Spoken word is a form of poetry that utilizes the strengths of the communities: oral tradition, call-and-response, home languages, storytelling, and resistance. Spoken word poetry is usually performed for an audience and must be heard. The authors are interested in investigating how spoken word can be utilized as a critical teaching tool that can be employed to foster critical consciousness, dialogue, and action. In other words, how students can reflect and articulate their lived experiences while envisioning new possibilities. In this paper, the authors provide an overview of some of the key ideas and concepts of Critical Pedagogy, Critical Race Theory, and Critical Literacy studies. Through an examination of the major components of Critical Pedagogy, they evidence the libratory potential of spoken word. In offering an overview of Critical Race Theory, they highlight the practice of counter-storytelling as a central theme of spoken word. An analysis of Critical Literacy studies provides insights into the reading of the word and the world and the multiple discourses employed and elicited in spoken word. Following this analysis, the authors draw upon their work at LAX High School (Los Angeles), where they have employed poetry and spoken word poetry to connect with their students. (Contains 2 notes.)