Tag Archives: Mark Grist

I realise this might not be the usual Tears in the Fence poetry fare but I suspect Mark Grist, the teacher involved in this rap battle, DOES read the type of poetry you might find in Tears. It tickles me that the teacher beat the student at his own game and with a lot more style and word play too! I’m familiar with the process of trying to engage young people with poetry in schools. It helps sometimes (depending on the school and the students) if you can approach it using something – like rap – that means something to them. I imagine Blizzard got a lesson in poetry and the manipulation of words that wouldn’t have sunk in quite the same way in the classroom!