Spoken word performance as activism: Middle school poets challenge American racism

Abstract

This study explored how middle-level teachers can combine a public platform for student voice, content related to the American Dream, and pedagogy informed by Tatum’s racial identity development to prompt students to: explore their racial and civic identities; engage in critical, inclusive dialogue; complicate traditional narratives about America; and practice advocacy and activism within-and-beyond the classroom. The primary research questions addressed were: 1) When given a platform, what do racially diverse students say about the American Dream? 2) What pedagogy prepares students to engage in advocacy and activism within-and-beyond the classroom? 3) What is the effect of using spoken word pedagogy? We used inductive coding and thematic analysis of student poems and teacher reflections to derive findings. This study evidenced that students used their voices as activists to confront American racism, seek racial identity affirmation, advance racial equality, and question racial oppression. Further, it demonstrated how the concept of the American Dream and the use of spoken word pedagogy have the unique ability to help students and teachers build understanding across lines of racial difference, engage in dialogue that increases learning, and make the classroom a place of liberation. We provide Implications for racial identity work in middle-level teacher preparation and among middle-level students.