Poetry Slam - Whakatane 27th March

Last week I took five students to the Whakatane Library and Exhibition Centre's Poetry Slam Competition.

I'd been talking about poetry slam and spoken word for weeeeeeks and finally on the day of, a bunch of kids decided they wanted to come. Mad dash to book the van and contact whanau, pick ups and heading over there.

Such an awesome experience!!

I'd already shared some of my pieces with my students so they knew what they were instore for with me, but the looks on their faces when others stood up and performed was incredible. It's hard to describe a poetry slam. But they get it now. Hopefully the connections we made on the night lead us to being able to create our own slam poetry club and comps at kura this year.

What was most cool for me, was seeing one of students who I'd been trying hard to connect with, stand and perform the poem he had written earlier that day while in class with me. He'd shown me it, not long after I'd presented a couple of mine to the class. Heartbreaking and raw and full of his truth.

When he presented to the audience, you could hear the collective love reach out for him and support him as he read on. A beautiful experience. After he'd finished, one of the poets shared a poem she'd written 16 years ago. A poem she'd written for her nephew. My student's poem had deeply resonated for her. The connection between her and my student was magic and filled with shared trauma and albeit, survival.

Afterwards, they talked together and she said that she hoped she'd see him again at the next one.

It's moments like these, small, precious moments, that make me remember why I love teaching and why I became a teacher. Because this is real. These moments are created to enable authentic learning experiences and the ability to develop and enhance our students.

When it came time for the judges critiques, all of us stood waiting. The koroua beside me grabbed a chair and sat down. He was waiting the longest. His poems were incredible. Even J was impressed. Side note: hilarious moments watching J learn how to snap for the poets. He'll be practicing for a while I think 😂

My students said they were getting nervous for me, as if the judges had forgotten about me because they'd thought my name hadn't gotten called out yet.

Then finally, they called my name. I stepped forward, listened to their feedback and feed forward comments. And got Runners Up. ❤

My new poetry idols Abraham and Surja(?) got 2nd and 1st.

I wish I'd gotten the koro to write his unicorn poem down for me. It was awesome. - Unicorns are horses. We chop their unicorns off and put them in paddocks because we fear them - we put our fears in a paddock and lock them away. There was more - but that's the gist. So. Deep.

All in all, an awesome experience. The kids were absolutely buzzing afterwards. Eager for the next competition in September. They said, "That's far away!" So - looks like we'll be having to create more opportunities like these. I'd love to take this group, my First Five, to the Frontline in Auckland.

Now - I need to sit down with Arana from Whakatohea and Abraham from BOPDHB to create a plan for our tauira. ❤ Exciting times ahead.