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DECEMBER 2010 NEWSLETTER |
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Susan Wooldridge, one of the workshop leaders at the Pocket Poem Party stands outside the Grove in San Francisco on November 6, 2010 |
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Poem Pocket Party a Success! The first ever CPITS Pocket Poem Party brought together classroom teachers, who wanted to try a little poetry writing themselves, moms and their young student poet kids, veteran poet teachers, brand new poet teachers, CPITS Board member Christina Chang, Advisory board member David Sibbet, CPITS staff and interns and even a guest visit from the dreaded Lord High Poetry Editor in Chief (a.k.a. Susan Sibbet). Susan Wooldridge (author of Poemcrazy and Foolsgold) and Dana Teen Lomax led 20 enthusiastic participants to write and share their poems with subjects as varied our daughters’ shoes and the breath of the Balrog. The poems were sent upstairs where they were made into pocket poems by Tina Pasquinzo, Jamie Jordan, Maureen Hurley, Kennedy Pasquinzo and Valentine Brown, Eddie Palmer and David Sibbet. Downstairs the gathering enjoyed yummy food and heard poems by Grace Grafton and her student Greta Gurvits and a fundraising pitch by Susan Sibbet with a great assist from past student Nick Pasquinzo. The pocket poem packets were then delivered all tied up in ribbons! Everyone had a great time, and it raised over $1,000 for the support of the CPITS 2011 anthology. We hope other areas might want to have their own Pocket Poem Parties to help support projects--–maybe for Chinese New Year, or Valentine Day, or even April is Poetry Month! Call the CPITS office at 415-221-4201 to get ideas of how to host your own!
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IN THE SPOTLIGHT |
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Grace Grafton is one of the long time teachers with California Poets in the Schools in San Francisco. She is the one of the few teachers who has had an ongoing residency with a school for over 25 years. I asked her what was her secret to this success. Terri: How long have you been teaching at Lakeshore Elementary in San Francisco? Grace: Since 1984, every year. Terri: How many sessions do you teach during the year? Grace: I teach 8-9 classes in a fall segment, usually the older ones, 3-5 grades. After the New Year, second segment, I teach 6-8 classes, 2-3rd grades. After spring break, I teach four first grades, plus some specially requested sessions. Terri: Can you describe the demographics and setting of the school? Grace: The school's demographics are pretty much a replica of the city’s population. Every ethnicity is represented. The school is in the Sunset District, on the banks of Lake Merced. It is an alternative school (part of SFUSD), with an unusually high level of parent interest and participation. Terri: How did you develop such a long- standing relationship with one school?
Grace: I was introduced to the school by two parents whose kids attended. One parent, Leslie Simon, is a poet and was active in CPITS at the time. She did not want to be the poet in her children's school (fear of nepotism) but wanted the program for them. The second parent, Jill Wynns, went on later to become an extremely active school board member. There was also an excellent, creative principal, Sharon Guillestegui, who had taught my own children in SFUSD. In terms of building and maintaining my program, there were a number of supporting factors. At that time, there were more federal and state funds that schools could decide how to use. When I was three years into the job, I received my first CAC Artist In Residence grant, and continued over the next fifteen years, to receive another eleven CAC grants. The school came up with substantial matching funds each year of those grants. I was thereby supported to teach every child at Lakeshore, in depth, each year. During the off years of CAC funding, as well as post CAC, I wrote and received grants from discretionary school district funds, SF Ed Fund, CA Council For the Humanities, Prop H funds and, especially in the past few years, the school PTA. Terri: What are your best anecdotes or success stories teaching at Lakeshore?
Grace:The area where I feel the most ongoing success is in my own teaching content and techniques. Each year, in addition to polishing my most successful lessons, I try out new poems. For instance, this past fall, with W. S. Merwin being named US Poet Laureate, I chose a rather challenging poem by him, "Flies," for the first lesson with my 4th and 5th graders. Also, I'm very happy with how much success I've had incorporating art into my lessons: art by well-known artists, the kids creating their own art that they then write to. The poems to those lessons are always very exciting. Terri: Thank you Grace. I think this gives a lot of helpful information to new poet teachers who want to build a long-term relationship with a school. |
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WAYS TO GET INVOLVED |
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Can Poetry Save the World? Please donate to River of Words
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POEMS OF THE MONTH |
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Julian Molina, now a 6th grader at Fort Bragg Middle School, won Honorable Mention for his poem
The sun sets at 8 p.m. Shadows grow and swallow the land and the gentle drops of rain cleanse my soul. I take my ocarina and play the song of night. The foxes howl with sorrow, the wolves cry with hunger, the coyotes sing their loneliness. The ocarina’s chimes mix with the song of the canines. We all cease with sadness, knowing day has come. I flee to home and wait for sunset so I can do it yet again.
Balance I am without flagrant words the family transports 6 million pieces of angst into every room, the hearth I am not a bittersweet song of iron tracks the oncoming train, or stunning constellations a silver center deep in the mines or a lone candle by the river I am forgotten pointillism the ears of night listening to blue piano notes I am a river of singing stones I am the Apùrimac, while the Andes wept an ancient glacier of rhythms melting
into the dry sobs of the coming summer.
Maureen Hurley |
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