Wednesday, Nov. 30th, 2005

Frank came today and we had a pretty rousing lesson. It was in fact, one of the more spirited lessons we've had in recent weeks. After two and a half years of working in the project, I think a few of the students are becoming less and less interested; and it only takes a select few to get the rest of them distracted and feeling the same way. Even with that said though, today's lesson seemed like an enjoyable one that pulled in most of them.

Mr. Algerin (Frank) started by writing an open ended statement on the blackboard. "I want to thank my _________," from which we were supposed to freewrite for about ten minutes; no breaks. Students started to write, as Mr. Donohue and myself and a few seemed intereted in further developing their freewrite. We didn't really delve very deeply into what we had actually written since this was just a basic warmup.

Then we really got into the theme for the lesson. We started by re-visiting the last couple of years work; all the different types of poems and the different themes we've explored. We started a basic association map/bubble chart on the board with "Poems" as the central theme. Students raised their hands, called out and spoke to one another, and we eventually had a bubbling list including Epistlory, Persona, Odes, I Am/Elements, Political, Metaphor, "Dis Poem," Where I'm From/Community, "I Want to Hear a Poem," and Colors/Music/Found Objects. After we looked at the board, the students seemed to become increasingly aware of the magnitude of their repertoire. Even though it has been a couple of years, they have produced so much work it looked overwhelming on the board. That is until we took the next step, which seemed even more grand.

We moved on to a cleaner part of the board, and this time Frank placed "Poetry" in the center of a seperate Bubble Chart. Rumblings and murmering ensued, and I could tell most where eager with anticipation. Frank continued on and asked them what they actually thought and felt about poetry itself; How it makes them feel, what it does for them, where it takes them, and various other facets of their feelings. Hands sprouted quickly like spring grass as they poured out their insights. "Comfort, Passion, Beauty, Joy, Enthusiasm," came blasting out quickly. "A New Chapter, Inspiration, Bravery/Courage, New Way to Communicate, Knowledge, Word Search, Perspective, Not Formulaic," and "Relief" were others painted on the board in a flash of chalk dust. After we caught our breaths (not literally...) we then went a little deeper, and began writing exactly what the brainstorming led us to. Frank put on some Jazz, maybe a little loud at first, but definitly soothing, and hands sprang into action blazing trails through the lines of the composition books, while steamtrails rose from their heads.

After we wrote, we did as we usually do and left nearly half of the 90 minute block for performance. Issaka, Mauricio, and Wayne (Shining stars all of them) all volunteered to perform. And did they ever! These guys are becoming more and more natural vocal/performance poets/slam artists who seem to revel in trying to outshine each other. All in all, it was a very productive lesson/workshop which led to some spectacular poetry. Mybe they'll post them...or maybe they'll be performed.

To be continued....