Malden High School held its 16th annual Poetry Out Loud competition. This nationwide project is done by all grades at Malden High School and is an opportunity for students to develop their skills in public speaking, memorization, and literary interpretation.
Students pick poems they will learn and recite in front of their peers to win the final competition. The teacher competition gives the winning teacher the David Holland award as a way of remembering a previous teacher at Malden High School. This award has been integrated into the project since 2021 a few years after David Holland, a former History and Special ED teacher as well as a beloved performer at Poetry Out Loud, sadly passed away in 2016.
The competition starts with classroom competitions then students will quickly move up to the semi-finals and finals. These first classroom competitions were held the week before winter break started.
This project being somewhere earlier or later in the year could help to benefit students and staff as they are already stressed from other topics they’re dealing with, personally or educationally. It can be a toll on students, especially those who have anxiety and stage fright. “I’ve been so proud of some students, especially for the students for whom I know it’s a struggle,” said Jennifer Clapp.
“I think that time of year is a really difficult time for students and staff alike. We’re trying to close things up before break and also around certain holidays that some people find really difficult,” Anne Mooney, a 12th grade ELA teacher, stated.
To combat the anxiety students may be feeling they spent lots of time learning their poem and memorizing it as well as students getting a cookie from some teachers at the end of their performance. Teachers were also challenged with building a strong community that helped students to support each other rather than laugh and tease other students within a small time frame.
“It’s a really really hard thing for teachers, and it’s like an unspoken part of Poetry Out Loud is that you sort of have to build your class from September on to build a solid community so that by the time we get to December…a student feels like they can get up and do what they need to do and they feel brave enough to do that,” stated Leanne DeRosa, a 9th grade ELA teacher. There is not much time for teachers to build a stable community of students who are going to support their peers through difficult projects like these. Teachers must figure out their student’s dynamics and differences to bring them all together as one which can be hard in only three to four months.
Even though students are anxious to perform, Clapp said that she thinks “it’s really important to have that experience of getting up in front of other people because that’s a lifetime experience you’re going to have to do that lots of different times in your life and the only way we get less anxious about that stuff is by doing it.” In everyday life people are in front of an audience one way or another so getting that opportunity to experience and face the anxieties held within public speaking is great for all students.
“This is the year I’ve most enjoyed Poetry Out Loud, maybe because it’s my last…and I had no expectations or pressure regarding it,” said senior Loren Suzano, the winner from Mooney’s classroom. Even though Suzano felt more relaxed this year he still felt some anxieties about performing. “Just thinking about how everyone has to do [Poetry Out Loud] and are probably also terrified of public speaking helps to calm yourself a bit,” said Suzano, explaining the strategy he’s used when performing. He also mentioned that he joined play pro last year “and that really helped me improve my public speaking skills.”
Suzano said that he didn’t expect to win the competition but also had “zero expectations” and never thought he “would win in the first place.” The winning freshman from David Londino’s class also stated that she didn’t see it as a big thing but more so just another project but was proud to win. Freshman KC said, “It was really nice when I won. I was just happy to know my performance showed the effort I had put in.”
The semi-finals are soon to come up and KC stated, “I am new to this too and my performance might not be as good as theirs.” Even after winning, there is still lots of pressure and anxiety to come with moving up in the competition. Both students do feel as though they’ve improved from earlier in the year and KC said, “I have improved on generally getting the right emotions for the poem and finding meaning behind it which has helped my performance.”
Teachers and students both have different ideas as to what makes a POL performance really hit the mark. Suzano and KC both stated that feeling the emotions of the poem and acting it out in a natural way that portrayed those emotions to the audience made for an amazing performance.
Teachers had leaned into a more meaningful and understanding performance of the poem. “I think it’s really when the poem feels like it’s coming out of the person reciting it, that it’s not something they’ve memorized but that they’ve really internalized it and…when I really feel like the student has folded that poem into their soul, that is what makes the greatest of the performances. It may be somebody else’s words but it’s their feelings,” Clapp illustrated.
As break has just come to an end Malden High School students can look forward to the semi-finals which will be held tomorrow, January 4th, and 5th with the finals being held on January 23rd during period three.
