New Voices Are Heard at Simsbury High School

Project VOICE Poets Phil Kaye (left) and Franny Choi (second from left) chat with Simsbury High School juniors and seniors about spoken-word poetry after the duo’s performance on Oct. 13 in the auditorium. Photo courtesy of Simsbury High School

On Oct. 13, 2015, in the Simsbury High School (SHS) auditorium, the entire junior and senior classes heard a different voice from what they were accustomed to when two spoken-word poets from Project VOICE performed for them.

Project VOICE’s goal is to make poetry accessible for students, using it as a tool to better understand society and the community in which students live. At SHS spoken word poetry has primarily been the domain of senior Advanced Placement (AP) classes only. In May of each year, after the AP Literature and Composition 12th grade exam, teachers of the course host a “Senior Poetry Slam,” in which students perform an original poem.

Recognizing the potential for poetry to inspire, SHS English teacher Linda Miron sought a way to bring it to a wider student population. When she hatched the idea of inviting professional poets to school, SHS English Department Supervisor Georgia Robert and English teachers John Mudano and Jed Flaherty worked together to support her efforts.

Onstage the two poets, Franny Choi and Phil Kaye, connected with the audience by talking about the one thing they all have in common—families—including varying degrees of dysfunction. Their stories ranged from poignant to hilarious, and even though the fast cadence of the recitations left some members of the audience struggling to process meaning, for many more, it was apparent that this brand new experience was reaching them.

Prior to the experience, for many students live performance meant music, not the spoken word. Won over by the energy and the message of the performances, they discovered that poetry can be a part of popular culture and that there is room for all forms of artistic expression. In response to one student’s question about the relationship between rap music and poetry, Kaye noted, “Rap music and poetry are like a Venn diagram. It’s not a competition; we are not at war with each other.”

Broadening the experience, the day after the performance, SHS’s English Department held a professional development workshop with Choi and Kaye to explore how the faculty might bring spoken word poetry into their classrooms and begin to create a “poetry culture.” They participated in a variety of exercises designed to give teachers strategies to move poetry off of the printed page and make it more engaging to students. Even for the most seasoned teachers, sharing their writing and personal thoughts during these exercises meant confronting natural fears of being vulnerable.

Said Robert, “They walked us through it in a scaffolded way to make it less scary. Eventually we hope to create a coffee house type of space that leaves students feeling like just getting up there to perform is the victory.”

Robert was excited by the success of the two days, acknowledging that it was a group effort from many areas of the educational community. Said Robert, “We are grateful to the SPTC [Simsbury Parent-Teacher Organization], which provided some financial support for the project.”

For more information about Project Voice, visit www.projectvoice.co.