Kairos, Gorman, and Performance: On the Literacy Moments of the Moment by Holly Sheppard Riesco and Christian Z. Goering

This week our guest contributors are Holly Riesco and Chris Goering. I have long admired Chris and his work. I am glad that he and Holly have decided to help out. Take a look.

Karios, Gorman, and Performance: On the Literacy Moments of the Moment
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Holly Sheppard Riesco and Christian Z. Goering

As we watched the swearing in of a new president, a moment of Kairos—“a circumstantial kind of time, a window to opportunity during which something could happen” (Fletcher, 2015, p. 58)—took place for English teachers everywhere: Amanda Gorman, a young, talented Black poetic blew the world away with her recitation of “The Hill We Climb.” A few weeks later, Gorman once again had us marveling at the continuation of kairos during her recitation of “Chorus of the Captains” at Super Bowl LV. This blog, in fact, recently discussed Gorman and the inaugural poets, but we have a different take on the poetry and star of the moment.

Gorman’s recitation, grounded in spoken word poetry, evoked in our teacher brains a a “moment[] of opportunity” (Seale, 2017, p. 11)—this moment where “something could happen”—to connect students to contemporary work that creates narratives in poetic forms. We thought about the books that a teacher could use in her, his, or their classroom, books that could easily be pulled from the personal or school library shelves. of the school’s library or maybe even from the teacher’s personal collection.

The Poet X or Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, Apple (Skin to the Core) by Eric Gainsworth, The Crossover or Booked or Solo or Swing by Kwame Alexander, The Realm of Possibility by David Levithan, and brown girl dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson—All authors represent an underrepresented population in our ELA classrooms, all authors who have written books in verse published during the students’ lives, all authors who discuss the issues that our students, especially often marginalized students, face in today’s modern life.

With Amanda Gorman’s captivating poems, we saw a way to connect the authentic reality of the literacy moment with the literacy in the ELA classroom.

In focusing on these books in verse, teachers have the opportunity to develop true creativity in their students’ literacy moments. Our ideas start with having all different books in verse on the desks when the students walk in and allowing students to choose their groups and their books according to interest.

Here are just a few ways we thought of to take advantage of the literacy of the moment in the classroom:​

• Invite students to read through the titles of the poems and find a few that they like as a team, a title that they can visualize through the language. Then, ask students to create an oral performance of the poem and practice performing it prior to a poetry slam event in the classroom. 
• Invite students to read through the first poems of each book. Then, as a team, they can create their own spoken word narrative poem based on a community experience, possibly even an injustice they see. They will recite and perform this poem as a team.
• Invite students to use TikTok, SnapChat, or Instagram to create videos that focus on performance of one of the poems from the book of their choice and convince the watcher to check out the rest of the book. In this instance, they are trying to interest their audience in the book. 

And maybe teachers allow students to choose their performance style, like they chose their books. And maybe teachers allow students to move beyond the set suggestions and create a new performance altogether. The possibilities for creative literacy moments are endless here, initiated by Gorman’s brilliant work.

But it’s not just the creativity that is important. It’s that these poets focus on issues that today’s youth face, and therefore, these books give entrée into the real-world injustices that they can see outside of the ELA classroom windows, giving new perspectives to the unjust realities and misrepresentations that BIPOC students and LGTBQ+ students face. Students who want to delve further into these books can access current events and social media to make connections through the stories these books offer.

Or maybe students look at how these authors and poets represent issues and look around for the issues in their lives, creating a kairotic moment of social action. Students can analyze how the books create arguments and use them as models to create their own arguments for social justice in their own communities.

And who knows? Maybe the teacher finds the interest in these books so complete that she, he, or they agree to read the books in book clubs in their groups, with recitations of the poems acting in tandem with an inquiry process that encourages students to access their multiple sources for literacy through the guidance of both the books and the teacher as facilitator.

Before You Finish, A Slideshow
Includes all of the books mentioned in the post a few more Bickmore happens to like

So, here’s the plan: go to your school library or the local public library. Talk to the friendly media specialists there and get them to agree to let you check out the books in verse that have been written in the last decade or so or just ask for the books above--the libraries will have them! Take them to your room and start your plan. Maybe you’ll encourage the next Amanda Gorman, but more importantly, maybe you’ll create a moment of Kairos that highlights how literacy is about establishing inquiry and excitement in the authentic lives of the students.
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Resources
Fletcher, J. (2015) Teaching Arguments: Rhetorical comprehension, critique, and response. Stenhouse Publishers. 
Seale, T. (2017) Finding moments of opportunity. English Journal, 106(5), pp. 10-11. 

About the Contributors

Holly Sheppard Riesco is currently a doctoral student at the University of Arkansas in the Curriculum and Instruction program in English Education. Prior to entering the doctoral program, she taught secondary ELA for 15 years. Her research interest is in how contemporary children and YA literature can be integrated with students’ lived literacies in the ELA classroom. She co-authored Adolescent Realities: Engaging Students in SEL through Young Adult Literature (Rowman & Littlefield) that will be out later in 2021. She can be contacted at hriesco@uark.edu.

Christian Z. Goering is professor and co-coordinator of English education at the University of Arkansas, where he leads the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project. His scholarship explores how English teachers take up music in their teaching, especially student songwriting. Literacy education policy, as it affects our abilities to engage innovative practice, is a secondary interest. He’s currently past chair of the English Language Arts Teacher Educators.

Until next week.