Writers-in-the-Schools, RI brings professional writers into public school classrooms to help students produce, revise, publish and perform original imaginative writing. Working writers bring a particular energy and expertise to teaching writing that awakens the intellect and the imagination and which supports curriculum and strengthens skills. Students learn how to read as writers and write as readers, and about process, craft and genre. They are encouraged to explore language in new ways and, in turn, become increasingly invested and deliberate in how they use words. Children learn to take pride in the power of their words and translate that pride into power.
Writers-in-the-Schools, RI helps students to:
— enrich vocabulary, awareness of typography, punctuation and grammar, see how they are used to varying effect within the genre of poetry and beyond
— expand scope of reading experience, compare poetry with other genres, learn and compare forms within the genre
— expand the scope of writing experience through pastiche with on-site writing, editing and sharing at every meeting
— strengthen close reading skills by learning to unpack imagery and metaphor
— polish, publish and share work
— increase auditory skills through close listening, repetition, memorization, call and response
— practice public reading, understand how delivery impacts meaning
— become familiar with the names and works of great poets from around the world and across history
— see how poetry can connect and deepen understanding in any area of study, across the curriculum
— use reading and writing of poetry to observe, explore and understand the world and one’s self
Email kate@ribook.org to see how you can bring Writers-in-the-Schools to your community!
“I think people underestimate how courageous and difficult it is for students who aren’t fluent in English to be integrated into a school system and sometimes be really new to a country and that pressure to perform in a classroom sometimes makes them feel like their native language really isn’t appropriate for use in that space. I encourage all students to use all their languages in order to free them up and once they’re back in touch with their impulses, to express themselves in any language and then the English also starts to flow more freely because they get unlocked and separated from that pressure to perform and to learn the language.” – Tina Cane, Former RI Poet Laureate and Director of Writer-in-Schools
