SPRINGDALE — A poetry slam Tuesday at Walker Elementary School helped students enhance literacy skills and learn what it’s like to perform as a poet.
Fourteen students in first through fifth grade gathered in the school cafeteria and performed poems for their classmates and teachers. The floor of the cafeteria was crowded with children while students walked on stage and one by one read their poems.
The poetry slam was part of the school’s annual literacy day.
Students at Walker are learning about poetry in class, said Joy Shirley, assistant principal. Students each wrote a poem and performed it for their class. Students in each class voted for one of their classmates to read their poem at the poetry slam, she said.
Learning about poetry helps increase children’s literacy skills, because it helps them learn vocabulary and word pronunciation, said Cynthia Haas, Arts In Education manager for the Arkansas Arts Council. Arts In Education is a program that works to start art programs in schools and helps with existing ones.
Rhythm, rhymes and short lines in poetry also can help students who struggle with reading.
“In the end, I think it teaches them to love reading,” Haas said.
Levi Moore, 10, performed a poem called “If I Were In Charge Of The World.” He said he’s been learning about poetry in class and has learned new words he can use when he’s writing.
Second-graders at Walker are using poetry journals in their classes, said Teri Isabell, a second-grade teacher. She incorporates poetry into each unit she teaches during the year.
“It’s the flow of the poetry, that’s a beautiful language on its own,” she said.
Reading poetry can help students develop analytical skills, said Elizabeth Burke-Dain, director of marketing and media for the Poetry Foundation. The foundation is a nonprofit organization focused on expanding the audience for poetry. A lot of poetry is open for interpretation by the reader.
“There’s no right answer,” she said.
Studying poetry also allows students to focus on the emotion a writer is trying to convey, said Jennifer Benka, executive director of the Academy of American Poets, by email. The academy is a nonprofit organization focused on contemporary and American poetry.
“Poems are art objects and also opportunities to realize the power and possibility of language,” she said.
Giselle Diaz, 9, performed a poem called “How To Eat A Poem.” She said she likes reading poems to an audience, because it allows her to add elements of drama to the reading.
“I really like how you act so much,” she said.
Emma Davis, 10, performed a poem about poetry. She said she has learned creative ways to express her ideas by reading and writing poetry.
“You can express anything you want to,” she said.
Having an audience, such as the poetry slam, gives writing a purpose for students, said Leslie Lovelace, instructional facilitator at Walker.
“This is part of growing up and sharing what they write with other people,” she said.
Walker has had a literacy day every year for about 15 years, Shirley said. The day has a theme every year, which is decided by teachers and school officials. Tuesday’s poetry slam was the first school-wide poetry reading at Walker on which first through third grade students have performed, Lovelace said.