Poem Possibilities

1. Poem Possibilities Using grants to foster collaboration Brenda Cowe School Library Media Specialist

2. Purpose of Grant Request • Foster collaboration between school libraries, public libraries, and community members. • Expose students to the excitement of writing, publishing, and performing poetry for a community audience.

3. Funding Source Ithaca Public Education Initiative

4. Overview of Grant Project • 4th grade students worked with a local poet to create original poems. • Student work was published on LULU.com in an anthology. • Students read their original poems for a community audience at the public library.

5. Participants • Ithaca City School District -Brenda Cowe, Judy Blood • Tompkins County Public Library -Patricia Lia • Local Poet -Jay Leeming

6. Goals of the Project • Students will gain a deeper understanding of the role of poetry as an art form and the role it can play in understanding themselves and their place in the world around them. • Student personal empowerment will increase through the publication of their original poems and public performance of these poems. • Student English Language Arts (ELA) skills will improve in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking for literary response and expression, information and understanding, and social interaction.

7. Goals of the Project • Students will gain a greater understanding and level of familiarity and comfort with arts performances and activities. • Students will gain appreciation of the poetry collection in their school library and public library and will view reading poetry as recreational reading.

8. Benefits to Community Partners • The local collaborating poet will gain greater community exposure for their work through working directly with children, teachers, parents, and local libraries. The audience for their work will therefore increase. • The local community partner will benefit from greater exposure of their services and programs, through the public reading, hopefully engaging children and parents that had not previously participated in said programs and services. The audience for their services will therefore increase.

9. Innovative Features • Student work will be published at very low cost using print-on-demand technology. • Anyone can purchase a copy of the book from the website.

10. Description of Activities • Met with teacher and poet to discuss workshop schedule, related lessons, and workshop content. • Two workshops held with local poet Jay Leeming and Judy Blood’s 4th grade class • Students continue poetry lessons in class and in the library, tying it to the library collection of poetry.

11. Description of Activities • Students selected two of their poems for inclusion in the anthology. • Compiled student poems into one manuscript and published on LULU.com. • Marketing for poetry reading completed. • Students presented a public poetry reading at the Tompkins County Public Library during National Poetry Month 2007.

12. Marketing • Flyers for parents, teachers, and public • Listservs for teachers and librarians • School and Library Websites • Weblog created for the project • Press releases for local newspapers • School newsletter articles

13. Evaluation Students, parents, collaborative partners were surveyed post-program • Evaluated outcome measures such as increased poetry awareness, increase in enthusiasm for poetry, participation in arts events, organization of project • Evaluated poetry circulation increase

14. Successes • Increase in poetry circulation • Increase in student awareness of the various types of poetry and the role it can play in their life • Increase in student and parent familiarity with arts events in the community • Increase in knowledge of the public library and its resources • Increase in self-confidence of students • Parent attendance at 95% for the public reading • Increased collaboration between school library, public library and arts partner • Student poems published in professional format