Tuesday, September 30, 2014

De Anza College Open Mic First Thursday is Here and Now

(Courtesy of 4 Elements of Hip Hop organization at De Anza College)

De Anza! Everyone's been gone for a minute having a good summer, and we're gonna start off this quarter with our monthly Open Mics to keep that spirit going! 



Founded by the Black Student Union (BSU), 4 Elements of Hip Hop have since carried on the event to keep the culture moving, we're proud to be part such a great event on campus. 



The Open Mics are open to everyone to showcase their talent, not only within the realm of hip hop, but for everything ranging from comedy, dance (as much as our venue's space permits at least), live instrumentation, and everything in between you can think of.


The Open Mic will take place THIS THURSDAY and we have it go on every First Thursday of the Month. It's located in the Euphrat Museum inside the Visual Performing Arts Center (VPAC). Whether you're a performer or a spectator, the Open Mic is an opportunity for everyone involved to showcase their talent and make connections with others, making it an on-campus anyone can find something in.

Poetry Lesson Plan Book Complete

California Poets in the Schools, in honor of our 50 year anniversary, has published a beautiful book of 50 poetry lessons, Poetry Crossing. Here is the book's editor, Phyllis Meshulam, with one of her students, who has a poem in the book. They presented the book and he read his poetry at the 19th annual Watershed Poetry Festival on Saturday.

The book is in a large page format, with sample poems, lesson step-by-step instructions, and student art. Intended for classroom teachers, each lesson has a page that can be photo copied and passed out to students. I know it will be available for sale, so watch this space for details. I can't wait to get my copy.

CPITS 50th Anniversary Symposium -- Join the Fun

Are you a poet, a poetry teacher, a classroom teacher??

Immerse yourself in an all-day poetry writing adventure and learn new strategies to awaken your own inner writer, and if you're a teacher, learn a new way to foster student imagination and creative language skills in the classroom.

California Poets in the Schools 50th Anniversary Teaching Symposium, Voices of Gold, features 15 interdisciplinary poetry writing workshops with performance, music, art, and yoga options, October 10-12, with a special “Saturday-only” workshop option. The event happens at the idyllic IONS Earthrise Retreat Center in Marin County.

Please contact the San Francisco CPITS office (415) 221-4201 and ask for Tina. You can register by phone, by email, or snail mail. Ask for the special Saturday pass, or Classroom Teacher discounts. This is a neat chance to walk away with ready-to-roll writing lesson ideas for all ages in a fun, restful and supportive atmosphere. We will also debut our first lesson plan book, “Poetry Crossing: 50 Lessons for K-12 Classrooms.” There is also a special local Saturday & Sunday Day Pass commuter option as well.

California Poets in the Schools 50th Anniversary Symposium
Where: IONS Earthrise Institute, Petaluma, CA
When: Oct 10-12th, 2014
To register: CPITS office (415) 221-4201
Tina@cpits.org

I hope to see you there!!

Friday, September 19, 2014

Poets.org Back to School 2014

The Academy of American Poets (of whose new website look I am not a fan -- parse that sentence!) published a great compilation of poems and lessons for Back-to-School. Read and listen here.

Here are some of the poems.

“We Real Cool” by Gwendolyn Brooks
“Theme for English B” by Langston Hughes
“The Testing-Tree” by Stanley Kunitz
“The Hand” by Mary Ruefle

You can also sign up at this link to receive their monthly Educator Newsletter. (Then you won't need to worry about checking this blog where not much happens!!)

Cheers. And here is a photo, because otherwise this is a boring (yet exciting) post. 

James Baldwin. Who wasn't a poet, but who looks lovely in leaves. And who wrote smart words. And is a roll model for us all about how to be brave. (I found the photo on Facebook so I do not know whom to credit.)