arts and education poetry out loud

Poetry Can Take You Places - Maybe Even to Washington D.C.
Sheila Sears, Arts Education Manager, Colorado Creative Industries

• Visiting Artist Roster

Fifty-three champions from every state, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico competed in the 2009 national competition. Photo by James Kegley.

Colorado Poetry Out Loud is part of a national program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Poetry Foundation and Colorado Creative Industries that encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. Colorado high schools are invited to participate in classroom and school-wide contests, advancing to a state competition on March 20, 2012, with Colorado’s Poet Laureate David Mason serving as master of ceremonies. The State Champion will advance to the National Finals on May 13-15, 2012 in Washington, DC.

Poetry as an Oral Art Form
Poetry Out Loud seeks to foster the next generation of literary readers by capitalizing on the latest trends in poetry - recitation and performance. The program builds on the resurgence of poetry as an oral art form, as seen in the slam poetry movement and the immense popularity of rap music among youth. Through Poetry Out Loud, students can master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.

Samuel Opoku, from Thornton High School in Denver, was selected as the 2011 Colorado Champion. He was the first State Champion to finish in the top five at the Poetry Out Loud National Championship in Washington, DC. Previous state champions include Ben Reilly from George Washington High School in Denver (2010), Kaleena Kovach from William J. Palmer High School in Colorado Springs (2009), Brittany Harden, also from William J. Palmer High School (2008), and Passion Lyons from Gateway High School in Aurora (2007.)

Free Curriculum Materials
The program offers free, standards-based curriculum materials (teacher kits) including print and online poetry anthologies, a teacher‘s guide with sample lesson plans to help instructors teach recitation and performance, a best performances DVD, and an audio CD featuring well-known actors such as James Earl Jones In addition, a Learning Recitation DVD is part of the curriculum materials. A mix of old and new performances, this DVD is a great tool for getting students involved with poetry and introducing them to the art of recitation.  Program materials are available for download at www.poetryoutloud.org. To request a hard copy of a teacher kit to be mailed to you please contact kelleen@zubick.us.

Teacher Workshop
To learn about implementing Poetry Out Loud in the classroom and to learn poetry memorization and recitation skills from a leading Colorado poet, attend the free  teacher workshop on October 29, 2011 in Denver. Sign up for the workshop by clicking here.   [Get the latest version of Adobe Reader to access the PDF click here to download]

Poet and Performance Coach Classroom Visits
There will also be opportunities for professional poets and performance coaches to visit classrooms to support teacher implementation of Poetry Out Loud. These guest artists will inspire students and support teacher activities around Poetry Out Loud, from helping develop recitation and performance skills to reading from their own work. You can view the roster of current Guest Artists available to visit classrooms and learn more about having an artist visit your classroom by clicking here.

2011 Colorado State Champion Samuel Opoku

Prizes
The State Champion will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. with an adult chaperone, to compete for the National Championship. The state winner‘s school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. One runner-up will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library. Poetry Out Loud will award a total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends at the National Finals, including a $20,000 prize for the Poetry Out Loud National Champion.

POL Registration Form
There are two ways you can return the competed form to Colorado Poetry Out Loud Coordinator, Kelleen Zubick:

1. [Get the latest version of Adobe Reader to access the PDF click here to download]
   Open the form (POL-RegistrationForm_enable.pdf), fill it out, and when you are done click the Submit button located at the top right corner. You will get a pop up asking if you are using either a desktop email application (Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, etc) or Internet Email (Gmail, Yahoo, etc). It will take you through the steps. You will receive confirmation by email that the form was received.
2. If you prefer, you can print the form, fill it out by hand and FAX it to 720-545-9950,attn:Kelleen Zubick. 

Find out more!

• Visit www.poetryoutloud.org for information, browse poems, see videos and download the teacher’s guide.
• For a program overview, click here

Keep in touch with Colorado Poetry Out Loud happenings on Facebook:

Poetry Out Loud is sponsored by Colorado Creative Industries, National Endowment for the Arts and the  Poetry Foundation.