Quick Thoughts on Bronwen Low's essay, "Slammin' School"

Low's examination of the use of slam and spoken word poetry struck me as an instructive instance of the "essence" of what a teacher is trying to teach being captured and translated into the parlance of the students they are trying to teach. Trying to teach William Blake or memorize Flanders Fields certainly no longer seem like the best entry-points for students in most educational settings in Canada, but particularly in urban educational contexts. Knowledge of one's students must be the starting point for any educational project, and it seems self-evident that the teacher, "Tim," worked backwards from this precept to arrive at the conclusion of slam poetry as the best way to make the liberating form, exploratory freedom, and communicative power of poetry accessible, relevant, and enticing for his students.

Looking to Tim's excellent work, alongside poet-in-residence Rashidah, I cannot help but think the lesson here is not that slam poetry itself is the ideal access-point for every Canadian classroom, but rather that attentiveness to students' interests and passions is the key for connecting them with the curriculum and other educational goals you maintain.