Over the last few years, YOUTH SPEAKS after-school poetry workshops have helped turn hundreds of student writers into poets. Intended to be a resource for teachers who wish to transform their poetry lessons into a dynamic learning environment, this book focuses on some of the secrets of the success of YOUTH SPEAKS. Utilizing student examples from their spoken word poetry workshops, the book's author/educators present their methods and outline a practical 5-week course that fosters poetic awareness by focusing on writing, self-reflection, and performance. Designed specifically for middle and high school English classrooms, the book offers teachers an overview of spoken word poetry and explores the relationship between poetic forms, youth expression, and performance. It provides teachers with a "how-to" guide to staging a teen poetry slam, enabling students to unlock their poetic passion in front of their peers. For teachers, the book suggests a way to liberate poetry from textbooks by tapping the poetic potential within the next generation. (Contains a glossary of relevant terms and 22 references.) (NKA)