Woodgrove student will be heading to the Poetry Out Loud State finals in March

Woodgrove High School sophomore Dani Vitello will represent the Northern Virginia region in the Poetry Out Loud state finals on March 10.

At the regional Poetry Out Loud competition, Vitello performed Robert Graves' "The Kiss" and "The Light the Dead See" by Frank Stanford. She and the other participants focus on six criteria: physical presence, voice and articulation, dramatic appropriateness, evidence of understanding, overall performance and accuracy.  

"Dani not only worked meticulously on her performance for each poem but was extremely supportive to her classmates as they prepared when we started this journey in the fall. As she has moved forward, seeing how genuinely excited everyone in our eighth block is for Dani has been fun," shared Woodgrove English teacher Thomas Scott.

Poetry Out Loud is a nationwide contest encouraging high school students to learn about poetry through memorization, performance and competition. Poetry Out Loud provides an opportunity to hone public speaking skills while building self-confidence. Students can choose their poems from the official anthology for Poetry Out Loud, which contains over 900 works.

Poetry memorization and recitation deepens a student's understanding and engagement with the text. For students in grade 10, like Vitello, Poetry Out Loud aligns with the Virginia English Standards of Learning Curriculum Framework, Communication: Speaking, Listening, Media Literacy 10.1, in which students must "assume responsibility for specific tasks;" "choose vocabulary, language and tone appropriate to the topic, audience and purpose;" "collaborate with others to exchange ideas, develop new understandings, make decisions and solve problems;" "evaluate one’s own role in preparation and delivery of oral reports;" "and analyze and interpret other’s presentations."

Published March 7, 2023