Slam+Poetry

media type="youtube" key="tpog1_NFd2Q" width="425" height="350" 1. Search "Taylor Mali" on Youtube. Listen and watch to several poems. Choose one that you understand and that "speaks" to you.

2. Create a new page on your wiki called “Slam Poetry”
 * 1) embed the video onto your page.
 * 2) On your page discuss the use of poetic devises. Discuss the overall meaning of the poem (theme). Discuss why you choose this poem. Of course, use specific examples from the poem!

*hint you may be able to find the text for your poem on his website.


 * Due Friday December 10th - MIdnight! **

In my opinion, the overall meaning of this poem is the fact that although people may not realize it, (in the poem, the lawyer says " it's true what they say about teachers: Those who can, do; those who can't, teach) good teachers are able to have a huge influence on a student's performance, and where they go in life. Teacher's do more than just teaching facts, they give student's a view of their full potential and the fact that they can be so much more than just mediocre. There are many literary devices used in this poem. Mali uses metaphors when he says: "I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face". He uses irony in this poem, and starts out saying all the mean things teachers do, but going onto say that he actually does them to help the student's realize their full potential. He uses rhyme and rhythm when he says: " make kids wonder, I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them apologize and mean it". He uses repetition when he says "I make them write, write, write. And then I make them read. I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful".
 * Poem: What A Teacher Makes**
 * I chose this poem, because I found it to be an emotional and sincere poem, straight from Taylor Mali's heart. Out of all the poems I listened to by Taylor Mali, this one was the one I found stroke the most emotions in me. It's a very inspirational poem, about a relatively serious topic that not many artists talk about. In all honesty, teachers do more than just teach a standard curriculum to students. Teachers have the ability to show a student who he/she really is, and to make them proud to have done their very best. In this poem, Taylor Mali states that he can make a C+ feel like a medal, and an A- feel like a slap in the face, because as a teacher, he supports students doing their very best, no matter what their best is. This poem is my favorite by him, and definitely the one that I can relate to the most. **
 * This poem starts out as a story, where Taylor Mali is at a lawyer's dinner party. When the lawyer asks Mali in all honesty, what does he make, Taylor begins to tell him about all the things he makes in students. Although it's eviden **t that the lawyer is asking about Mali's salary, Taylor obviously twists his words into something deeper. Near the end of the poem, Mali also says "I make them understand that if you got this (brains) then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you give them this (the finger)." as if to answer the lawyer's original question without actually letting the lawyer know how much he makes.