SAY IT SO THEY CAN’T LOOK AWAY! A Language Lab in Rhetoric, Spoken Word Craft, and the Architecture of Public Speech // with Tasjha Wanonah Dixon

Public speaking is often framed as a matter of confidence. In reality, effective speech relies on craft.

Behind every memorable address or spoken word performance lies a series of deliberate decisions: how a speaker opens a room, how narrative tension develops, how rhythm anchors meaning, and how audiences are guided through moments of resistance or recognition.

This six-week course investigates the craft of spoken language.

Participants will study rhetorical techniques drawn from spoken word poetry, storytelling, and persuasive speech. Together we will examine how effective speakers structure arguments, build narrative momentum, and shape sonic patterns that make language memorable.

The course draws philosophical inspiration from the ethical reflections found in Alan Wallace’s The Four Immeasurables alongside the contemplative language of Cole Arthur Riley’s Black Liturgies. These texts offer a lens through which to consider how clarity of intention influences the impact of speech.

Within that framework, the primary focus remains craft and composition.

Participants will draft and revise short pieces designed for spoken delivery while examining the structural decisions that make public speech compelling.

Because language evolves in response to the cultural moment, the course structure allows flexibility for discussion of contemporary speeches, emerging cultural conversations, and discoveries made by participants during the process.

The course culminates in a live spoken-word performance during the final session, where participants present a piece developed throughout the course.

Course Format:

These courses follow a studio-based learning model in which most instruction occurs asynchronously.

Participants will engage with weekly craft materials on the Wet Ink platform. These materials may include examples, discussions of technique, and writing explorations that participants complete independently throughout the week.

Each Friday from 1:30pm - 3:30pm CST there will be a live Zoom session.

The weekly live Zoom sessions are not instructional lectures.

Instead, the Friday gatherings function as literary studio salons where participants share work developed during the week, listen closely to each other’s language, and reflect on how craft techniques operate when speech meets an audience.

In practice this means:

• Craft instruction happens asynchronously on Wet Ink
• Participants write and revise during the week
• Friday Zoom sessions are dedicated entirely to sharing work and building literary community.

Week by Week

The most powerful speeches are rarely improvised. They are carefully constructed architectures of language designed to capture attention, build momentum, and alter how an audience understands the world.

Weekly Craft Inquiry Zones

Each week examines a different dimension of spoken language craft.

Week 1: Attention and Opening Moves

How speakers establish authority and capture attention in the first moments of speech.

Week 2:  Framing and Precision

How complex ideas are introduced, clarified, and structured for listeners.

Week 3:  Narrative Construction

Using storytelling to create emotional engagement and credibility.

Week 4:  Rhythm and Sonic Pattern

Exploring cadence, repetition, and the musical architecture of spoken language.

Week 5:  Audience Dynamics

How speakers adapt language when addressing listeners who may resist or challenge what is being said.

Week 6:  Performance and Delivery

Refining pacing, emphasis, and vocal presence for live delivery.

Who Finds Their Way Into This Class?

This course is designed for people who regularly encounter moments when language must carry weight.

Participants often include:

• educators who speak in classrooms and want to refine how they structure spoken ideas
• poets interested in strengthening the transition from page to stage
• clergy or facilitators who regularly address groups and want their language to land with greater clarity
• community organizers or advocates who speak in spaces where persuasion matters
• writers curious about the craft decisions that make speeches memorable

You might especially enjoy this class if you have ever:

• listened to a powerful speech and wondered how it was constructed=
• written something that sounded different when spoken aloud
• studied why certain speakers command attention while others struggle to hold a room
• wanted to develop greater control over rhythm, pacing, and rhetorical structure

Participants do not need prior performance experience—only curiosity about how language behaves when spoken aloud.

If cost is a barrier, we offer scholarships based on income as well as some partial scholarships for people living with serious illness and/or disability or people of color. Please fill out this scholarship application form so that we can find the best way to make the class accessible to you.

What students are saying about learning with Tasjha

"I took Tasjha's class, because SHE was teaching it!"

"I didn't know Tasjha well, but I really enjoy both her energy and her poetry/work.  I'm SO glad I took the course!  I am considering taking the next one with her!"

"Tasjha is truly a hero to me, a standard bearer, standing up and teaching the words and wonder of revolution at a time when we all need it the most!"

  "Participating in Tasjha's class has been very fulfilling for me!"

Where and When Does this Online Course Meet?

This is a hybrid online class, hosted on the online teaching platform Wet Ink with additional sessions hosted on Zoom. 

Each Friday from 1:30pm - 3:30pm CST there will be a live Zoom session.

This course follows a studio-based learning model in which most instruction occurs asynchronously.

Participants will engage with weekly craft materials on the Wet Ink platform. These materials may include examples, discussions of technique, and writing explorations that participants complete independently throughout the week.

Each Friday from 1:30pm - 3:30pm CST there will be a live Zoom session.

The weekly live Zoom sessions are not instructional lectures. Instead, the Friday gatherings function as literary studio salons where participants share work developed during the week, listen closely to each other’s language, and reflect on how craft techniques operate when speech meets an audience. The Zoom sessions will be recorded and shared with registrants. 

The week before class begins, registrants will receive an invitation to the Wet Ink classroom and the Zoom session information.

The Wet Ink platform allows students to log in on their own time to post comments and critiques directly to authors’ works. You can also view deadlines, track revisions, and watch video or listen to audio. At the end of the class, each student will receive an email that contains an archive of all their content and interactions. Wet Ink is mobile-friendly and there are no browser requirements.

About the Teacher

Tasjha Wanonah Dixon is a spoken word poet and national conference presenter and educator whose work explores the intersection of language, social inquiry, and creative practice. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics and is a trauma-informed therapeutically-trained registered yoga teacher (RYT-500) and YACEP (Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider).

Tasjha’s teaching centers on the belief that language is both craft and catalyst. Her courses invite participants to investigate how words function in the world—how they shape attention, challenge assumptions, and create new possibilities for understanding.

Through studio-based classes, writing laboratories, and community-centered learning environments, she encourages participants to approach writing and speech as deliberate acts of design.

Her work integrates contemplative awareness, literary craft, and cultural reflection, creating spaces where writers can develop both technical skill and creative authority.

Tasjha is the founder and creative director of Empowering KC.  

For more information on her wellness practice and her regular offerings/classes visit empoweringkcwithtasjha.com

Find her easily on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Substack and YouTube, searching @tasjhadixon or @empoweringkcwithtasjha where you can see, hear and experience her radical leadership and inspired visionary efforts to create a better, more just world for us all!