Winners of the West Elementary Fifth Grade Poetry Slam on Friday, Dec. 16, are as follows: Aubree Reynolds (from left), first place; Leann Castro, second; Kaylee Bruner, third; Aspyn Craft, fourth; and Abraham Aleman, fifth. Also pictured is Artist-in-Residence Clayton Scott.
Article by Andrea Bruner
For two decades, Clayton Scott has traveled around the country and the world teaching students a skill he says will always be needed: Communication.
Scott’s specialty is poetry, and earlier this month, he was at West Elementary in Batesville to help fourth- and fifth-grades hone their skills at creative writing and poetry.
For one lesson, the students wrote poems about symbols of Christmas, such as trees, ornaments, etc., and on another day, they wrote historical poems with the idea of “I was there,” where they captured the viewpoint of a figure at a historic moment. For instance, some wrote about the birth of Jesus, some about the early days of Covid, and others about life during the Civil War and the end of World War II.
On Thursday, the fifth-graders read original poems aloud in their classrooms with a panel of peers choosing a top five to compete in the “finals” on Friday. One of the classes had a tie for fifth place, leaving 21 students to compete in the finals, reading their poems before an audience of fourth- and fifth-grade students, teachers, parents, and family members.
A top five was again chosen by a panel of fifth-graders, based on the poem as well as the presentation. Winners are as follows: Aubree Reynolds, first place; Leann Castro, second place; Kaylee Bruner, third place; Aspyn Craft, fourth place; and Abraham Aleman, fifth place.
Scott’s visit was held in conjunction with the Batesville Area Arts Council (BAAC), and BAAC Executive Director Carly Dahl was also in attendance along with Lyon College Professor of Art Dustyn Bork. Scott said the arts council has worked diligently to get Artists-in-Residence in the local public schools to give students a broader understanding of the arts in general. The Arts in Education program is supported in part by the Arkansas Arts Council, which is an agency of the Arkansas Department of Heritage and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Scott is the former Poet Laureate of Fayetteville and has served as the emcee for the annual Arkansas Poetry Out Loud state contest since 2006. He has a master of fine arts in writing and a bachelor of science in education from Southeastern Oklahoma State University, where he graduated magna cum laude and went on to teach school. His accolades include a Top 10 percent ranking among Slam Poets Worldwide (2002-2005) and winner of the Arts in Education Governor’s Award in 2013.
The former teacher, minister, comedian, and cancer survivor describes his poetry as “taking on the cinematic expression of visual images within the style of narrative poetry. I’m a storytelling poet, and performance is the perfect venue to bring those stories to life.”
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Winners of the West Elementary Fifth Grade Poetry Slam on Friday, Dec. 16 are as follows: Aubree Reynolds (from left), first place; Leann Castro, second; Kaylee Bruner, third; Aspyn Craft, fourth; and Abraham Aleman, fifth. Also pictured is Artist-in-Residence Clayton Scott.
