Classroom Contest [1]

Many of the instructions below are specific to a live recitation contest. Poetry In Voice is recommending all classroom and school contests be held online. Please read our Run an Online Contest [3] before consulting this page.
Here’s how to bring our recitation contest into your classroom, whether your students are competing in the Junior Competition (grades 6-8) or the Senior Competition (grades 9-12):
- Each student finds, memorizes, and practices their recitation of one poem selected from our English anthology [4] or our French anthology [5]. Be sure they select poems for grades 6-8 [6]for the Junior Recitation Competition or poems for grades 9-12 [7] for the Senior Recitation Competition.
- Students recite for the class and their recitations are evaluated using our Scoring Rubric [8], Evaluation Sheet [9], and Accuracy Score Sheet [10].
- The student with the highest score is named your classroom champion. If there’s a tie, refer to our Rules [11] to break the tie.
KEEP IT GOING...
Ask your colleagues if they’ve also named a champion or champions in their classrooms. If so, you can prepare for the school contest [12].
If only one classroom champion is named and no school contest is to be held,* you can now prep that student for the Junior Online Finals or the Senior [13]Online Qualifiers (formerly known as the Online Semifinals [14]).
OR END IT HERE?
We hope that you’ll encourage your classroom champion to move on to the school contest [12] and beyond; however, you and your students may decide to end your involvement with Poetry In Voice here. Through exploration, memorization, and performance, your students will have developed a personal relationship with poetry — and that’s invaluable.
*We strongly recommend that any student who advances from a grade 9-12 classroom contest directly to the Senior Online Qualifiers be given the opportunity to recite both of their poems in front of a large audience, for example, at an assembly. Whenever possible, have these students recite using a microphone on a stand (a microphone will be used at the National Finals).

