OPINION

How Southern Word changes lives through writing and spoken word

Angela McShepard-Ray and Benjamin Smith
  • Opinion: This collaboration engages more than 200 students each year in writing and public speaking.
  • Angela McShepard-Ray, Ed.D., is the principal of Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School.
  • Benjamin Smith is the executive director of Southern Word.

Southern Word is approaching its 10th year placing writers in Tennessee schools, and Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School in Nashville is one of Southern Word’s oldest partners in utilizing this local, educator resource.

Angela McShepard-Ray

This innovative collaboration engages more than 200 students each year in writing and public speaking, both in the classroom and as part of an all-school assembly at which students share their personal writing in front of 1,000 or more of their peers. These efforts engage students across the spectrum from star poet and performer to those deeply shy and unsure they even have a story to tell.

Spoken word is also a way to hook students who may not engage in an English class, allowing them to share their feelings through artistic expression. It is a cathartic experience for them, while teaching traditional standards at the same time.

Yes, spoken word is linked to academics. Writing and speaking skills are taught and reinforced with revision and practice on written pieces that students work on and polish for performance. Students develop a thirst for writing and sharing their thoughts with an audience. Through the performance, the school community finds out that they have a supportive and understanding culture.

Writer mentors allow a continued support for students who find their niche in writing and performing. Who knew that writing and reading could be fun, cool and any other word teens are using today to communicate they like something? Students not only find teachers who extend the classroom experience and academic foundation, but also find mentors who become friends for a lifetime. Southern Word mentors help students learn how to properly identify that “something” that is deep within and then learn to explore, activate, overcome or shine that “something.”

As a best-practice innovation across the country, this resource still remains underutilized even as Southern Word, its partners and its supporters have helped Nashville and Tennessee charge to the forefront of the national field. Although young writers who emerge from these partnerships have commanded standing ovations from thousands over the past nine years, audience members often fail to connect these performances back to an intentional pedagogy that produces these celebrated results.

Benjamin Smith

Our communities and schools simply cannot afford to let effective strategies that boost academic, social and emotional development go untapped. We need to invest in being the best and doing our best for all of our young people.

Innovation can be difficult. Even when leaders value innovation and creative thinking, the implementation of a new idea can test the patience, commitment and problem-solving abilities of the best leaders and those systems they are trying to transform. As school and community leaders, we have a responsibility to broaden our creative and innovative capacities and allow new ideas and new role models into our educational spaces.

This does not come at the cost of implementing best-practice teaching strategies, but rather is a best-practice strategy. Many of our own top educators understand the need for relevant vehicles such as this to drive academic and personal growth concurrently. That is why many of Southern Word’s classroom partners have been recognized as teachers of the year at their schools.

We should follow their lead. We should listen to our top teachers and provide the resources they need to be successful with our youth. We should listen to our youth and provide the supports they need to develop into valued and purposeful members of our community.

Angela McShepard-Ray, Ed.D., is the principal of Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Magnet High School. Benjamin Smith is the executive director of Southern Word.