Deanna Rodger and Ellen Renton: National Poetry Day

In this event you will hear poetry from the brilliant performance poet Deanna Rodger and the fantastic Edinburgh based poet Ellen Renton. Deanna is a spoken word and performance poet, and Ellen combines music and poetry. In this event they share their poetry and discuss why poetry is such an exciting medium for young people. 

A full transcript of the event is available to download.

If you only do one thing...

We know time is tight so here is just one activity you could do with your class before or after watching the event.

Poetry relay (LIT 3-01a, LIT 3-20a, LIT 3-26a)

Both Deanna and Ellen's poetry explore politics, everyday life and identity. Ask the class if they have read or watched the news recently. Have there been any articles in the news about politics or identity that interested them? Use the headline as a title for a poem and ask each pupil to contribute a line or word to the poem. They pass they poetry 'baton' (the pen) around the class until everyone has contributed. This activity can be completed on a whiteboard or large sheet of paper. 

For more activities to explore spoken word in your class, see our performance poetry learning resource below.

For shorter clips from this event visit the BBC Scotland Learning(this link will open in a new window) website.