Our daily tradition takes approximately twenty minutes each day.  It is intended to provide the students with the opportunity to practice their oral poetic performance techniques.  First, the students take about twenty seconds to choose a poem they have written to perform for their small group.  I ask them to choose a poem that they are proud of and would like to share.  Next, everyone in the class practices performing their poetry aloud all at once.  This provides the students with the opportunity to transition into the role of "performer."  Often, we perform our poetry aloud as a synchronized group several times.  This allows the students to practice utilizing different emotions and "voices" when performing their poetry.

After the students have performed aloud as a class, it is time for the students to perform individually for their small groups of three.  I give the students about twenty seconds to decide who will perform first, second and third.  After the time is up, I make sure to ask individuals in the class to tell me who is performing first, second and third in their particular group; this ensures that the students are actually planning.  I will then proceed to cue the first, second and third person in turn to perform.  I give the students about a minute to deliver their poetry; the other students in the small group are asked to provide the performer with comments and compliments on their poetry and performance.

At this point, it is my turn to perform a selection of poetry for the class.  The poem I choose may be original, or it may be specifically chosen to complement the theme of the lesson following the daily tradition.  I perform the poem for the class and then ask the students for any comments about my performance.  I highlight comments on performance technique for the class, so that they may integrate these techniques into their own oral poetry.

The last part of our daily tradition is a student performance.  Before the class begins, I ask a student in the class if he or she would be willing to perform a particular poem for the class.  I often choose the student based on what I read in their poetry book the afternoon before; I look for poetry that shows student growth and connects with the current lesson.  After the student performs, I ask the class to provide the student with a few comments and compliments orally.  The students are then directed to write a comment or compliment on sticky note, and the performer is directed to write what he or she thought they did well or could have done better on a sticky note.  I later collect these notes and deliver to the performer.  Thus, our daily tradition comes to an end.

The following video chronicles our daily tradition: