. This rural landscape influences local community values, economic activities, and educational policies, which can play a role in debates around issues like book censorship in schools.

Unfortunately, the landscape of book censorship has only intensified over the past decade. In 2023, a record-breaking 4,240 titles were targeted for removal across the U.S., shattering the previous year's high of 2,571. Many of these books tackle social justice, discrimination, and equity themes that provide students with important perspectives they may not encounter otherwise. In Pennsylvania, school boards have the authority to pull books that don’t align with federal and state laws, including First Amendment standards. The American Library Association warns that limiting access to such books restricts exposure to diverse viewpoints, which can be deeply harmful. 

ALA: Number of Book Titles Challenged Across the Country Per State in 2023

This access issue has specific implications for rural schools, especially for young male students who often crave control over their learning. Books that support self-efficacy for adolescent males—particularly those from low-income backgrounds—do so by (1) promoting psychological well-being, (2) reflecting shared struggles, (3) offering guidance on handling current challenges, and (4) highlighting the gaps between real-world experiences and fictional portrayals. Censoring these books denies students the chance to connect with stories that validate their struggles and restricts their exposure to the “real world” beyond their immediate surroundings.

Book bans can feel like something that happens “somewhere else,” but that’s no longer true. While Virginia is often spotlighted for high-profile bans, Pennsylvania is seeing a similar rise in censorship efforts. In Hanover County, Virginia—a suburban and rural mix—a recent vote granted the county full authority to remove books from school libraries without input from parents or teachers.  Moves like this send a clear message: educators, librarians, and even parents are losing a say in what students can read.

So, where does that leave us as teachers?

If choice in reading is a major motivator, what happens to rural students when that choice is taken away?

One way to address this challenge is to intentionally structure choices in a way that genuinely supports students. For example, engaging students in the book selection process, offering thoughtful suggestions, and helping them connect their choices to their interests and goals can empower them to take ownership of their learning. 

Another way to increase choice in reading is by dedicating periods to independent reading group discussions. This past weekend, I came across a Netflix commercial that skillfully turned the common phrase of recommendation, “it’s so good!” Through reading groups, this phrase can be used to talk about books. Like music and TV shows, sometimes all it takes is for the right person to give the right recommendation at the right time. 

Trust me—I understand how stressed and burned out we are, but students must experience the growth that comes from reading. If we want them to read books, we must prioritize them in our classrooms through choice, no matter the challenges we face. 

“Who Killed Jay Gatsby?” Introducing Fitzgerald’s Classic Novel with a Murder Mystery By Abby Weller-Hall

 “Who Killed Jay Gatsby?” 

Introducing Fitzgerald’s Classic Novel with a Murder Mystery

By Abby Weller-Hall

I’ve been teaching F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic The Great Gatsby for sixteen years now. I could probably recite the novel cover to cover. For other English teachers, this may feel like a life-sentence being chained to a classic. You might be asking, how do you not lose your mind “beating on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly” to reteach the same novel year after year?

I have taught Gatsby in a number of school settings from suburban and rural brick-and-mortars to statewide cyber schools. I’ve taught Gatsby from the lowest levels to AP Literature and everything in between. Every year I look forward to it because I learned how to make a book about horrible rich people be interesting to teenagers who, given the choice of following the rich, would rather be watching the Kardashians on TikTok.

The introduction to the novel is the key to engagement. If you are also teaching Gatsby this year, ditch that lame anticipation guide and instead host an interactive live-action game of Clue that everyone participates in as either a character-actor or a detective to discover who killed Gatsby. Here’s how to do it: 

First, hype up the event by handing out fancy invitations (made on Canva; example below) to the Gatsby Murder Mystery Party a couple of weeks in advance. Be sure to mention it daily! 

Next, ask for volunteers to be the actors for the following roles: Tom, Daisy, Nick, Jordan, Meyer Wolfsheim, Henry Gatz, Ewing Klipspringer, a Funeral Director, and a Journalist. A Google Form will help you collect student acting interest. However, assure the actors that they don’t need to memorize any lines, just read them from their character’s clue sheet. 

Each actor gets a brief description of their character and several clues that they can tell if the “detectives” ask. The clues should include some red herrings, of course! 

Note that I create characters not in the novel (i.e. the Funeral Director and the Journalist) to help sell the mystery.  There are also characters I didn’t include, but certainly could be added (i.e Owl Eyes, Michaelis, Myrtle’s sister Catherine, etc.) For extra fun, give the actors props too (Daisy gets a pearl necklace, Meyer gets a couple of fake molars, etc.). Encourage the actors to dress fancy for the day.

On the day of your Gatsby Murder Mystery, have students enter a classroom that is somber (because it’s a funeral for Jay Gatsby). Put up a sign indicating that George and Myrtle Wilson’s funeral is tomorrow. If you really want to sell it, get a prop coffin from a Halloween store.

As students enter the room, give them a “case file” checklist of characters where they can write down how characters respond to the questioning. Students are told they can ask any of your actors to tell them something about any other character (Ex. “Daisy, tell me something you know about Jordan”). Actors will reveal one of their clues when asked. 

Questioning goes round-robin, with all students writing down responses. All students must listen carefully to find a line of questioning that produces fruitful responses. After about forty minutes of questioning, students are asked to write down the three characters they think were either directly or indirectly connected to Gatsby’s murder. Pat yourself on the back for getting those speaking and listening standards met!

The students will expect you to tell them the correct answer at the end, but that’s where you hook them and say they’ll find out by reading the book! This is followed by a collective groan, but believe me, as kids read they will still be trying to figure out the mystery.

Although (spoiler alert) we know George is the killer, the discussion at the end of the novel about who was indirectly responsible for Gatsby’s murder is going to be the best discussion of the year because they have been primed to be looking for that the entire novel. The students will be reading with purpose, and that’s what any English teacher wants!

I’ve been doing the Gatsby Murder Mystery for nine years now and even adapted it for virtual settings. It takes some time to develop the character clues, but just consider what each character knows about the other characters in the novel. Then pick some detail that could be misconstrued. For instance, ask the journalist about Gatsby and he might say, “I heard he was a German spy.” After students finish the novel, I ask them what clues they would have given instead! This will help them analyze the character-plot connections.

Every year students say it was their favorite book and I really believe it’s because the murder mystery party tricked them into analyzing literature much deeper than they had before. The murder mystery can be done year after year without ever getting boring. 

So when someone tells you that you can’t relive this past, tell them “why of course you can, old sport!”

Embracing Linguistic Diversity in the English Classroom Part 2: “Advanced” (or “advancing”) Strategies to Go Deep By: Hannah Lewis

Embracing Linguistic Diversity in the English Classroom 

Part 2: “Advanced” (or “advancing”) Strategies to Go Deep

By: Hannah Lewis

Back in August, I drafted my blog post, “Embracing Linguistic Diversity in the English Classroom,” which has become a two-installment series, the first of which went live on September 1.

 
Since then, I’ve had numerous opportunities to center language, and I’m excited to share not only some other strategies I use in my classroom but also to talk about what I’ve seen from my students in the past month or so.
Some strategies from the first installment included introducing code-switching, elevating dialect-rich texts, and allowing students to teach you about their languages. 

I want to start by sharing some additional techniques and invite you to find ways to build linguistic diversity into your classroom.

4. Invite your students to use their dialects and home languages in their writing as much as possible:

I believe that this is the most powerful and also the most challenging tool in our teaching toolbox. But how do we find the time to invite students to write in home languages or dialects when we haven’t yet guided them to mastery of the SAE we are required to teach? Honestly, it comes down to a question of priorities. For me, it is urgent for all of my students to understand that language diversity is a strength, not a weakness.

One example in which I was very proud of my students who skillfully expressed their linguistic diversity was the “Remember” poem exercise. I introduce students to Joy Harjo’s “Remember” and then invite them to “reflect back on [their] life, education, values, family, community, and goals. What do [they] want to remember as [they] move into adulthood in the coming years? What is important to [them] not to forget?”

The poems students generate are always very high-quality, since (I hope) the question is relevant to them as they prepare to conclude their junior year.

There is nothing in the directions for this assignment that specifically invites students to include home languages or dialects, though I do account for those choices in my scoring rubric, in which “style and conventions” are measured by “appropriate and creative stylistic choices” as opposed to, say, “proper grammar and punctuation,” whatever that might mean. However, thanks to the personal nature of the assignment and (I hope) the culture of linguistic inclusivity I’ve built, I receive beautiful works like this one, excerpted below:

Read
The hospital records […]
“January 30, 2008: 20 lbs. 6 oz., [student full name], severe allergies to animal dander, chickpea,
dairy, gluten, sesame, shellfish, soy, tree nuts…”
Read
The last resort, a homeopathic regimen, a recommendation from a friend of a friend of a friend
(The Desi Way™)
"આસિનકમ આબમ: ખોરાક સાથે દરરોજ 3 વખત 3 ગોળઓ" (“Arsenicum album: 3 tablets 3x
daily w/ food”)
"કક રયા કાબિનકા: 5 ગોળઓ દરરોજ 2 વખત, સવાર અને રાે " (“Calcarea carbonica: 5 tablets
2x daily, morning & night”)
"નેમ ુરયાટકમ: 3 ગોળઓ દરરોજ 3 વખત ખોરાક સાથે" (“Natrum muriaticum: 3 tablets 3x
daily w/ food”)

When I was grading these poems, I saw this as an opportunity to give my students a platform, so during our next class, I created a “gallery walk.”  I asked five students (including the poet excerpted above) to lead breakout rooms (remember, I’m teaching virtually. In a classroom, they could just be standing next to their poem, or not representing their poem at all, but visiting other poets’). Students moved from one poem to the next and did a fairly straightforward “I notice/I wonder” activity like this one.

5. Teach the history of linguistic erasure

This recommendation is short and sweet. Although I’m inviting readers to teach history, know that as English teachers, the history of English is a part of our curriculum, and English has a long history of swallowing up or stomping out other languages.

Teach students about how enslaved Africans were forced to learn English as a survival strategy, learning from enslavers and from their peers who spoke dozens of different African languages, and how they were denied the right to learn to read and write because reading and writing give people power.

Teach them how boarding schools in our own state housed abducted Indigenous children and enforced strict “English Only” policies that have decimated Indigenous generational language transmission.
Knowing the destructive power that requirements to speak a certain way can have can help students understand why honoring linguistic diversity is so vital to a fair and equitable society. 

What if I don’t have any students who speak Gujarati (or any other language than English), or any students who speak AAVE, either? 

First, I’d invite you to ask yourself how you know. Even the most homogenous-seeming affluent, rural, or suburban schools can serve many minoritized communities, and those students may especially need safe spaces to express and explore aspects of their identities that their peers might not share or, worse, might criticize. 

However, even if you feel quite sure that there is little linguistic diversity in your primarily-SAE-speaking district, consider this: Your students may need these lessons more than anyone else. Too often, I hear linguistically privileged adults–even teachers–lament students’ “terrible grammar” and “awful writing,” without realizing they are engaging in a form of prejudice. By exposing my students who grew up primarily speaking SAE and being rewarded for it to the beauty English has to offer outside the limitations within which how they speak it, my hope is that, in the future, they will recognize the legitimacy of the language others’ use, and they will be less inclined to judge someone’s intellect or education based on the way they speak. 

While we may not all always be able to leverage students’ linguistic diversity to expose their peers to brilliant, interesting, and relatable people who speak differently than they do, we still have the opportunity to be thoughtful about the texts we teach, the media we share, and the way we talk about writing and speaking outside of SAE conventions. 

Further Reading:
For those who have not yet read Gloria Anzaldúa’s “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” I highly suggest that, as a teacher of the English language, you try to find the time to read it. Anzaldúa does an incredible job of explaining the impact of her Englishes on her identity. I’ve used it in the past with my A.P. Language and Composition students. For younger students or those whose reading skills need developing, Julia Alvarez’s “Names/Nombres” is another great choice.

Call to Action: Maybe you haven’t given much thought to the tensions between building up students and their communities on one hand and insisting on a single, correct version of Standard American English in your classroom. Now that you know, what will you do to ensure that you leverage your classroom to uplift linguistically diverse students and their communities?

Appendix: Want to see how my pedagogy for linguistic equity is playing out in my classroom so far? I’ll attach an appendix with some artifacts from this school year that have really helped me to feel like I’m getting my students to think critically about the role of language in their lives and in the lives of others. Find the appendix here.