Teenagers see and hear a lot more than their parents think.
Instead of just describing teen angst and whining about the pains of growing up, students in the South Colonie Central School District put a pen to paper to access their creative talents by putting their thoughts and feelings into poetry.
It changed me, said Freshman Alexys Rickson. `It did. From last year when I did the Poetry Slam, I want to keep doing this.`
Supervised by Sand Creek eighth grade English teacher Marc Mostransky, the students held the third annual Teen Poetry Slam at the Barnes and Noble in Colonie Center on Friday, April 29. The cafE area where the stage was set up for the performers was packed as fellow students, parents and teachers attentively listened to the young poets.
Mostransky said he got the idea by watching a New York Knicks game and seeing an advertisement for a poetry slam. It was just around the time he was about to his unit on poetry, and after seeing the commercial, he decided to go a more unconventional route.
`To see the teenagers were so empowered by it and the literary aspect of it was through the roof,` Mostransky said of the slam. `The merit of the usage of metaphors was just phenomenal. Its roots are kind of in the MC and hip-hop world. It’s not what we typically hear in mainstream. It’s more like intelligent rhymes. There’s just a clear message to the poems.`
To make it through the competition, though, he said there can’t be several poems just about teen relationships. And it appears that the students have taken notice, with topics covering the death of a grandmother, the pains of drug addiction, suicide or teen pregnancies.
`I don’t really do humorous stuff because I don’t feel like I’m a funny person,` said 10th-grader Jake Camadine. `I try and handle issues in society that face adults and teens alike and that aren’t gender specific. Stuff we can all relate to like typical stuff teens go through like drug abuse.`
Many of the students say that they didn’t really know what poetry could do for them until they met Mostransky. They said he was able to help them find their voice and show them what slam poetry was all about.
`Mr. Mo showed us a poem, and I had no idea what slam poetry was,` said Camadine. `I always thought poetry was not something I’d be into. But Mr. Mo showed me a different side of it. And I’ve always wanted to get my word out and try and send a message to the people.`
Mostransky said when he is looking to introduce a new unit, he looks at what didn’t work for him when he was a student. Finding a way to connect and grab his students’ attention is critical in his teaching style.
Hip-hop is the most popular among his students, Mostransky said. The students are now talking a language that teachers have taught them, and they are now talking in metaphors and adding layers to their language.
But most importantly, more than just their grades naturally improving, he said he can see his students build their confidence when they perform their material in front of an audience.
`With spoken word poetry, they have to perform it,` he said. `That’s where the self-confidence of performing in front of 50 to 100 people is big time.`
Tenth-grader Erika Marcucci said the first time that she got up in front of people to perform, the rush of the crowd wanting to hear more from her was exhilarating.
`Seeing people just want to hear the next thing I said was different than any feeling that I could feel,` she said. `It was just so impacting on me, and I’ve just been doing it ever since.`
Briana Hassell, a freshman from the Schenectady Central School District, got involved after just hearing about the poetry slam from other students. She said poetry is a big part of her life and figured she would give the slam a shot.
Poetry for her, though, is more therapy than anything. She said while most people see writing poetry as a hobby, she said it plays a much more important role for her.
`Poetry is like a guidance counselor when I don’t have one to call,` she said. `Pretty much when I am going through something then I start writing.`
Many of the students give a lot of credit to Mostransky and say that he has helped them find their voices. Some of the students said that his open mind has helped them in working with others on a project.
`Mr. Mo is just really awesome,` Freshman Amanda Bernier said. `He’s just really welcoming, and it’s really nice because I’m not really good with group things because I get really nervous, but with a teacher like him it’s a lot easier.`
And now the program has expanded across district lines as Mostransky said this is the first year the competition has been opened up to the Schenectady schools. Chris Karle, a former English teacher who was covering a long-term replacement at Sand Creek and now a teacher over at Mt. Pleasant in Schenectady, had five students who were writing poetry and wanted to get involved.
But Mostransky is looking to make this bigger. He said he wants to make the event a greater Capital District event. To even try and get teams together from each district and possibly compete in Russell Simmons Def Poetry in New York City.
`I’m looking for any school district that wants to get involved to get involved,` he said. `But with that, I have to get people to help me out.`
Coming out on top of the Slam Poetry event, Alissa Petsche, a senior, took home first place. Following her were Camadine and Sunny Nowalcki in second place and in third was Ben Quiqley, who performed a poem about the death of his grandmother and how he was able to cope with it.“
