A Night to Remember
By Barbara Buckman Strasko

In the elementary school where I teach writing, 96% of the students live below the poverty level. Parent support has been difficult to maintain. With the downtown area abandoned by the larger community, many of our students live in apartments above empty storefronts. Many of our families have few or no reading materials in their homes, and in many, no English is spoken.

Yet despite these obstacles, we've created a climate in which children find joy and self-expression through the writing of poetry. We are raising reading levels, improving writing scores and developing in our young people an appreciation for the literary arts. It all concludes with Poetry and Arts Night, as well as the publication of our own literary magazine, Sunrise.

A culminating experience. Our Poetry and Arts Night, a community-based appreciation of the students' accomplishments, is a culminating experience encompassing many of our pedagogical goals. We typically get 10 to 20 parents at school meetings. In contrast, at Poetry and Arts Night for the past few years, we have had over 300 people attend.

Students in second through fifth grade participate in Poetry and Arts Night, to which parents and families are invited. Each child reads or performs a poem in his or her classroom. Poems might be original or written by a favorite author. Then everyone goes to the auditorium to hear selected students perform. During this part of the program, about 45 students read. Their poems and original artwork are arranged in a PowerPoint slideshow and are displayed on a huge screen behind them.

Students who are not reciting in the poetry program can participate by writing persuasive essays in order to be chosen for the publicity committee, the refreshment committee, to serve as greeters or to be one of two emcees who introduce all of the performers.

As the coordinator of the program and a poet, I begin the program by reading an original piece. The principal speaks and reads a selected poem. In the middle of the program we sometimes have one or two short musical pieces by our Creole or Spanish-speaking students, or students, along with the N'Bonye Dance and Drum Ensemble from Lancaster, PA, perform African dance.

How it came about. The original goal that resulted in the creation of Poetry and Arts Night was to fulfill a grant that included a workshop for parents on literacy with free books available to them. We knew that if the children were involved in a performance of some kind the parents would be more likely to attend. We started with two grade levels; the plan was such a success that the event expanded to whole-school participation. A committee was formed, a timeline developed and the evening became a goal that students and teachers worked toward. Poetry and Arts Night takes the cooperation and dedication of all of the teachers. I head a committee of teachers who help to plan the program and carry out all the various jobs such as typing poems, helping with rehearsals and facilitating the creation of artwork and music.

Pride of ownership. The students' enthusiasm for Poetry and Arts Night is incredible. The teachers, our school librarian and I select the students who will read for the auditorium part of the program. The principal meets with us when I announce to the students who has been chosen. I model how a poem should be read and give the students their poems to take home to practice reciting. Rehearsals are serious. The students who are in the program like the recognition and challenge, and they take ownership for the program.

One example of this ownership is when a student who was involved the year before asked me if I was going to read another jazz poem this year. When I said no, Zebrina said, "Well, then I think I'd like to write and perform a jazz poem and put it to music like you did last year." I was thrilled with this kind of independence and initiative, and excited to be a model for Zebrina, but the story gets better.

I took some of the older students to a kindergarten class so they could practice, perform and answer questions about writing and performing poetry. One of the five-year-old students asked, "What made you write this poem?" Zebrina answered, "Last year there was a jazz poem and this year there wasn't going to be one; I thought there really should be one." This answer helped me to see that she wrote and performed the jazz poem partly for the good of the whole, demonstrating a high-level "performance of understanding" for this student. It was also exciting, I think, for the kindergarten students to witness and think about an older student seeing the whole picture and wanting to contribute.

Fun for all. The evening is truly a community event. The parents love the program, and are grateful to us for helping their children develop the confidence to speak and read in front of a crowd, for their love of writing and for awakening them to the power of poetry.

Students have their own reasons for being enthusiastic about poetry. They see the creation of poems as a means to express themselves and their own artistic vision. Even the younger students can analyze poems and discuss their value. But the fun part is performing poetry for others.

Barbara Buckman Strasko is a literacy coach for the School District of Lancaster, PA. She has her MFA in creative writing from Vermont College and is a Reading Specialist.

March, 2006, Vol.36, No.6