Proyecto Slam : The Didactic Side of Slams

This article aims to describe Proyecto Slam’s notable trajectory as well as its motivations and underlying rationale, thus serving as a starting point for the forthcoming investigation into the effectiveness of the program itself. Working principally in the city of Jaen, Andalucia, with students undergoing their first four years of obligatory secondary education (known as ESO in Spanish), Proyecto Slam is unique in the world in that it has managed to integrate itself into the curricula of the schools in which it operates, whereas all other similar projects seem to work within the parameters of extracurricular activity and therefore have a more limited reach. The fact that Proyecto Slam is made available to all the children within the particular schools in which the program is implemented, and not just those with a predisposition for reading and/or writing poetry, offers the academic community a unique opportunity to investigate up to which point the implementation of reading and writing poetry workshops can improve students’ aptitude for and attitudes about the study of language and literature. Any and all translations in this article have been carried out by me.