Artists-in-Residence Bring Poetry to Elementary Schools

By Laura Shovan
When I quit my job, became pregnant and relocated to Maryland in quick succession, the changes were overwhelming. But they also allowed me to pursue my dream of being a poet in the schools. I joined the Maryland State Arts Council’s (MSAC) Artists-in-Education (AiE) program in 2002, after a weeklong internship.|
Performers and artists in the MSAC can visit nearly 235,000 students in a school year. In the artists-in-residence portion of the program, students create under the guidance of a professional artist.
Pamela Dunne, program director of AiE, says that poets in the program share “samples of their own work and exemplars so the students… learn about the process of creating.”
But what is it really like when an artist works at a school? I recently spent five days with third graders at Baltimore’s Fort Garrison Elementary.
Every residency begins with an orientation meeting. The topics range from logistics—a poet meets with three classes, seeing each group five times—to lessons. Fort Garrison’s teachers wanted to develop their students’ creativity, but also hoped to reinforce specific literary devices such as simile and onomatopoeia.
On the first day, the students fired questions at me: How long have you been writing? What other kinds of things do you write? Have you ever considered another job?
In my answers, I tried to show them that poets are regular people who love words and language.
After reading and discussing a sample poem, we wrote about a memory related to food. I asked them not to worry about rhyme, or even form. Their job was to get ideas on paper. While they were writing, I visited each desk, prompting students to be more specific: “What do you mean when you say that tasted good? Good like pizza or good like chocolate cake?”
One of the teachers told me how proud she was of a student who volunteered to read out loud. It made me feel great that a child who doesn’t normally speak out was encouraged to do so.
The second lesson was devoted to similes. We read a poem and wrote about animals that remind us of human emotions. When I looked through the students’ responses, many of them had tried similes or written honestly about their emotions. Some had used poetic techniques such as near-rhymes and alliteration in their work. The teacher and I were amazed by the children’s natural ability to play with language.
On day three, we worked on onomatopoeia. The students had fun trying to describe a place using mainly sounds. One volunteer reader said that it was the first time she liked the poem she wrote. For me, this is one of the benefits of a five-day residency. Giving the students a variety of jumping-off points for writing helps them to feel successful. They are bound to like what they’ve created on at least one of the days I’m visiting.
Dunne says that’s the purpose of a multi-day residency.
“This extended visit allows the artist time to form a basic relationship with the child, so that the child gains trust and feels some sense of safety in expressing him or herself creatively,” she says.
We spent one day revising, using student drafts to create line breaks and to give the poems form. The children had fun playing with long and short lines, looking at which words they wanted to emphasize in their work.
Residencies usually wind up with a concluding activity. Fort Garrison held a Poet’s Tea, where the children read their poems to parents and to each other. The teachers and parents arranged for snacks and put together a booklet of the poems. The activity was a celebration of the work we did during the residency, and I got to meet parents and speak with them about their children’s enthusiasm.
When the teachers asked me to say a few words, it was my turn to thank the parents and administrators for devoting time and funds to poetry.
After a residency, Dunne says, “Many students have a heightened sense of self-esteem. Often there are reports of students’ enhanced learning throughout the curriculum as [they] gain skills in creative discovery and critical analysis.”
Using school resources to nurture creativity sends a clear message to children, that being creative is a valued part of their overall development as people. BC

For more information on the Maryland State Arts Council’s Artists-in-Education program, visit www.msac.org.

Poetry in Motion
Here are samples the poetry created in class with Laura Shovan as an artist-in-residence.

Recess
By Katherine Bacharach, third grade

Wham! Whack!
The jump rope hits the ground
The ball hits the wall of the building.
“Yay! Yay!
I win the race!” someone shouts.
WHAM!
A big bump
Zoom
Someone zigzags by me.
Legs are getting tired
From jump roping, kicking balls and running around.
Crash, bounce
Someone throws a rock on the ground.
Snap
Girls are having a snapping contest.
Vroom
A car goes by the playground.
“Aw!”
Recess is over.

Embarrassed
By Marc Gordon, third grade

Embarrassed is like a snail because it’s yucky. Protected by its pretty shell, it’s beautiful in one way and ugly in another. The shell has bright colors. It’s a very good sight. It lives in the ocean deep, deep, deep. Sometimes it’s hard to get there so deep.

Angry
By Laurence Spekterman, third grade

Angry is black
Black wolf howling
They are fierce, mean and
Blood thirsty and
Alert and very
Vicious fast in the
Grass mean in the
Moon

By Rebecca Hirsch, third grade

Angry is like a snake.
Snakes strike
Their prey and are almost
Always angry.
They have almost a million cold,
Slimy scales that shine
In the sun.
Their tongues so forked
And fiery red with poison
As they approach their prey,
Quiet as a mouse.
Then, WHAM!
A yummy meal has come at last.
When I am angry,
I feel like a snake.
I want to strike
To free my anger.

@ Baltimore's Child Inc. March 2008