Maximizing Conference Time - The Task at Hand

This past weekend, my coauthor Quraysh Ali Lansana, and I presented a workshop based on some of the pedagogy in Our Difficult Sunlight at the Preemptive Education Conference in NYC. Thanks to Michael Cirelli and the Urban Word NY staff for the invitation and the event itself. And thanks to those who chose our session among the great offerings that day. We appreciated the talent and commitment of all who were in the circle.

During our workshop, we aimed to offer three different elements of our approach that could be adapted and used in the classroom by the participants upon their return. Quraysh opened with his sculpting activity of Gwendolyn Brooks' timeless statement, "We Real Cool." In this, seven volunteers work with him to quickly stage a performance of the poem of just 24 words that speaks volumes to the circumstance of drop-outs and losing one's way, one's motivation. The sad truth is that this poem is even more relevant now than when Ms. Brooks wrote it nearly 60 years ago.

I then replicated my poem-as-video-game method for investigating a poem in a tiered examination that reveals context and drives inference by repeated reading, listening, and discussing the language from different vantage points. This metaphor correlating the experience of a poem with the process of playing a video game has proven to be very successful in my own practice and it is a flexible method of inquiry that encourages engagement, as does the sculpting activity. Both of these can be adapted to any poem, any group of students, any age.

The third portion of our workshop involved Ms. Brooks' construct of verse journalism, the poetry of events and news items, leading to poetic statements of not just awareness but social justice, and Q's interpretation of his community awareness scaffold for creating a poem. In this, by taking conscious reflective steps to identify the smells, sounds, characters, physical elements, and personal connection to one's neighborhood and relying upon these elements for inspiration; the prompts encourage a student to look beyond the expected, beyond habit, to examine the details of his/her world, even to identify beauty and pride where others may see despair. It is quite powerful and yields personal statements that are often quite moving.

There are inherent flaws in the conference model but this was a good conference nonetheless. As is generally the case, there is never enough time to do everything on the agenda. The goal of getting as much as possible squeezed into a single session is daunting. But we did offer three opportunities: one, a kinesthetic connection to a poem; the second, a deliberate method of reading poetry in a way that breaks down the barriers of self doubt and comprehension to empower readers to trust their interpretations; and a third that provides a platform for a panoramic view of one's own world that is rich with imagery and sensory awareness.

Although Q and I know that there is so much more that each of these components could have been presented with much more depth if there had been more time, it is our hope that the individuals who selected our workshop over the others available to them in that session were fed well. We expect that the educators and teaching artists who attend any of our professional development sessions recognize the many opportunities for adaptation of our suggestions, rather than attempting a rote replication. We are only modeling potential based on our own experience and, often, our successes in the classroom. We give these prompts and activities to others so they can also witness success and keep the art of poetry alive.

Beautiful Learning Minds

I have ended my school days this week with a self-contained class of children with special needs, just four, plus their teacher and aide. When I walk into a classroom, I have no preconceived notions and when I am scheduled for special education classes, I have to assess the potential and adapt my lesson plan or activity on the spot. I am fortunate that I have a skill for improvisation and response in the moment. It comes in handy in any teaching circumstance, actually.

First, let me say how much I appreciate the commitment of these two educators to their students. I do not mention the teachers I work with by name, nor the districts in which I am working, in order to protect the identity of students, and I wish I could break my own rule and call out the teachers. But let me, instead, just say that the primary teacher is in her second year and I see her exhibiting so much authenticity in her relationship with the students in her room.

My first visit, of four scheduled, I realized very quickly that the four young faces before me wanted to be a part of my activity but I needed to change my approach quickly. I knew that we had to move, do something kinesthetic, and I took cues from the teacher. We made a river with the words in the Alphabet Poem, after the search throughout the room for the letters they needed to find.

The teacher was able to see her students recalling the learning they had achieved this school year so far from a perspective she never gets to have, as participant observer. They kept giving answers that showed they got it. The teacher and aide were totally surprised at the responses. And encouraged. Then we did some dancing and all of us had an opportunity to laugh and stretch together.

Day 2, the students showed how much they remembered from the day before and it exceeded our expectations again. We danced like animals in the poem, we danced like birds flying over rivers, streams, ponds, we danced like we were waves hitting the beach. Then we all did the hula, at the prompting of one of the four young ones. Again, the teacher witnessed her children in moments of great success.

Day 3, we started by reviewing the Alphabet Poem to talk about other words that started with key letters. As the students started saying what they know about words, the sentences they spoke were so poetic, I started listing them on the interactive white board, realizing that we were writing a poem together. It turned out so wonderfully. And the teacher and I taught each other new skills on the board as wel cpatured this poetry from the lips of the kids. We did happy dances as each of the animals we discussed as we composed our poem. Again, the teacher was surprised and delighted by the responses she heard.

Today was my fourth day, I returned to the classroom to four eager learners. We read their favorite dinosaur book together. We surprised the aide returning after a day off with the poem that illustrated so much achievement. We celebrated the poem and then we sat to draw the illustrations of what each remembered of the poem and the pix were fabulous. I cannot download them for some reason this evening so it will have to wait until tomorrow but I promise you will see some terrific art!

I left them to return to their routine after 4 days of play with words, movement, joy. But we won't forget each other and by my just joining them for a few days and changing the focus, we all saw these beautiful children as beautiful learning machines. I hope that they saw themselves as successful as well.