Ballymun students find their voice in verse during lockdown

STAFF at Trinity Comprehensive School in Ballymun devised an excellent method for presenting online classes in an interesting and imaginative way during lockdown.

Prior to midterm last month, a group of teachers organised a Slam Poetry Workshop which produced some remarkable results from 33 Transition Year students.

Also involved was school librarian, Joe Kelly, whose task it was to find poetry to inspire the students in their efforts.

“Over the last two years, two other transition year teachers and I designed a new programme focussing on promoting creativity and on helping students develop their own independent voices, both as readers and writers,” says Nadine Butler from Trinity CS.

Rickwang Tinetchu from Trinity Comprehensive School in Ballymun who wrote the “Hate” poem.

Modules cover not only poetry and creative writing but also music and film studies.

“It’s been a big success with lots of new voices being heard in our classes,” Butler told Northside People.

Lockdown forced the teachers to look at new ways of adapting these lessons while continuing with the Transition Year philosophy of introducing students to fresh ways of looking at the world.

“Another idea was to present a social issue each month with all the lessons of that day linking in to that theme,” Butler said.

“The theme of February was the international Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Each student was sent a workbook containing stories, interactive activities and a piece where each child was paired with a holocaust victim and had to find their ID card and history through the Holocaust Museum.”

Butler is delighted with the poetry “slam” and a subsequent workshop.

“It was fantastic experience which produced some beautiful poetry and expression.,” she says.

Here are some samples of what the Trinity students produced.

The first poem, “The Tempest” is a class poem written as a response to Charles Bukowski’s “The Laughing Heart”.

Each student wrote a line and then edited the result as a group.

The other three poems were written by individual students.

Tempest

Your life is your life

Do what you want

Your life is your life

Live it while you can

you might regret iy

Your life is your life

Be who you want to be

Your life is your life

Don’t let anyone change your

thought of how you want to live it

Your life is your life

Live it how you like

Your life is your life

Do what you want

Your life is your life

Live it how you want

Your life is your life

You’t let other’s opinions

change that

Your life is your life

Don’t try to be someone

you’re not

Your life is your life

Just live your life

Your life is your life

Nobody can change that

Your life is your life

Every action you make

is your choice

Your life is your life

Don’t let anyone tell you different

Your life is your life

If you want to succeed in life

That beautiful melody

Katie

That beautiful melody

accompanied by sweet harmony,

The rhythm, the beat, dancing around in the street

It’s lively, sometimes sweet,

other times calming,

or one that leaves us jumping to the beat

The lyrics, come from memories,

the beat, from the heart

the melody from the soul,

and from the lips they depart,

it can be short and sweet,

or raving and long,

what is this weird musical wording?

It’s a song.

What is Poetry?

Jasmin

Word and feelings

From your heart

And mind

Combined

Hate

Rickwang Tinetchu

I hate nothing

I hate how people hate

Why hate?

Where you shovel not hate

Therefore hate is what I hate

Hate is what pushes us away

Hate is my biggest hate