Every year, all ISW students, from the very youngest to the oldest, participate in Poetry Panel. Students memorize and perform (not just recite!) poetry for an audience and a team of judges. The judges then give feedback using ISW’s Three Stars and a Wish format—three positives and one thing to do differently next time. Many thanks to our judges: actor/director La Tasha Do’zia-Early, Children’s Librarian Donna Hughes, and poet Margaret Stetler.
Today we heard from the Upper Elementary and Middle School students. It was amazing—from the very serious (Never Shall I Forget by Eli Wiesel and First They Came for the Jews by Martin Niemoller) to the comic (Adventures of Isabel by Ogden Nash). We heard Prelutsky and Longfellow, Silverstein and Keillor, Angelou and Dickinson. It was truly a lovely morning.
Why would a modern, progressive school spend so much time on something as old-fashioned as memorizing poetry? There are many strong reasons. Here are our top five:
#5: Poetry Panel gives students the chance to get to know a poem “up close and personal,” to think for an extended time about what it might mean and how best to portray that thought or feeling.
#4: Poetry Panel gives puts the lyrical language from some of our world’s greatest writers within students’ reach.
#3: Confidence in public presentation is and will continue to be an incredibly important life skill.
#2: Occasionally, students will miss a line. Learning to take a moment to recover with composure is another key life skill.
#1: It is just plain fun to entertain and enlighten our friends and family with our favorite works!