All across the country in classrooms and libraries National Poetry Month is celebrated during the month of April each year. We’re all familiar with highlighting poems in our storytimes and school aged programs and even hosting poetry slams in the library. But how many of us know about the countless organizations- local, state and national- who work to bring poetry alive for young people? These groups offer a wealth of information and resources to strengthen and invigorate our National Poetry Month offerings.
As librarians we are always looking ahead to our next innovative program, so as we wrap up National Poetry Month this year here are some organizations to consider partnering with in 2016 to bring poetry into your library.
Youth Speaks
Youth Speaks is a national spoken word and poetry organization headquartered in the Bay Area. Through arts education and youth development practices, civic engagement strategies, and high quality artistic presentation, the group seeks to create safe spaces that challenge young people to find, develop, publicly present, and apply their voices. Youth Speaks offer arts-in-education programs, year-long school residencies, Poetry Slam Clubs, writing workshops and other community events. For more information, visit http://youthspeaks.org/.
Poetry Out Loud
Poetry Out Loud is a contest that encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation. This program helps students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. The project is a collaboration between the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation and State arts agencies. To find out how to organize a competition in your school, or for additional resources to support poetry in the library, visit: www.poetryoutloud.org/state-contacts.
Teachers & Writers Collaborative
TWC provides writing and poetry programs led by professional writers in schools, libraries and community sites in the New York City area; however, they offer many resources for engaging children in poetry. Librarians can view their magazine website as well as the Digital Resource Center– a searchable archive of content from their five decades of print publications- on the website.
California Poets in the Schools (CPITS)
California Poets in the Schools is one of the largest literary artists-in-residence programs in the nation. CPITS serves 25,000 students annually in hundreds of public and private schools, libraries, juvenile halls, after-school programs, hospitals, and other community settings. CPITS encourages students throughout California to recognize and celebrate their creativity, intuition, and intellectual curiosity through the creative poetry writing process. CPITS offers professional development and trainings for teachers and librarians and coordinates their group of poets to visit classroom and libraries to teach poetry and writing to students. Their website is http://www.cpits.org/index.shtml.
Have you offered poetry programming at your library? Did you work with local organizations or groups such as your state’s poetry organization or a writers-in-residence program? Share your experiences and let’s continue the conversation in the comments below!
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Diana Garcia is a Children’s Librarian at the Monterey Park Bruggemeyer Library in California where she has the privilege of serving a fantastic community through storytimes, creative library programming and tutoring. Her afterschool literacy program for English Language Learners won the PLA Innovations in Literacy award in 2013. Diana is currently serving on the ALSC Liaison to National Organizations Committee, 2014 – 2016. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Children’s Literature Council of Southern California and serves on their Awards Committee.
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