Finding the Five: What Are You Most Passionate About?

As we begin our study of poetry in my English classes, we are preparing for our participation in Poetry Out Loud, a program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. Instead of reviewing the list of approved poems for the competition, I first take my students through a Daybook writing activity where they answer the following prompt:

What are the five things that you are most passionate about and/or are willing to make a stand on? Please consider who you are RIGHT NOW and not what you have believed in the past (or hope to believe in the future).

I always write with my students. Here is what I came up with:

1. Peace, love, justice, kindness, unity.
2. Community and what we can do in small groups.
3. Words, ideas, and the sharing of them.
4. Truth, authenticity.
5. Origins, understandings of why and how things are or are evolving.

My students came up with similar lists. Some of them were more specific and concrete, focusing on the national and international events that are defining their teen experience.

We then used these lists to guide us as we reviewed the poems on the approved list for recitation. The website has a neat feature where it has tagged poems with categories and labels, and many students gravitated toward the key words that aligned with their list of five passions.

I do this so they understand that, to recite poetry, you must feel poetry. You have to become as close as possible to the essence of the words the poet has chosen to express what they are passionate about.

But there’s a bigger reason for me doing this with my students. I believe this activity is something we all can do from time to time to check in with who we are, what we believe in, and what we are doing about those beliefs.

Are we making a stand? Or are we just talking about it?

Are we expressing that passion in our art? Or are we just aware of the passion?

Are we sharing that passion, that thing we are willing to make a stand on, with our community so that we effect change at any level?

So: I ask you. What are your Five? This is not something you should feel obligated to share with anyone. As I told my students today, this is between you and you.

However, if you would like to voluntarily share one or two (or all) of your Five with us, please feel free to leave a comment.

After all, it might very well be the start of someone else’s passion or stand, right?