Recitation Contest: Teacher's Guide

A recitation contest
for Canadian high

schools
Recitation
Contest
Teachers Guide
poetryinvoice.com | lesvoixdelapoesie.com
PIV_LVP
Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie
Fourth Edition
Contents
The Competition
2
4
7
8
9
10
11
14
Competition Overview
Organizing the Contest Events
Rules
Suggested Activities
Sample Class Schedule
Judging the Contest
Evaluation Criteria and Tips for Contestants
Publicity Tips
Lesson Plans
16
18
20
22
25
What Poetry Is
The Tone Map
Poems in Daily Life
The Tabloid Ballad
The Response Poem
Forms and Checklists

28
29
30
31
32
33
34
Tone List
Event Preparation
Judges for the School Contest
Scoring Rubric
Evaluation Sheet
Accuracy Score Sheet
Online Semifinals
Additional copies of this publication can be

downloaded from the Teachers section of our website.
Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie | Teachers Guide | poetryinvoice.com
Welcome
Welcome to Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la posie,
a national, bilingual poetry recitation contest for
high-school students in Canada. Poetry In Voice was
founded by Scott Griffin, Chairman and Founder
of The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry. The
Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry raises awareness of the crucial role poetry plays in our cultural
life, a mission shared by Poetry In Voice.
Recitation helps students master public speaking
skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their
literary heritage. Their ability to communicate
complex ideas in powerful language and to present
themselves well in public will help them to succeed
in the future. Public speaking is a crucial life skill,
a fact that is reflected in the increased emphasis on
oral communication in curricula across the country.
As a poet myself, one of the most exciting and
rewarding perks of working on this ambitious
project has been talking to students about the
poems they have discovered through our anthology.
In some lucky cases, we have been able to introduce
a finalist to the poet who wrote the very poem the
student had learned by heart. Drawing meaningful
connections between contemporary Canadian poets
and our next generation of readers is a thrill. Ive

also been impressed with how the students perspectives and personalities animate their pre-20th
century selections the words come alive through
their voices.
The contest is bilingual and encourages both
English- and French-speaking students to explore
the rich literary history of Canadas two official
languages by offering three competition streams:
English, Bilingual, and French. The contest can be
an excellent means of engaging student interest in
the learning of English or French as a second or
other language, though we recommend students
stick to their best strengths and only compete in
the Bilingual or French categories if they are truly
proficient in French.
Thank you for joining us.
Damian Rogers
Creative Director
Poetry In Voice takes poetry back to its oral

roots
its connection with the voice, with
heard rhythm while connecting with an
ancient tradition that has recently been revived
in several forms: Poetry as performance.
Memorizing a poem is a way of knowing
it inside out in all five of its
dimensions. Margaret Atwood
The
Competition
Everything you
need to know about
preparing your students
for the contest
STRUCTURE
The Poetry In Voice Recitation Contest follows a
pyramid structure that begins at the classroom
level. Students advance in the following manner:
Step 1: Students memorize and recite one poem in the classroom.
Step 2: The best students from the classroom level advance to a
school-wide competition.
Step 3: School champions advance to the Online Semifinals.
A school may have one school champion in each prize stream
(English, Bilingual, French).
Step 4: The final stage of the competition is the National Finals
in the spring.
See our website for all deadlines, contest dates,

and venue information.
Prizes
More than $75,000 in prizes are offered at the official
contests identified and conducted by Poetry In Voice.
The prizes do not apply to other unofficial contests. To
officially enrol your school in Poetry In Voice, please
fill out the electronic sign-up form on our website.
Prizes for School Contests: School-wide prizes are at

the discretion of the school; schoolsare encouraged to offer
prizes for their own winners where possible. Certificates of
participation are available on our website.
Prizes for Online Semifinals: Students who advance
from the Online Semifinals to the national level will win a trip
to the Poetry In Voice National Finals. Poetry In Voice will cover
travel and accommodation costs for the student and an adult
chaperone. Please see the FAQ on our website for details on
which expenses are included.
Prizes at the National Finals: First, second, and third
prizes are awarded in each of the three prize streams:
st
$5,000 for the student champion

$1,000 for the student champions school library
($500 reserved for the purchase of poetry books)
nd $1,000 for the student champion

$500 for the student champions school library
(reserved for the purchase of poetry books)
rd $500 for the student champion

$250 for the student champions school library
(reserved for the purchase of poetry books)
Competition Structure
CLASSROOM CONTEST
IN FRONT OF CLASS
SCHOOL CONTEST
LIVE ONSTAGE
ONLINE SEMIFINALS
VIDEO SUBMISSIONS
NATIONAL FINALS
LIVE ONSTAGE
ENGLISH
STREAM
1 poem in
English
2 poems in
English
3 poems in
English
3 poems in
English
BILINGUAL
STREAM
1 poem in
English or
French
2 poems:
1 in English,
1 in French
2 poems:
1 in English,
1 in French
2 poems:
1 in English,
1 in French
FRENCH
STREAM
1 poem in
French
2 poems in
French
3 poems in
French
3 poems in
French
continued
Legal participation requirements
To accommodate schools testing demands and

vacation calendars, Poetry In Voice can be implemented at the school level any time during the fall
or through the early winter. Annual deadlines will
be posted on our website; please be sure to organize your school contest in advance of the submission
deadline for the Online Semifinals.
Classroom time and schedule
Dont be afraid to start small when introducing

the competition at your school. Our goal is that
the competition will adapt to the unique culture of
each school, becoming an anticipated event in the
schools calendar.
Students must be attending a Canadian school. No student may

be excluded from participation in this competition on the basis
of race, colour, religion, sex, disability, sexual orientation, or
national origin. Schools may determine eligibility for classroomand school-level Poetry In Voice pursuant to local law.
Homeschooled students must make arrangements to compete
at a participating high school in their area. Please see the Rules
section of our website for complete eligibility requirements.
Poetry In Voice has been designed to fit into a

teachers busy schedule while supporting curriculum requirements (see the Teachers section of our
website for an outline of how this contest connects to
your provincial curriculum requirements).
Teachers may choose to use our optional lesson
plans and are encouraged to prepare students for the
competition in the classroom over the span of two
to three weeks, according to each teachers interest
and agenda. Preparations will not require full class
periods during that time. Some teachers may choose
to be available for a few lunchtime or after-school
coaching sessions to help students prepare.
Running the Competition
Register
your
school
Choose your lead teacher and

determine prize streams
School champions prepare

for Online Semifinals
Record
recitation
videos
Teacher uploads
videos at
poetryinvoice.com
School
Contest
Explore poems
with students
Classroom winners
select and practice
second poem
Online
Semifinals run by
Poetry In Voice
Students choose
and practice
one poem
Classroom
Contests
National Finals Finalists

from across the country
compete in three streams
3

Lead teacher
OUR THREE PRIZE STREAMS
We recommend that each school identify one teacher

to serve as the coordinator of Poetry In Voice. Duties
for the lead teacher will include enlisting fellow
teachers to participate, distributing materials,
organizing the school events, and keeping in touch
with us.
Students may choose to compete

in the English prize stream, the
Bilingual prize stream, or the
French prize stream. We recommend that students work to
their strengths and only enter
the Bilingual stream of the competition if they are
proficient in both languages, as in the case of French
immersion students. Please note that students who
choose the French stream will be competing against
native French speakers from across the country.
Dont hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns: info@poetryinvoice.com

Begin organizing your school event as early as
possible in order to encourage greater attendance. Please see page 14 for tips on promoting the
event within your school and community. Be sure
to schedule your school contest early enough that
your school champion(s) have time to create their
recitation videos before the Online Semifinals deadline, which will be posted on our website each year.
Length of contest
small and large schools
Classroom contests can be held during class periods.
A schools final contest should run less than two
hours; any longer than that can be difficult for the
audience. Ideally, 6 to 15 students should compete in
each schools final contest.
Smaller Format: If your school has 6 to 15 classes
participating in the competition, send one winner from each class

to the school contest. If fewer than 6 classes are participating, 2
students from each class may advance to the school contest.
Larger Format: If more than 15 classes are participating,
you might consider holding grade-level competitions first,

allowing two or three students from each grade to advance to
the school contest.
In structuring your contest(s), keep in mind that

each recitation takes approximately 3 to 4 minutes
(though this estimate is only an average; length of
recitations will vary with length of poems students
select). Judges will require another minute to mark
scores, yielding a rough average of 4 to 5 minutes
per recitation.
Poem selection at each contest level

Students must select poems from the Poetry In
Voice/Les voix de la posie online anthology.
Classroom contests:
Students must prepare one poem.

School contests:
Students must prepare two poems.

Online Semifinals and National Finals:
Students must prepare three poems to compete in the English

and French prize streams and two poems to compete in the
Bilingual stream.
Contestants recite their poems in rounds, not consecutively, with students reciting one poem in each round.
ENGLISH AND FRENCH PRIZE STREAMS:
Students competing in the English and French prize

streams at the upper levels of the contest must meet
the following criteria with their poem selections:
1. one must be 25 lines or fewer
2. one must be written before the 20th century
The same poem may be used to fulfil both requirements.

BILINGUAL STREAM:
Students competing in the Bilingual prize stream

must select two poems:
1. one poem in English
2. one poem in French
Their selections are not governed by any other criteria.

It is strongly recommended that students who
compete beyond the classroom level select poems
of varied style, time period, and voice. Diversity in
their selections will offer a richer and more complete
performance.
Poem order
Students must provide the names of their poems
and the order in which they will be recited in
advance to the contest coordinators at every level of
the competition. Contestants may not change their
selections or order once they have been submitted.
Online anthology
Students must select poems for recitation from
our online anthology. Creative Director and poet
Damian Rogers selected the English poems in the
anthology. Poet, novelist, and biographer Pierre
Nepveu edited the French portion of the anthology.
PREPARING FOR THE SCHOOL CONTEST

Please see page 29 and 30 for event preparation
checklists (they are also available for download in
the Competition section of our website).
Venue
Reserve a school theatre, auditorium, or other
appropriate venue. The ideal setting will have a
stage and theatre-style seating. Competitors will
stand alone on stage in front of the audience while
reciting their poems. Other competitors may be
seated either to the side of the stage or in the front
row of the audience. Depending on the size of the
venue, amplification may be appropriate.
Note that microphones will be used at the National Finals.
continued
Staffing the competition

At the school-wide competition, you will need volunteers to serve in a variety of roles:
Coordinator (1 or 2): The lead teacher may be best suited
for this role. The coordinator will ensure that the event runs
smoothly, all volunteers are present, judges are briefed before
the event, scoring is accurate, etc.
MC (1): An MC will guide the competition from start to
finish, providing welcoming remarks, introducing judges and

students, and announcing winners. The MC or the coordinator
will need to keep an eye on the judges to make sure they have
enough time to complete their scoring before the next student
begins to recite. Since judges may need a minute between
recitations to finish scoring and hand in their evaluation
sheets, you may want to ask the MC to entertain the audience
or fill that time with biographical information about the
poets or competing students (which you would need to have
prepared). Another idea is to have music, live or recorded,
between recitations.
Judges (35) and an accuracy judge (1): If students

will be reciting poems in French as well as English, you will
need a French-language judge (1) and French-language
accuracy judge (1). See page 30 of this Teachers Guide for
advice on selecting judges.
Prompter (1): See page 10 of this Teachers Guide for
information on the prompters role.
Score tabulator (1 or 2): During the competition, someone
should input the judges scores in a spreadsheet so that no time

is wasted totaling scores after the recitations are finished.
Ushers: You may want to create a program for the event
that lists the competitors and the poems they will be reciting,
while also recognizing any local businesses that may have
contributed to the contest. If so, plan on having a few ushers
to hand out programs.
Introducing the poem

At the competition, the MC should introduce the
students as they come to the stage to recite. It is
the students job to identify the poem by announcing both the title and the author. (For example,
The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats
or The World Is Too Much With Us by William
Wordsworth.) The poems must be recited from
memory. Recitations must include epigraphs if
included in the Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la posie
online anthology, but a students own editorial comments before or after the poem are not allowed.

Scoring
For a full description of criteria, refer to the
Scoring Rubric on page 31; the Evaluation Sheet
and the Accuracy Score Sheet can be found on page
32 and page 33. All three can be downloaded from
the Competitions section of our website.
Print out the score sheets before the school contest,
and fill in the names of the participants and the
titles of the poems they will recite. Have these in
the order of recitation before the competition, with
one set for each judge. After each recitation, judges
should turn in their completed evaluation sheets to
the score tabulator, who will be adding up the scores
throughout the competition. The accuracy judges
score will be added to other judges scores in the
tabulation of each round.
Print the evaluation and accuracy forms on different
coloured paper to easily identify which forms were used in
which round.
Awards
Certificates of participation are available for download in the Competition section of our website. You
may wish to solicit prizes from local businesses, if
appropriate. Other ideas for gifts at the school level
include blank journals and poetry anthologies.
School champions are named for each of the categories in which students compete at your school:
English, Bilingual, and/or French. It is good practice
continued
to name a runner-up for each category as well, in

the event that a student champion is unable to continue in the competition.
Competition schedule
A typical school-wide competition may look something like this, based on 10 students, an average
recitation time of 34 minutes each (please note that
length of recitation varies with length of selected
poems and this number is given only as a guideline
for organizing purposes; recitations are not timed),
and 1 minute between recitations for scoring:
1:00
Welcoming remarks and introduction of the judging panel,

prompter, accuracy judge and, if applicable, the Frenchlanguage judges. Recognition of any sponsors.
1:05
Review of the evaluation criteria for judging the recitations.

1:102:30
Recitations, taking place in two rounds. In the first round,

students will recite their first poem. In the second round,
students will recite their second poem.
2:30
Five-minute intermission for scoring to be completed and

winner(s) to be determined.
2:35
Announcement of winner(s).
Presentation of certificates and any prizes.
Rules
Student Eligibility
Judging and Scoring
ff Students must be in grades 912. In Quebec, students must
ff Students recitations must be evaluated according to the
ff A teacher must register on the Poetry In Voice website
ff Scoring is cumulative. The scores from all rounds should be
be in secondary III, IV, V, or in CEGEP.
in order for students at his/her school to be eligible to

participate in the Online Semifinals and National Finals.
ff Students must participate in their school competition
before progressing to the upper levels of the competition.

Homeschooled students must make arrangements to
compete at a participating high school in their area.
ff Schools may only name one champion per prize stream:

English, French, Bilingual.
ff National Champions (students who placed first in the
Poetry In Voice evaluation criteria.
added together to determine the winner.
ff In the event of a tie, the tied student with the highest
overall performance score should win; if that also results in

a tie, then look to the highest accuracy score.
ff Judges should not convene to discuss performances.

Rankings will be based solely on evaluation sheets
submitted by judges.
ff Judges may not reconsider their scores after submitting them.
English, French, or Bilingual prize stream) are not eligible to

compete in the same stream in subsequent years.
Poem Eligibility
ff All poems must be selected from the Poetry In Voice/Les voix
de la poesie online anthology.
ff Students competing in the English and French prize streams

at the upper levels of the contest must meet the following
criteria with their poem selections:

ff Students competing in the Bilingual prize stream must select
Dede Akolo from

Little Flower Academy
in Vancouver, British
Columbia, recites The
Lake Isle of Innisfree by
William Butler Yeats
two poems:

Recitations
ff Poems must be recited from memory.
ff Recitations must include epigraphs if included in the
Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poesie online anthology.
ff A student must say the title of the poem and the poets
name before each recitation. A students editorial
comments before or after a poem are not allowed.
ff The titles and the order of students poems must

be given in advance to the contest coordinators.
Students may not change them once they are
submitted.
ff Students recite their poems in rounds.

Poetry In Voice | Teachers Guide | poetryinvoice.com
Suggested Activities
Have students browse the online anthology.
Teach recitation skills.
Allow time for students to pick poems they like and

discuss why they like them.
Model both effective and ineffective recitation practices.
Begin class with a poem a day.
Elements of an effective recitation:
Play a video recitation or choose a poem to read

aloud to your class.
ff Sufficient volume
Ask students to select poems to recite.

Encourage them to build a range and level of difficulty, keeping in mind that long poems are not
always the most difficult. You may want to have them
master a poem with a simpler narrative first and
then have them pick a poem they are attracted to
but might not completely understand. The process
of memorizing and reciting should help a student
internalize the authors message and further explore
phrases and lines they could not master initially.
Discuss the poems in class.

If a student doesnt understand the text, neither will
the audience. Lead class discussions about students
selected poems.
ff An appropriate speed with the proper pauses

ff Voice inflection
ff Evidence of understanding
ff Correct pronunciation
ff Eye contact with the audience
Elements of an ineffective recitation:
ff Inaudible volume
ff Speaking too quickly
ff Monotone voice
ff Fidgeting
ff Overacting
Have students memorize a poem.
ff Using too many gestures
Share these memorization tips with your students:
ff Mispronouncing
ff Rewrite your poem by hand several times. Each time, try to

write more and more of it from memory.
ff Read your poem aloud before going to sleep at night and

repeat it when you wake up.
ff Carry around a copy of your poem in your pocket or bag.
Youll find several moments throughout the day to reread

or recite it.
ff Practise your poem by reciting it to family and friends.
Practise the poems.

Allow class time for students to practise their
poems. Partners should offer constructive criticism,
using the Scoring Rubric and the Evaluation Sheet
as a guide.
Include creative writing and media exercises.

Creative writing is a natural complement to Poetry
In Voice, and new media offer various options for
working closely with the poems. Optional lesson
plans are in the next section of this Teachers Guide
and on our website.
Sample Class Schedule

The following schedule is a suggestion only
teachers who do not wish to devote entire classroom periods to the recitation contest are encouraged to adapt these ideas as needed.
Poetry In Voice can be introduced in English class,

through the schools drama department or the
French department, or as an after-school elective
activity.
WEEK 1
Have students explore the anthology and choose poems to memorize. (1 full class session)
Read and discuss some of the poems in class. (23 full class sessions)
Model effective and ineffective recitation practices for the students. (1 full class session)
WEEK 2
Have students Practise their poems with different partners each day. They should also work on their memorization
and performance outside of school. Students should have their poems completely memorized and be able to recite without using a
printed copy by the end of the week. (15 minutes per day)
Hold practice contests. Break up the class into groups. Have one student at a time perform for the rest of the group, who act
as judges. Discuss the scoring choices with them. Encourage discussion about how the performer interpreted and presented the
poem. (1 full class session)
Use the lesson plans. While reserving a portion of each class for recitation practice, you may offer a more complete poetry unit
by using the creative writing and media-based lesson plans provided in this Teachers Guide. (15 full class sessions, optional)
Hold the classroom recitation contests at the end of the week. Bear in mind that it takes an average of 4 or 5
minutes to recite a poem and judge the recitation. Teachers should structure the contest in a way that best fits their schedules.
(12 full class sessions)
WEEK 3
Hold the school-wide recitation contest at the end of the week. Winners
of the classroom contests will prepare two poems for recitation and will compete in the
school-wide competition at the end of this week. Ideally, the school-wide competition
will take place at a school assembly, thus enhancing the entire student bodys exposure
to poetry and giving the contestants a larger audience. Students who have competed
before large groups will be more comfortable before the large audience at the National
Finals. (12 hours; school assembly)
Judging the Contest

Classroom and School Contests
Accuracy judge
The teacher can serve as the sole judge for a classroom contest. At the school contest, a group of
teachers may serve as judges, or you may invite
some community members to judge the contest.
Appropriate judges might be local poets, actors, professors, arts reporters, politicians, or members of
the school board. Judges should have some knowledge of poetry, although they need not be experts.
In order to eliminate any conflict of interest, judges
should not judge recitations of their own poems. If
students will be performing poems in French, you
will need additional French-language judges.
Assign a separate judge or a diligent student to

serve as an accuracy judge. The accuracy judge
should mark missed or incorrect words during
the recitation. Be sure that the accuracy judge is
consistent in how she or he deducts points; please
refer to the Accuracy Score Sheet on page 33 and
on our website for clear guidelines.
We strongly recommend that you print and fill out

the Evaluation and Accuracy Score Sheets before
the school contest.
French-language judge
If students will be performing any poems in French,
a qualified French-language judge and a Frenchlanguage accuracy judge must be included. The
scoring of French-language recitations must
follow the same criteria as those used for Englishlanguage recitations.
Tie-breaking
Send the poems, the Judges Guide (which can be
downloaded from our website), and a schedule of
your contest to the judges ahead of time. Invite them
to ask questions or schedule an orientation session
prior to the contest so all judges have consistent
scoring advice. You can also show them the Videos
section of our website so they know what to expect
from a poetry recitation competition.
In the event of a tie, the contestant with the highest

overall performance score should win; if that also
results in a tie, then go to the highest accuracy score.
Judges should refrain from interacting with the contestants and the audience until after the competition
has ended. Judges should not convene to discuss
their scores they should rate recitations independently and then immediately pass their score sheets
to a tabulator.
Let judges know that they will not be able to revisit
scores after they turn them in.
Prompter
Even the most experienced actors can forget their
lines. It is very helpful to have a teacher or student
sit in front of the competitors with a copy of the
poems to read along with the recitations, ready to
prompt students who get stuck on a line. Show the
students where the prompter is sitting before the
contest begins.
10
Evaluation Criteria
and Tips for Contestants
Teachers, coaches, and students may also find it useful to
see the Scoring Rubric on page 31.
ff Make sure you know how to pronounce every word in your

poem. Articulate.
ff Line breaks are a defining feature of poetry, with each one

Physical presence
This category evaluates the physical nature of the recitation. Consider the contestants poise, use of eye contact,
and body language.
Advice for the student:
ff Present yourself well and be attentive. Look confident.
calling for different treatment. Decide if a break requires a

pause and, if so, how long to pause.
Qualities of a strong recitation:
ff All words will be pronounced correctly, and the volume,
speed, pacing, and phrasing will greatly enhance the poem.

Pacing will vary where appropriate. Scores will be lower when
a recitation falls short on one or more of these elements.
ff Engage your audience. Look them in the eye. Nervous
gestures, poor eye contact with the audience, and lack of

poise or confidence will detract from a competitors score.
ff The competitor will appear at ease and comfortable
with the audience. He or she will engage the audience

through physical presence, including great body language,
confidence, and eye contact without appearing artificial.
All qualities of the contestants physical presence should
work together to the benefit of the poem. Nervous gestures,
poor posture, and lack of confidence or eye contact with the
audience will detract from a competitors score.
Caitlin Botros from Father James

Whelihan School in Calgary, Alberta,
recites At the Centre
by Afua Cooper
Voice and articulation

This category evaluates the auditory nature of the
recitation. Consider the students volume, speed,
use of voice inflection, and pronunciation. At the
upper levels of the competition, contestants will use
a microphone; where possible, one should be used in
school competitions as well.
A note on accents: No student will be penalized for his or
her natural accent. However, affected character accents are
strongly discouraged.
ff Project to the audience. You want to capture the attention

of everyone, including the people in the back row.
ff Proceed at an appropriate and natural pace. People
may speak or express themselves too quickly when they

are nervous, which can make a recitation difficult to
understand. Speak slowly, but not so slowly that the
language sounds unnatural or awkward.
ff With rhymed poems, be careful not to recite in a

sing-song manner.
11
Evaluation Criteria
continued
Appropriateness of dramatization
Recitation is about conveying a poems sense primarily with ones voice. In this way, recitation is
closer to the art of oral interpretation than theatrical performance. (Think storyteller or narrator
rather than actor.) Students may find it challenging
to convey the meaning of a poem without acting it
out, but a strong performance will rely on a powerful internalization of the poem rather than distracting dramatic gestures.
ff Do not act out the poem. Too much dramatization can
The reciter represents the poets voice during the

course of a recitation, not a characters. Appropriate
dramatization subtly enhances the audiences understanding and enjoyment of the poem without overshadowing the poems language.
distract your audience from the language of the poem.

Your goal should be to help audience members understand
the poem more deeply than they had before hearing your
recitation. Movement or affected character accents should
not detract from the authors voice.
ff You are the vessel for your poem. Have confidence that
your poem is strong enough to communicate its sounds and

messages without a physical illustration. In other words, let
the words of the poem do the work.
ff Depending on the poem, occasional subtle gestures may be
appropriate, but the line between appropriate and overdone

is thin. When uncertain, leave them out.
ff Avoid monotone delivery. If you sound bored, you will

project that boredom onto the audience.
ff However, too much enthusiasm can make your performance

seem insincere.
ff Please see our website for more tips for students.

ff The dramatization subtly highlights the meaning of the
poem without becoming the focal point of the recitation.

The performance is more about oral interpretation than
dramatic enactment.
A low score in this category will result from recitations

that have affected character voices and accents,
inappropriate tone, singing, distracting and excessive
gestures, or unnecessary emoting.
Kyla Kane from Vancouver Technical

Secondary School in Vancouver,
British Columbia, recites Chicago
by Carl Sandburg
12
Evaluation Criteria
Level of difficulty
This category evaluates the comparative difficulty
of the poem, which is the result of several factors.
A poem with difficult content conveys complex,
sophisticated ideas, which the student will be
challenged to grasp and express. A poem with
difficult language will have complexity of diction
and syntax, metre and rhyme scheme, and shifts
in tone and mood. Poem length is also a factor in
difficulty. Every poem is a different combination
of content, language, and length, and the judges
should score accordingly based on their independent evaluation of each poem.
Please note that a longer poem is not necessarily a more
difficult poem. The main objective is not to memorize large
passages of text but to demonstrate a grasp of complex
language. (See Evidence of Understanding, below.)
ff For competitions beyond the classroom level, select poems
of various styles, time periods, and tones. This diversity of

selection will offer a richer and more complete performance.
continued
ff The meaning of the poem will be powerfully and clearly
conveyed to the audience. The student will display an

interpretation that deepens and enlivens the poem.
Meaning, messages, allusions, irony, tones of voice, and
other nuances will be captured by the performance. A low
score will be awarded if the interpretation obscures the
meaning of the poem.
Overall performance
This category evaluates the overall success of the
recitation, taking into account the above criteria,
the originality of poem selection, and any other
factors that may impact a judges perception of the
students performance.
Accuracy
A separate judge will mark missed or incorrect
words during the recitation, with small deductions
for each. If the contestant relies on the prompter,
points will also be subtracted from the accuracy
score. Eight points will be added to the competitors
score for a perfect recitation. (See page 33 for additional guidance.)
Evidence of understanding
This category evaluates whether the performer
exhibits an understanding of the poem in his or
her recitation.
ff In order for the audience to understand the poem fully, the
performer must understand the poem fully. Be attentive to

the messages, meanings, allusions, irony, tones of voice, and
other nuances in your poem.
ff Be sure you know the meaning of every word and line in
your poem. If you are unsure about something, it will be

apparent to the audience and judges. Dont hesitate to ask
your teacher for help.
ff Think about how you should interpret the tone and
volume and voice of your poem. Is it a quiet poem? Is it a

boisterous poem? Should it be read at a quicker or slower
pace, with a happy or mournful tone? Your interpretation
will be different for each poem, and it is a crucial element
of your performance.
13
Publicity Tips
Here are some simple ways to increase awareness
of Poetry In Voice, as well as to share your students
achievements with the community at large.
In Your School
ff P ost a save the date notice on the school calendar and on

bulletin boards throughout the school.
ff Send a notice announcing classroom champions to the
In Your Community
ff Invite your local newspaper
to the school-wide competition.
ff After the event, send the local newspaper a follow-up press
release highlighting the contest, along with a photo of your

poetry champions.
Check our website for sample press releases that can be

adapted to your needs.
school website/newsletter/TV show.
ff Publicize the school-wide competition on the school website

and in the school newspaper.
ff Write an article about the school-wide contest for your

school newsletter.
ff Announce classroom winners and the school-wide
competition in the daily PA broadcast or at assemblies.
Social Media Tips
As social media is constantly evolving, please see

our site for tips on how to maximize Facebook,
Twitter, and other social media tools in promoting
your competition among students, parents, and
your community.
Please send us photos of your school champions and the

appropriate release forms, which can be downloaded from the
Competitions section of our website.
Eve Mangin from Collge LionelGroulx in Sainte-Thrse, Qubec,

recites Le rendez-vous perptuel
by Louis Aragon
14
Lesson Plans
Optional exercises to help your
students connect to poetry through
discussion and creative writing
Lesson Plan: What Poetry Is

Periods: 1-2 partial or whole periods
MATERIALS
AND RESOURCES
LESSON INTRODUCTION
ff Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la posie online
An excellent way to gauge student attitudes towards

and experiences with poetry is to begin your poetry
unit by asking students to define what poetry is to
them in their own words.Invite students to express
their own views on poetry by asking them to complete
the sentence: Poetry is . or Poetry is like. Not
only does this get students thinking about their relationship with poetry, it also gives them an unintimidating opportunity to create metaphors and similes.
For example:
ff Poetry is like putting an IKEA bed together. (Carl Leggo)

ff Poetry is my grandmothers collection of recipes stained
with the ingredients that smudge her handwritten notes.
ff Poetry is a DJ spinning, grooving, and synchronizing beats

on his turntables.
ff Poetry is like riding horseback in the rain, without reins, for

the first time.
Display their lines on the classroom walls for the

duration of the unit, surrounding the class with poetic
statements written by students in their own voices.
These statements will form the basis for an initial
classroom discussion on how students feel about
poetry as readers, writers, and reciters. Students may
also use this pool of statements as writing prompts or
reference points when discussing other poems.
anthology
ff Coloured strips of paper (one or two per

student) measuring4x11 inches
ff Sticky notes (three per student)

ff Definitions of metaphor and simile
ACTIVITY DESCRIPTION
Introduce students to the idea that individuals

can have very different reactions to poetry by sharing
some definitions with your students. The poet and
educator Carl Leggo has said that Poetry is like
putting an IKEA bed together. How do the students
interpret this definition? Explore how it suggests different meanings, such as that poetry might appear
simple but can be deceptively tricky to assemble, that
it can be uninspiring or perfectly designed. Consider
the following definitions and possible interpretations:
oetry is my grandmothers collection of
P
recipes stained with the ingredients that
smudge her handwritten notes.

Poetry is a historical, personal, timeless story of rituals.

Poetry is a DJ spinning, grooving, and

synchronizing beats on his turntables.

Poetry is a mish-mash of melodies, a synthesis of
sound, an alliterative text.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
In this lesson, students will have opportunities to:
ff Write, read, and speak to make personal connections to the

writing prompts Poetry is. and Poetry is like....
ff View, listen to, and respond to classmates experiences
and attitudes towards poetry by posting their statements

gallery-style in the classroom and leading them through a
discussion of the range of poetry definitions on display.
ff Work in pairs and small groups to broaden individual and

collective perspectives on what poetry is through oral
discussion.
ff Understand poetic devices including similes and metaphors

and how poets may use concrete description to represent
abstract ideas or feelings.
Poetry is like riding horseback in the rain,

without reins, for the first time.

Poetry is a scary, unfamiliar feat that many
wouldnt even try.
Explain that writers often use concrete images

to explain a feeling or an abstract idea in contemporary poetry. Analyze some of the statements above
with the notes provided or write and explain your
own Poetry is./ Poetry is like. sentences with
your class. Alternately, you may choose to distribute
one or two quotes per small group of students and
have them discuss and then report their findings to
16
Lesson Plan: What Poetry Is

the class. Here are some guiding discussion questions: What does the writer think about poetry?
What words and images support this answer? Do
you feel the same way? Explain.
Distribute pieces of coloured paper to each

student. (White paper will work too but the coloured pieces will stand out more when posted on
the walls.) Instruct students that they will have a
few minutes to write their own poetry statement
on a paper strip. Their challenge is to use concrete
images to explain their attitudes towards and experiences with poetry. Remind them to keep their
audience in mind, in this case their peers and you,
when writing.
If time permits, you may want to have students
write both Poetry is. and Poetry is like. statements on separate papers.
Ask students to pin or tape their poetic statements on the classroom walls. Invite the students
to take a walk around their very own colourful poetry
gallery. This will give them a chance to see how
many different ways people view poetry.
Distribute three or four blank sticky notes to

each class member. As students peruse the walls of
their classroom and read the thoughts of their classmates, encourage them to question or connect with
other students ideas on their sticky notes and to
post these comments at the bottom of three or four
coloured papers.
Depending on student exposure, introduce or

remind students of the two poetic devices they
have been using: metaphors (direct comparison)
and similes (comparisons using the words like
or as). Have students return to their seats and
discuss which student statements resonated with them
and why.
continued
Conclude the lesson by handing out and reciting

sample poems from our online anthology to the class.
At the end of your poetry unit, you may choose

to ask students to revisit their initial definitions of
poetry to see whether their attitudes have changed.
Ask students to reflect on their initial metaphor or
simile in the form of a journal entry.
Ask students to think about their learning by completing one or both of the following tasks:
First Option: A short written and oral reflection. Hand
out a second piece of coloured paper. Ask students to
reflect on what Poetry is. / Poetry is like. for
them now. Have students write and display this statement underneath the first one they wrote. As a class,
discuss the changes in student attitudes and experience. Sample questions for discussion:
What is it that poets do that resonates with you? Do
you feel more comfortable with poetry now than you
did when we began? Has your idea of what poetry is
grown? How? What do you still wonder about poetry?
Second Option: A multi-paragraph response to be

read aloud in small groups or to the class. This
option is suitable for senior-level students who have
studied poems extensively in your poetry unit and
who are comfortable with expository writing.
Sample prompts:
With reference to your own poetry statement, explain how

this quote still reflects your thinking about poetry and why.
OR
With reference to your own poetry statement, explain how
your thinking has changed throughout this poetry study
and what you now believe Poetry is. Use examples and
evidence from poems weve studied, class discussions,and
student statementsto support your ideas.
Leave all student statements on display throughout your poetry study. There may be opportunities to
refer back to these attitudes and experiences as students learn and discuss more about poems.
17
Lesson Plan: The Tone Map

Periods: 1 to 5, depending on selection of final project
LESSON INTRODUCTION
In poems, the speaker moves through a series of
moods and tones of voice, arranged in a particular
order, to tell an emotional story. Even when poems
seem like a simple series of images and we cant
say exactly what events are taking place, there is
usually an emotional drama that develops over the
course of the poem and culminates in some kind of
emotional resolution.
As students learn to name the tones of voice that
the poem moves through, they will learn to describe
mixed emotions, such as sweet sorrow, and to distinguish subtle shifts in tone and mood. They will
build their vocabulary of feeling, train their emotional intelligence, and prepare themselves to speak
more accurately and confidently about any piece of
writing or work of art.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
ff Listen to poems being recited, with an ear to how the
performer has adopted different tones of voice over the

course of the performance
ff Mark, visually, where and when those shifts of tone

occurred
ff Use a rich and varied tone vocabulary to name each shift in

tone, looking up words they do not know
ff Practice mapping a poem on their own, in a precise and
nuanced way
ff Write instructions to a classmate on how he or she should
recite the poem, with evidence to support their suggestions
MATERIALS AND RESOURCES

ff Computer with Internet access (speakers or headphones
and printer needed)
ff LCD projector or overhead projector and transparency

ff Printed copies of poems from our online anthology
ff Good dictionaries, pens
ACTIVITY
DESCRIPTION
The day before you begin this lesson, hand

out a copy of the Tone List found in the Forms
and Checklists section of this guide. Feel free to
trim or modify the Tone List to suit your students;
however, the longer it is, the more varied and
subtle your students descriptions of tone will be.
Explain that they will be using this list to describe
the changing tones of voice that an actor uses to
convey the emotions in a poem, and ask students
to circle any words on the list they do not know.
Ask students to look up these words and instruct
them to bring in the definitions and the full Tone
List when they return. Consider adding these
words to your classroom Word Wall if you have one.
To begin the lesson the next day, introduce the

idea that most poems tell a story of emotions, with
the mood changing over the course of the poem.
Whether or not we understand what everything
in the poem means, we can experience, enjoy, and
convey to others the poems emotional drama. We do
this by recognizing the changing tones of voice that
the speaker of the poem adopts as the poem moves
from beginning to end.
Ask students to pair up or work in small groups to
share their Tone List and any definitions added, and
provide clarifications if required.
Students should look up examples of poetry recitation on the Internet; see the Videos section of our
website for footage. They should select one poem
in particular and listen closely to the speakers
interpretation of this poem. It will help their tone
mapping if students can print a copy of the poem to
follow while they listen to a polished recitation of
the poem. Ask students to listen for and make note
of the tonal turning points they hear during the
recitation. They will probably want to play it several
times. At this point, students need only jot down
notes about where in the poem (at what words or
phrases) they hear the poem shift in mood or the
performer alter his or her tone of voice.
18
continued
Now, using the Tone Lists, have the students brainstorm names for each tone they have heard during the
recitation. Encourage them to combine terms whenever they need to: for example, bantering disbelief.
You could explain that emotions dont always come in
primary colours; often colours blend, and shade into
one another. The more accurate their descriptions are,
the more distinctions they can learn to recognize.
You could bring in and hand out some free colour
samples from a paint store to illustrate this: bright
white is different from eggshell white is different
from cream, etc.
If there is a tone word they wish to add to their tone
list, let them.
Students do not need to agree on the tones they
hear; however, they should be able to support their
descriptions by referencing the poem. Let other
students evaluate whether the tones identified are
accepted by the group.
Ask students to listen while you read Rondeau

by Leigh Hunt. Use the tone list found on page 28
in the Forms and Checklists section of this guide
to inform your recitation. Distribute to the students in advance or project using an LCD projector or overhead transparency while you recite
the poem. (You may download the Tone List from
the Teachers Guide on our website.) Explain
the format: in the left column we find the poem,
divided into sections according to where the tone
might shift. Note that tone shifts may coincide
with the poems lines, stanzas, or sentences, but
they may also take place within shorter units, such
as phrases. In the right column are names for the
tone of voice one might hear in the poem and therefore try to convey in performance.
Discuss the tones in this tone map with the students.

Are these the tones they heard in your reading? If not,
how would they describe what they heard? Do they
think that parts of the poem should be read in a tone
that is different from your recitation and the tone map?
What tone seems better in what section, and why?
Section
Tone
Jenny kissed me when we

met,
Fond reminiscence
Jumping from the chair she

sat in;
Amused, affectionate
Time, you thief,

who love to get
Sweets into your list,
Still amused (by Time, rather

than by Jenny), but growing
a little wary, a little scornful
Put that in!
Disdainful
Say Im weary,
Shrugging
Say Im sad,
Candid, a little sad
Say that health and wealth

have missed me,
Lightly or playfully regretful
Say Im growing old,
Really regretful
But add,
Rallying, insistent
Jenny kissed me.
Marveling, contented
Now hand out a copy of William Wordsworths

sonnet The World Is Too Much With Us. Have students work in pairs and mark where the shifts in
tone seem to occur, and next to the poem have them
draft a tone map of the poem using their tone lists.
Ask students to practice reciting this poem based on
this new student-created tone map.
Ask students to revisit the Internet and access

poetry performances using various search engines
(e.g., YouTube, VideoSurf, PBS.org, and others).
Students should select one performance and assess
whether the performance of the poem would match
their own suggested tone map, either in terms
of where there is a shift in tone, or in terms of the
tones and emotions brought to the poem. Where
does the performance differ from their interpretation? How would they describe the shifts in tone?
Which choices do they prefer, and why?
19

As a final project for this lesson, choose one of
the following options:
ff Have students write a Memo to Performer as though they

were a director. The memo should go through an Internet
poetry performance section by section, explaining any problems they find with the tones portrayed in the performance
and how they think it should be performed differently. Tell
students that they must justify their recommendations to
the performer in terms of the emotions and ideas and motivations they see in each section of the poem.
continued
ff Have students choose a poem they wish to recite from
our online anthology and exchange it with a classmate.

Students will then prepare, at home, a two-column map
of the poem and write a short Directors Memo that
explains the tones of voice that the performer should
convey, with an explanation for each. The next day, have
students pair up, exchange maps and memos, and recite
one anothers poems. They can then give each other
feedback on what seemed effective or unsuccessful in both
the directors memo and in the performance.
ff Have students choose a poem they wish to recite from our
online anthology and format it as a two-column map at

home. Before they perform their poem, they should tell their
classmates the series of tones they wish to convey. After the
recitation, students should respond by telling the performer
whether he or she was successful at conveying those tones.
Students should then provide an explanation for their
suggested changes.
Lesson Plan: Poems in Daily Life

LESSON INTRODUCTION
speech, students will write about poems being put to

use and, in the process, imagine the practical advantages of memorizing poems.
There are many advantages to be found in studying

and reciting poetry:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
ff Poetry offers examples of mastery of language and stocks
the mind with images and ideas expressed in unforgettable

words and phrases
ff Poetry trains and develops our emotional intelligence

ff Poetry reminds us that language is holistic and that how
something is said is part of what is being said: the literal

meaning of words is only part of their whole meaning, which
is also expressed through tone of voice, inflection, rhythm
ff Poetry lets us see the world through other eyes, equips us
imaginatively and spiritually to face the joys and challenges

of our lives, and widens our scope of sympathy for the
vastness of human experience
ff Listen to poem recitations and the commentaries of the

performers
ff Find passages in poems that they find striking or memorable

ff Imagine situations in which those passages might be put
to use, whether to console, encourage, taunt, flatter, or
otherwise make an impact on a listener
ff Write short stories, letters, or speeches in which at least
three passages could be quoted effectively to move another

character or the listener/recipient

This lesson will help students understand the power
of poetry to hold rich meaning when memorized and
recited. By imagining situations in which a fragment of recited or remembered poetry can be put to
use, students will learn the value of memorization
and recitation. Using fiction, letters, or political
To teach this lesson you will need:
ff Computer and Internet access (speakers or headphones needed)

ff Our online anthology or printed selections
20

Introduce students to the idea that reciting part

or all of a poem can be useful in a variety of reallife situations. Brainstorm with them what some of
those situations might be, for example:
continued
American Poets has a useful annotated list of Poetry

in Film, Radio, and TV on their website (poets.org).
Ask students to familiarize themselves with one
ff At a wedding, birth, funeral, or other important life-cycle event
example of poetry making its way into a contemporary film. Ideally, students should view the recitation
of the poem in the film and study its placement in
the film as a whole. Pose questions to your students
about these uses of poetry, for example:
ff As a toast or grace before meals
ff Why might the screenplay writer want to include poetry
ff When faced with bad news or difficult times
ff In a romantic relationship or during a marriage proposal

ff To pay tribute to someone or something
ff During a speech to move an audience, whether it be voters,
colleagues, teammates, or others you wish to lead
To illustrate such moments, you might cite historical examples, such as Winston Churchills recitation
of the Claude McKay sonnet If We Must Die to
rally resistance to the Nazis during World War II.
Or you might turn to fiction and movies. Many childrens books and adult novels have scenes where a
scrap of poetry is deployed to good effect.
In each book of J. R. R. Tolkiens The Lord of the
Rings, poems are recited by characters; for example,
in The Fellowship of the Ring, poems feature prominently in the chapters The Shadow of the Past,
The Old Forest, Strider, A Knife in the Dark,
and elsewhere. In the film of The Return of the King,
meanwhile, Theoden recites a short poem to the
Rohirrim as they ready their cavalry charge to break
the siege of Gondor.
Contemporary films featuring poetry include
Spiderman 2 (Dr. Octavius advises Peter Parker to
recite poetry to attract women), Bright Star (featuring
the poetry of John Keats), Poetic Justice (with poems
by Maya Angelou), Four Weddings and a Funeral
(W. H. Audens Funeral Blues), Il Postino (various
love poems by Pablo Neruda), Slam (poems by Saul
Williams), Sylvia (Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath recite
Chaucer and Shakespeare to one another), and In Her
Shoes (Elizabeth Bishops One Art and I carry your
heart with me by e. e. cummings). The Academy of
recitation within the film?
ff Are there different lines or phrases from the poem that

would have been better to recite in different contexts?
ff What does the audience learn about the character reciting

the poem by its inclusion in the film?
ff What impact does the use of poetry have on the viewing

audience?
Now its time to get your students searching for

their own striking lines and phrases. Send students
to our online anthology in search of memorable passages. They should gather at least three passages
from different poems. The meaning of the passage
in its original context is less important than the
power each student finds in it and the students
ability to imagine each passage being put to use in
a specific situation.
If you wish, you can make this a treasure hunt
assignment. Go back to the list of situations you
brainstormed in Step 1 of this Activity Description,
give each student a situation, and ask him or her
to find three appropriate lines or phrases from the
online anthology that could be of use in each context.
Try not to steer them to particular poems or poets,
as one goal here is simply to encourage exploration,
helping students discover poems, poets, and lines
they might otherwise not have encountered.
To keep students from grabbing lines at random, tell
them to justify the choice, either orally or in writing,
by briefly imagining a moment when that line or
phrase would be relevant and applicable.
21

To make this a completely creative writing
assignment, ask each student to bring his or her
chosen lines and phrases home and write a short
piece of prose in which the lines or phrases are
used. The prose they write can take several forms,
for example:
ff A story, in which one or more characters recite lines of poetry

ff The recitation may be external or internal as a line or
phrase comes to a characters mind
ff The lines or phrases need not and, in fact, should
not be the only things the characters say; rather, they

should be used sparingly, and their effect on the main
character or on others should somehow be shown
continued
ff A script, in which a character on a stage uses the lines to

convey their internal dialogue as would be the case in a
monologue or soliloquy
ff A speech, in which the quotations are used to rally,

encourage, or otherwise persuade listeners to act
In every case, the context can be historical, as in a

letter petitioning the Ottawa government on behalf
of Mtis leader Louis Riel in 1885, or contemporary,
set in Canada or anywhere in the world. The important goal of this lesson is for students to imagine
situations where it can make a difference to know a
poem or even part of a poem by heart.
ff A letter, in which the author quotes striking lines or
phrases from poems in order to move or convince the

recipient in some way
Lesson Plan: The Tabloid Ballad

Just SIT right BACK and youll HEAR a TALE,

A TALE of a FATEful TRIP
That STARTed FROM this TROPic PORT

A-BOARD this tIny SHIP.
Or they may remember it from Owl and the

Pussy-Cat by Edward Lear:
LESSON INTRODUCTION
To many students, the word ballad will call to
mind a slow, probably sentimental song. In the
world of poetry, however, a ballad is a lively storytelling poem written in what is called the ballad stanza.
The ballad stanza is simple to illustrate and recognize, and is not difficult to describe. In its most
familiar version, the ballad stanza is four lines of
alternating four-beat (tetrameter) and three-beat
(trimeter) verse, with the second line rhyming with
the fourth. Students may recognize this form from
the theme song to Gilligans Island, written out
here with the accented syllables (the beats) in
capital letters:
This lesson will teach your students about the

typical metrical forms of the ballad (how they
sound), and the typical narrative moves of the
ballad (how they tell their stories), by having
them write ballads based on comic, even outrageous, source-material. In doing this, they will
join a long tradition of sensationalist journalism
written in ballad form: the tradition of broadside
ballads, like the one that Shakespeare mocks in
The Winters Tale
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,

Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon
22

Heres another ballad of a fish that appeared upon
the coast on Wednesday the fourscore of April, forty
thousand fathom above water, and sung this ballad
against the hard hearts of maids. It was thought she
was a woman and was turned into a cold fish for she
would not exchange flesh with the one that loved her.
This ballad is very pitiable and true.
or, like this one, whose description appears in

Robert Graves English and Scottish Ballads:
most miraculous strange and trewe ballad of a maid
A
now dwelling at the town of Meurs in Dutchland,
that hath not taken any food this 16 years and is not
yet neither hungry nor thirsty: the which maid hath
lately been presented to the Lady Elizabeth the Kings
daughter of England. This song was made by the
maid herself and now translated into English.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
usually sentimental song and the more technical

meanings it has when classifying a poem. You may
want to use a projector to share the sample sight
passages that follow.
You will want them to know that the ballad is a lively
storytelling form of poetry, and that this story typically gets told in a particular way:
ff Ballads start quickly, without much introduction or
narration, as in the opening of La Belle Dame sans Merci

by John Keats:
ff Learn to hear, and to write, the typical rhythms of the fourline ballad stanza, with possible variations
ff Write a comic ballad themselves, using the definitive rhythm
O, what can ail thee, knight-at-arms,

Alone and palely loitering?
The sedge has withered from the lake,
And no birds sing.
What is troubling the knight-at-arms? Why is he

alone and hanging back? Why is nature silent?
The ballad plunges into its subject, and leaves us
with questions.
ff Ballads often jump from scene to scene as they move from

stanza to stanza, without much exposition or narrative to
connect the events.
ff Listen to the sounds of several ballads being spoken

ff Listen to how ballads tell stories
continued
ff Often, ballads use dialogue, rather than narration, to

advance the plot.
ff The narrator generally remains anonymous and unidentified,

so that our focus stays on the story, rather than on the
storyteller.
and narrative structure of classical ballads
ff The most basic ballad stanza uses alternating 4-beat and
3-beat lines, with the second line rhyming with the fourth
(see examples).

To teach this lesson you will need:
ff Copies of supermarket tabloid articles, either in the
newspapers themselves (The National Enquirer, People

Magazine, US Weekly, In Touch, and so on) or clipped
selectively from these publications by you
ff LCD projector or overhead transparencies of sample sight

passages
Introduce students to the term ballad and

explain the difference between what this term
means when describing popular music a slow,
ff In La Belle Dame sans Merci, John Keats writes ballad

stanzas made of three 4-beat lines, and then a 2-beat
closing line, like this:
I met a lady in the meads

Full beautifula faerys child,
Her hair was long, her foot was light,
And her EYES were WILD.
I made a garland for her head,

And bracelets too, and fragrant zone;
She looked at me as she did love,
And MADE sweet MOAN.
23

Edwin Arlington Robinson uses the same ballad
stanza as Keats in Miniver Cheevy:

Miniver loved the days of old

When swords were bright and steeds were
prancing;
The vision of a warrior bold
Would SET him DANcing.
Miniver sighed for what was not,

And dreamed, and rested from his labors;
He dreamed of Thebes and Camelot,
And PRIams NEIGHbors.
continued
Set out the supermarket tabloids or tabloid articles that you have gathered, and let students cut
out or select the articles they wish to write about.
If several students wish to write about the same
article, let them. It will be fun for them to compare
their ballads when they are through. Now have
the students write a ballad about the event or the
person in the tabloid article, using either the standard ballad stanza (alternating 4-beat and 3-beat lines,
rhyming ABCB) or some variation. If they choose a
variation, they should stick with the same pattern
throughout the ballad. Be sure to tell the students
that the poem can and probably should be funny.
The minimum length should be four or five stanzas.
Edgar Allan Poe adds an extra pair of lines to the

ballad stanzas of Annabel Lee, mostly continuing
the rhythmic alternation of 4- and 3-beat lines:
After the students have drafted their ballads, you
Since this is a fun, informal lesson, you may not
It was many and many a year ago,

In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
Whats most important is for students to get the

sound of the ballad in their ears, and to learn that
ballads tell stories in a particularly lively, scene-byscene fashion.
can let them take the drafts home to be polished and

revised before performing them in class. Or, if you
prefer, you can ask students to share their tabloid
ballads right away with the class.
want to evaluate student ballads in any formal way.

If you want to respond to them, however, or have
fellow students respond, you may want to use questions like these:
ff Did the ballad use some version of the traditional ballad

stanza?
ff Did it tell its story quickly, moving scene by scene?
To help students hear the sound of the ballad,
ff Did it use dialogue to move the plot forward?
ask students to assemble in pairs or groups of three

and ask them to read one of the ballads from our
online anthology. The following poems are in ballad
stanzas, with some variation:
ff Did it use typical ballad tools, like repeated lines or phrases?
ff Miniver Cheevy, by Edwin Arlington Robinson
ff Was it memorable?
ff Did it honour a typical rhyme scheme of the ballad (or

variation thereof)?
ff Did it reveal some element of humour?
ff Annabel Lee, by Edgar Allan Poe

ff A Red, Red Rose, by Robert Burns
ff La Belle Dame sans Merci, by John Keats
ff The Listeners by Walter De La Mare
No matter how rough or polished their efforts, students will come away from this lesson with a lively,
hands-on appreciation of the form and the pleasures of the ballad.
24
Lesson Plan: The Response Poem

Once students have a list of lines to choose
LESSON INTRODUCTION
from, they have a few options for how to write their

Response Poem:
There is a long tradition in poetry of poets writing in

response to work that has inspired them, borrowing
a line from one poem to begin or end a new poem. In
this way, poets may re-contextualize a particularly
vivid verse while essentially having a conversation
with poets they have never met, sometimes reaching across culture, language, and even centuries to
connect with those whose work they admire.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
ff See how poems can inspire new poems

ff Write a new poem that incorporates a favourite line from
one of the poems the student has chosen to memorize

ff Computers and Internet access to
our online anthology
ff Paper, pens
Introduce students to the
idea of borrowing a single
line from a poem to create a poem of their
own and then ask them to experiment with this
approach to writing poetry.
The first step is for the students to explore our

online anthology and make a list of lines that leap
out at them some students will be drawn to lines
based on the sound of the language and others will
respond more to the meaning of the lines. There is
no wrong reason for selecting a particular line, but
try to get students to think about why they gravitate
towards certain lines over others.
1. The Springboard Poem: Students may choose a line
from their list and use it as the first line of a new poem. For this
exercise, its best not to use a line that was the first line in the
source poem, but one from the middle or end of the poem that
stands out to the student as particularly interesting, beautiful,
and/or inspiring. The student should then write this line at
the top of a blank page and continue the thought introduced
in that line with something from his or her own life and
imagination. The poem should be at least ten lines or so to
give the poem time to gain and sustain its own momentum.
2. The Landing-Strip Poem: Students may choose a line
from their list and use it as the last line of a new poem. For
this exercise, its best not to use a line that was the last line in
the source poem, but one from the beginning or middle. Each
student should then write a poem about a subject of their own
choosing that will eventually end with the borrowed line. The
poem should be at least ten lines in length.
3. The Cento: Students may also choose to assemble a cento,
which is a poem made entirely of lines taken from different

poems. The name cento is from the Latin word for a patchwork
cape or cloak, and creating a cento is indeed like sewing a quilt
by using scraps taken from many different kinds of fabric. The
objective is to take evocative lines out of their original context
and tease out new meanings by designing a new pattern. They
will need a long list of lines to choose from in order to create a
successful cento, and it will take some experimentation to find
an order that is interesting and satisfying. For this exercise, the
poem should be ten lines long and each of these ten lines must
come from a different source poem.
4. The Talk-Back or Debate Poem: Ask students to choose
a poem that is trying to persuade the reader of a specific

position and to write a poem that argues the opposite position.
By way of example, ask the students to first read Christopher
Marlowes poem The Passionate Shepherd to His Love, in
which a shepherd strives to convince his sweetheart to live with
him and enjoy a life filled with pleasure and love. Then ask them
to look at Sir Walter Raleghs response poem, The Nymphs
Reply to the Shepherd, in which Ralegh adopts the voice of
the young woman in question and has her reject the ardent
shepherd, because she knows youth, and pleasure, are fleeting.
25
Lesson Plan: The Response Poem
continued
Encourage students to follow the same form (such

as ballad or sonnet) as the source poem and to pay
attention to how the poems structure frames its
argument. Some students might choose to take on a
fictional persona, as Ralegh did.
Ask students to write about something different
than the subject of the original source poem(s) (with
the exception of the Debate Poem) so that they can
see how a line can take on a new meaning when
placed in a fresh context.
For more examples of classic to contemporary
response poems, you might be interested in looking
at the anthology Conversation Pieces: Poems that
Talk to Other Poems by Kurt Brown.
No matter how rough or polished their efforts, students will come away from this lesson with a closer
relationship to the poems they chose and a greater
understanding of how poets speak to each other
through verse.
Yanina Chukhovich
from cole
internationale de
Montral,
Quebec, recites
Je tcris By
Gaston Miron
26
Forms
and Checklists
Resources for organizing
and running the competition
download more copies at
poetryinvoice.com
Tone List
abashed
cavalier
facetious
mocking
sentimental
abrasive
childish
fanciful
mysterious
serious
abusive
childlike
fearful
nave
severe
accepting
clipped
flippant
neutral
sharp
acerbic
cold
fond
nostalgic
shocked
acquiescent
complimentary
forceful
objective
silly
admiring
condescending
frightened
peaceful
sly
adoring
confident
ghoulish
pessimistic
smug
affectionate
contemptuous
giddy
pitiful
solemn
aghast
conversational
gleeful
playful
somber
allusive
coy
glum
poignant
stentorian
amused
critical
grim
pragmatic
stern
angry
curt
guarded
proud
straightforward
anxious
cutting
guilty
provocative
strident
apologetic
cynical
happy
questioning
stunned
apprehensive
defamatory
harsh
rallying
subdued
approving
denunciatory
haughty
reflective
swaggering
arch
despairing
heavy-hearted
reminiscing
sweet
ardent
detached
hollow
reproachful
sympathetic
argumentative
devil-may-care
horrified
resigned
taunting
audacious
didactic
humourous
respectful
tense
awestruck
disbelieving
hypercritical
restrained
thoughtful
bantering
discouraged
indifferent
reticent
threatening
begrudging
disdainful
indulgent
reverent
tired
bemused
disparaging
ironic
rueful
touchy
benevolent
disrespectful
irreverent
sad
trenchant
biting
distracted
joking
sarcastic
uncertain
bitter
doubtful
joyful
sardonic
understated
blithe
dramatic
languid
satirical
upset
boastful
dreamy
languorous
satisfied
urgent
bored
dry
laudatory
seductive
vexed
bristling
ecstatic
light-hearted
self-critical
vibrant
brusque
entranced
lingering
self-dramatizing
wary
calm
enthusiastic
loving
self-justfying
whimsical
candid
eulogistic
marveling
self-mocking
withering
caressing
exhilarated
melancholy
self-pitying
wry
caustic
exultant
mistrustful
self-satisfied
zealous
28
Event Preparation
Book a venue to hold your school contest.
ff An Evaluation Sheet or an Accuracy Score Sheet for
Inform all contest participants, as well as
Colour-code the Evaluation Sheets and the Accuracy

Score Sheets. For example, have all of the sheets for round
1 printed on pink paper and those for round 2 printed on
blue paper.
(Try to book a space with a stage and a

microphone, if possible.)
the wider community, of the

time and place of the event.
Assemble a judging panel.
(Please see page 30 for a useful checklist.)
each poem to be recited by each contestant. Fill out

each sheet with the name of the contestant and
chosen poem before the contest begins.
Prepare 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners
certificates, which you can download from

our website.
Arrange for someone to MC the contest.

Arrange for readings or music to be played
during the brief pauses between recitations.
You may choose to print a program detailing the names of contestants and their
selection of poems.
If you do print a program, arrange for a few

people (possibly students)
to act as ushers and hand them out.
Alexander Gagliano
from Upper Canada
College in Toronto,
Ontario, recites
"From Chapter I" by
Christian Bk
Assemble a judges pack for each judge.
(This pack is not the same as the information pack to be sent to your judges at least
one week before the contest.) The judges
packs should include:
ff A list of all of the poems to be recited, in order. If you
have a bilingual list, highlight the pertinent poems for

each judge.
ff Copies of all of the poems to be recited in order of
recitation. (To avoid confusion, provide only poems in

English to the anglophone judges and those in French
to the francophone judges.)
ff A copy of the Scoring Rubric (found on page 31).

ff A copy of the Preparation Checklist (found in the
Judges Guide).
29
Judges for the School Contest

Make a list and contact judge candidates.
You will need:
ff 3 performance judges
Hold a meeting to explain how the contest

works. Address the following points:
ff The responsibilities of each role (performance judges,

accuracy judge, prompter, tabulators)
ff 1 accuracy judge
ff The number of rounds
ff 1 prompter
ff The time allowed to mark recitations
ff 1 or 2 tabulators
(about one minute)
If students recite in two languages, you will need

additional French-language judges.
ff The marking system (both for performance and for

accuracy)
At least one week before the school contest,

send an information pack to your judges
that includes:
ff The fact that judges will not be able to review their
marks, nor will they be allowed to discuss them with

the other judges
Prepare a copy of all of the poems to be

recited, in order of recitation, for the
prompter.
ff Copies of all of the poems to be recited at your

school contest
ff The Judges Guide, which can be downloaded from

our website
ff The Evaluation Sheet (for the performance judges)

ff The Accuracy Score Sheet (for the accuracy judge(s))
Remind your judges that, before the
contest, they must consider level of difficulty scores for each poem.
Judge
Contact information
Judge
Contact information
Judge
Contact information
Judge
Contact information
Judge
Contact information
30
Scoring Rubric
Very weak
Weak
Average
Good
Excellent
Physical
presence
Stiff or agitated;
lacks eye
contact with
audience;
appears
uncomfortable
Timid; unsure;
eye contact
and body
language reflect
nervousness
Body language
and eye contact
are at times
unsure, at times
confident
Comfortable;
steady eye
contact and
confident body
language
Poised; body
language and
eye contact
reveal strong
stage presence
Authoritative;
body language
and eye
contact show
compelling
stage presence
Voice
and
articulation
Inaudible; slow;
distracting
rhythm;
singsong;
hurried; mispronunciations
Audible, but
quiet; too loud;
monotone;
unevenly paced;
affected tone
Clear; adequate
intonation; even
pacing
Clear;
appropriate
intonation and
pacing
Very clear;
crisp; effective
use of volume,
intonation,
rhythm, and
pacing
Very clear;
crisp; mastery
of rhythm and
pace; skilful use
of volume and
intonation
Appropriateness
of
Dramatization
Poem is
overshadowed
by significant
distracting
gestures, facial
expressions,
inflections, or
accents; acting
out of poem;
singing; overemoting; inappropriate tone
Poem is secondary to style of

delivery; includes instances
of distracting
gestures, facial
expressions, and
vocal
inflections;
inappropriate
tone
Poem is neither
overwhelmed
nor enhanced
by style of
delivery
Poem is
enhanced by
style of delivery;
any gestures,
facial
expressions, and
movements are
appropriate to
poem
Style of delivery
reflects
precedence of
poem; poems
voice is well
conveyed
Style of delivery
reflects
internalization
of poem; all
gestures and
movements
feel essential to
poems success
Simple content;
easy language;
short length
Straightforward
language and
content;
moderate
length
One element of
challenging
content,
language, or
length
Contains two
elements of
challenging
content,
language, or
length
Contains very
challenging
content and
language;
length is
appropriate to
complexity of
poem
Contains
extremely challenging content
and language;
length is
challenging for
a poem of this
complexity
Obscures meaning of poem
Doesnt sufficiently communicate meaning

of poem
Satisfactorily
communicates
meaning of
poem
Conveys meaning of poem

well
Interprets poem
very well for
audience;
nuanced
Masterfully
interprets poem
for audience,
deftly revealing
poems meaning
Ineffective or
inappropriate
recitation; does
disservice to
poem
Inadequate
recitation;
lacklustre; does
disservice to
poem
Sufficient
recitation; lacks
meaningful
impact on
audience
Enjoyable
recitation;
successfully
delivers poem
Inspired
performance
shows grasp of
recitation skills
and enhances
audiences
experience of
the poem
Captivating
performance
that is more
than the sum of
its parts; shows
mastery of
recitation skills
Level of
Difficulty
Evidence of
Understanding
Overall
Performance
Outstanding
31
Evaluation Sheet
NAME OF STUDENT
TITLE OF POEM
Very weak
Weak
Average
Good
Excellent
Outstanding
Physical
presence
Voice and
articulation
Appropriateness
of Dramatization
Level of
Difficulty
Evidence of
Understanding
Overall
Performance
Total
(39 points MAX)
ACCURACY JUDGES ADDITION

(8 points MAX)
FINAL SCORE
(47 points MAX)
32
Accuracy Score Sheet
NAME OF STUDENT
TITLE OF POEM
maximum score 8
points
inaccuracy deduction (subtract)
points
Prompt deduction (subtract)
points
FINAL ACCURACY SCORE points*

*Lowest possible score is 1 point
Minor inaccuracies, resulting in a 1 point

deduction, include:
Major inaccuracies, resulting in larger

deductions per occurrence, include:
ff confusing a pronoun (he instead of she)
ff one line out of order
-2 points
ff confusing an article (a instead of the)
ff repeating a line
-2 points
ff pluralizing a word or vice versa (horses instead of horse)
ff forgetting to say the title and author
ff replacing a word with a similar word (jump instead of leap)

ff confusing the order of words
(hops and skips instead of skips and hops)
ff skipping a word
ff repeating a word
ff adding a word
Accuracy Judge: Follow along with the text of the poem

as the competitor recites. Mark the text each time there is an
error in accuracy. You may want to mark all minor inaccuracies
the same (since each is worth a 1 point deduction), and flag the
bigger mistakes differently. After the recitation, use the guidance
above to assign a point deduction to each mistake. To get the
final accuracy score, count up the point deductions, and subtract
them from the maximum score of 8 points.
of the poem -3 points
ff skipped one line/skipped three or more

words in the same line
-3 points
ff reversed two stanzas
-5 points
ff skipped one stanza
-6 points
Use of prompter:
Each time a student uses the prompter, 3 points will be

deducted from the final accuracy score.
Example: If the competitor repeated a word (-1 point), confused

an article (-1 point), and skipped one line (-3 points), that would
be 5 points subtracted from the maximum score of 8. The final
accuracy score would be 3 points.
33
Online Semifinals
A school can have one champion per
prize stream. Please refer to page 2 of the

Teachers Guide to ensure your student(s)
have prepared the correct number of poems.
chool champions must prepare a separate

S
video for each of their recitations:
one video per poem.
Students competing in the English and
French prize streams at the upper levels of

the contest must meet the following criteria
with their poem selections:


Students competing in the Bilingual prize

stream must select two poems:


The teacher must upload the videos to our
website through his or her teacher account.
Before completing the video submission,
the teacher must scan and upload the completed student permission form. This form
is available in the Competition section of
our website.
We will contact Online Semifinalists and

theirlead teachersby email to let them
knowwhetheror not they are advancing to
theNationalFinals.
Please note that we will be unable to provide feedback
or ranking, and Online Semifinalists should not contact our
office directly.
Deadlines and other information on the Online

Semifinals are available on our website.
lease do not hesitate to contact us with any
P
questions at info@poetryinvoice.com.
Videos cannot be edited and must be filmed

in one long take.
A teacher must be present at the filming
of each recitation video to ensure that students are reciting, not reading.
We recommend the use of a microphone to

ensure excellent sound quality.
Students must be shot in front of a plain
background, without their school name or

insignia on display.
34
This guide is published by:

Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie
3939 St. Hubert
Montreal, QC H2L 4A6
Canada
We gratefully acknowledge that this guide has been adapted from the
Poetry Out Loud Teachers Guide with permission from its publishers,
the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.
poetryoutloud.org arts.gov All rights reserved.

Recitation Contest: Teacher's Guide

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Recitation Contest: Teacher's Guide

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A recitation contest

for Canadian high

Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie

Forms and Checklists

Additional copies of this publication can be

Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie | Teachers Guide | poetryinvoice.com

and our next generation of readers is a thrill. Ive

Poetry In Voice takes poetry back to its oral

Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie | Teachers Guide | poetryinvoice.com

See our website for all deadlines, contest dates,

Prizes for School Contests: School-wide prizes are at

$5,000 for the student champion

($500 reserved for the purchase of poetry books)

nd $1,000 for the student champion

rd $500 for the student champion

Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie | Teachers Guide | poetryinvoice.com

Legal participation requirements

To accommodate schools testing demands and

Classroom time and schedule

Dont be afraid to start small when introducing

Students must be attending a Canadian school. No student may

Poetry In Voice has been designed to fit into a

Running the Competition

Choose your lead teacher and

School champions prepare

Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie | Teachers Guide | poetryinvoice.com

National Finals Finalists

Organizing the Contest Events

OUR THREE PRIZE STREAMS

We recommend that each school identify one teacher

Students may choose to compete

Dont hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns: info@poetryinvoice.com

participating in the competition, send one winner from each class

Larger Format: If more than 15 classes are participating,

you might consider holding grade-level competitions first,

In structuring your contest(s), keep in mind that

Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie | Teachers Guide | poetryinvoice.com

Poem selection at each contest level

Students must prepare one poem.

Students must prepare two poems.

Students must prepare three poems to compete in the English

Students competing in the English and French prize

The same poem may be used to fulfil both requirements.

Students competing in the Bilingual prize stream

Their selections are not governed by any other criteria.

Organizing the Contest Events

PREPARING FOR THE SCHOOL CONTEST

Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie | Teachers Guide | poetryinvoice.com

Staffing the competition

finish, providing welcoming remarks, introducing judges and

Judges (35) and an accuracy judge (1): If students

information on the prompters role.

Score tabulator (1 or 2): During the competition, someone

should input the judges scores in a spreadsheet so that no time

Ushers: You may want to create a program for the event

Introducing the poem

Organizing the Contest Events

Poetry In Voice | Les voix de la posie | Teachers Guide | poetryinvoice.com

to name a runner-up for each category as well, in

Welcoming remarks and introduction of the judging panel,

Review of the evaluation criteria for judging the recitations.

Recitations, taking place in two rounds. In the first round,

Five-minute intermission for scoring to be completed and

ff Students must be in grades 912. In Quebec, students must

ff Students recitations must be evaluated according to the

ff A teacher must register on the Poetry In Voice website

ff Scoring is cumulative. The scores from all rounds should be

ff Students must participate in their school competition

ff Schools may only name one champion per prize stream:

ff National Champions (students who placed first in the

ff Judges should not convene to discuss performances.

ff Judges may not reconsider their scores after submitting them.

ff Students competing in the English and French prize streams

ff Students competing in the Bilingual prize stream must select

ff The titles and the order of students poems must

ff Students recite their poems in rounds.

ff Rewrite your poem by hand several times. Each time, try to

ff Read your poem aloud before going to sleep at night and

ff Carry around a copy of your poem in your pocket or bag.

ff Practise your poem by reciting it to family and friends.

ff Make sure you know how to pronounce every word in your

ff Line breaks are a defining feature of poetry, with each one

ff Present yourself well and be attentive. Look confident.

ff All words will be pronounced correctly, and the volume,

ff Engage your audience. Look them in the eye. Nervous

ff The competitor will appear at ease and comfortable

ff Project to the audience. You want to capture the attention