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From: "PUBYAC: PUBlic librarians serving Young Adults and Children"
<pubyac@prairienet.org>
To: "PUBYAC: PUBlic librarians serving Young Adults and Children" <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2002 11:01 PM
Subject: PUBYAC digest 673
PUBYAC Digest 673
Topics covered in this issue include:
1) rain hat
by "Cathy Lamoree" <clamoree@poklib.org>
2) RE: storytime activities
by Jeanne O'Grady <OGRADYJ@santacruzpl.org>
3) Steamboat Craft
by Lori Morgan <lmorgan@jefferson.lib.in.us>
4) stumper - Thanks
by Charlette Jouan <cmjouan@yahoo.com>
5) Transition Activities
by "Sally Warburton" <swarburton@pc-va.org>
6) NYLA Youth Services Section holds Spring Conference
by Regan Defranza <defranza@northnet.org>
7) stumper - a walk
by "Karen Brown" <BrownK@ci.monterey.ca.us>
8) I am in charge of homeschooling resources at our library.
by "Bart Pisapia" <PisapiaB@mail.co.leon.fl.us>
9) My Louisiana Sky - Video for purchase
by "flotten, martha" <mflotten@hclib.org>
10) Re: Labeling AR books
by Sushila Mertens <kidlit_2000@yahoo.com>
11) RE: Labeling AR books
by "Keeney, Scott" <SKEENEY@ci.albany.or.us>
12) Re: Labeling AR books
by "Heather Grady" <hgrady@acpl.lib.in.us>
13) Re: train craft needed
by "Kathy Crawford" <kathy_crawford@hotmail.com>
14) Poetry Responses
by "Marta Segal" <martasegal@hotmail.com>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Cathy Lamoree" <clamoree@poklib.org>
To: <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: rain hat
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:00:58 CST
Hi everyone. Does anyone know where I can find a copy of the rain hat =
story where a piece of newpaper is folded into a rain hat, a pirate hat, =
a boat, and then pieces are torn off so that it resembles a life jacket? =
It's been awhile since I've done it but I would love to revive it when =
the spring rains come. Thanks
------------------------------
From: Jeanne O'Grady <OGRADYJ@santacruzpl.org>
To: "'pubyac@prairienet.org'"
<pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: RE: storytime activities
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Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:01:05 CST
You personally might not be able to do the craft with the class, but if =
you
give ideas to the classroom teacher or art teacher that coordinate with =
the
theme of your stories, I suspect they would be delighted to implement =
them.
Jeanne Kelly O'Grady
Youth Services Outreach Librarian
Santa Cruz Public Libraries
------------------------------
From: Lori Morgan <lmorgan@jefferson.lib.in.us>
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: Steamboat Craft
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:01:12 CST
We have (author) Catherine Wright who wrote the book "Steamboat Annie and
the Thousand-Pound Catfish" coming to visit on Read Across American Day.
Would anyone have a great and easy steamboat craft suggestion?
Lori Morgan
Jeffersonville Township Public Library
lmorgan@jefferson.lib.in.us
------------------------------
From: Charlette Jouan <cmjouan@yahoo.com>
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: stumper - Thanks
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Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:01:18 CST
Many thanks to all who answered my question on the
goldfish.
Fish out of Water by Helen Palmer.
Our patron will be thrilled!
Happy Friday!
Charlette (Trawick) Jouan
San Diego County Library, La Mesa Branch
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions!
http://auctions.yahoo.com
------------------------------
From: "Sally Warburton" <swarburton@pc-va.org>
To: <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: Transition Activities
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Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:01:24 CST
Hello all,
I have a request from a preschool teacher for transition activities - the
sort of things we do for the openings for storytimes. Little songs for
going from activities to lunch time, or brush your teeth, or clean up the
toys. Does anyone have any ideas for a book or web site that may have some
of these listed? or do you have any favorites you might use?
Thanks,
Sally
swarburton@pc-va.org
------------------------------
From: Regan Defranza <defranza@northnet.org>
To: PUBYAC <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: NYLA Youth Services Section holds Spring Conference
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:01:30 CST
YOUTH SERVICES SECTION OF NYLA HOLDS SPRING
CONFERENCE 2002
FRIDAY, APRIL
FOUR POINTS SHERATON
ROCHESTER RIVERSIDE HOTEL
ROCHESTER, NY
The annual NYLA Youth Services Section Spring Conference will be held on
Friday, April 26,
2002, in Rochester, NY. Natalie Kinsey-Warnock, author of numerous
books, including
Canadian Geese Quilt, Fiddler of the Northern Lights, and A Farm of Her
Own, will present the
keynote address. Kent L. Brown, Publisher of Boyds Mill Press and Editor
of the popular magazine,
Highlights for Children will be the luncheon speaker.
The conference titled "Patchwork of Services" will be held at The Four
Points Sheraton Rochester
Riverside Hotel, Rochester, NY.
Workshops to be offered include:
Guest Author Program: Natalie Kinsey-Warnock
2002 Summer Reading: "Splish! Splash! Read!
Crafts
The Intelligence Avenue Quilt: Blocking and Backing It
Teen Spaces in the Library
Patchwork of Storytelling Techniques
Patchwork of Possibilities: Quilting across the
Elementary
School Curriculum
Teen Advisory Councils
For more information contact:
Stephanie Voorheis, Conference Chair
West Ridge Elementary School
200 Alcott Road, Rochester, New York 14626
stephanie.voorheis@greece.k12.ny.us
OR
Carolyn Schuler
Monroe County Library System
115 South Avenue
Rochester, New York, 14604
(585) 428-8301
--
____________________________________________________________
Regan DeFranza, MLS
Youth Services / Consultant
North Country Library System
22072 County Route 190, P.O. Box 99 Watertown, New York 13601-0099
Phone: 315-782-5540 Fax: 315-782-6883 Email: defranza@northnet.org
------------------------------
From: "Karen Brown" <BrownK@ci.monterey.ca.us>
To: <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: stumper - a walk
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Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:01:36 CST
Our customer remembers a picture book with several stories in it. It was =
read 20 years ago. It had line drawings and was a paperback edition.
In =
the most memorable story, a little girl goes walking, packs lettuce in a =
jar and chocolate in her skirt. She did not think any of the titles =
listed in A - Zoo under walking or picnicing sounded right. Does someone =
know of this book? I appreciate your thoughts and your time in writing to
=
us. =20
Karen Brown
brownk@ci.monterey.ca.us
Youth Services Manager
Monterey Public Library
625 Pacific Street
Monterey, CA 93940
831-646-3744
------------------------------
From: "Bart Pisapia" <PisapiaB@mail.co.leon.fl.us>
To: <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: I am in charge of homeschooling resources at our library.
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Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:01:43 CST
I am in charge of homeschooling resources at our library. We
have a =
separate section with homeschooling books and several notebooks of =
general information and curriculum resources. I am planning to put up a =
bulletin board so different groups can post information. I hope this will
=
lead to more interaction between groups in our area (we have six). I also
=
want to get a small vertical file area so each group can have a file of =
their own (which they maintain) telling about their group.
I am also developing a workshop for people who help with
their child's =
education (homeschoolers or not) which will help identify resources in our =
reference area that would be helpful to them. I find most parents don't =
have any idea of the wealth of information in that section.
=20
=
Bart Pisapia
Bart Pisapia
LeRoy Collins Leon County Library
Tallahassee, Florida
------------------------------
From: "flotten, martha" <mflotten@hclib.org>
To: "'neames@toledolibrary.org'"
<neames@toledolibrary.org>
Subject: My Louisiana Sky - Video for purchase
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:01:49 CST
For those interested in purchasing My Louisiana Sky on Video please see the
following email for ordering information from the Carnegie committee.
Thanks,
martha
************************************************************
Showtime Entertainment Home Video
has adjusted the distribution date of My Louisiana Sky from the mass
distribution date that was originally scheduled of July 9, to asap! This
means that it will probably be available in video and DVD in
approximately three weeks. This is a reflection and measure of the
importance that they place on receiving the Carnegie Award. In speaking
with the contact who will be making this possible, he said that it was
their pleasure to do this as they felt so honored to have the video
receive this award. Showtime folks are really thrilled about this
receiving the Carnegie. This means that in approximately three weeks My
Louisiana Sky will become available through all the regular purchasing
avenues including Baker and Taylor, Ingraham, Amazon.com, etc. at a cost
of $14.99.
_______________________________________
Martha Keough Flotten
Senior Youth Services Librarian
Hennepin County Library
12601 Ridgedale Drive
Minnetonka, MN 55305-1909
mflotten@hclib.org
(952) 847-8818 - phone
(952) 847-8819 - fax
------------------------------
From: Sushila Mertens <kidlit_2000@yahoo.com>
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: Re: Labeling AR books
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:01:55 CST
Don't do it! I briefly considered this. You are right
in saying you will confuse the children if they assume
their school has the test because the library had a
label. Having each schools list prevents that problems
and saves you from being the bad guy.
--- Kaney <kaney@ipa.net> wrote:
> My manager recently announced that we are going to
> add spine stickers to all
> AR (accelerated reader) books in our collection that
> are designated AR by
> the local public schools. For anyone not familiar
> with the AR program,
> schools can buy books with accompanying tests to use
> as a reading motivation
> program. We have supported their program in the
> past by having the school's
> AR lists on hand for patron use, but adding stickers
> to the books in our
> collection would take our involvement to a new
> level. It seems to me that
> this will be a logistical nightmare as we serve not
> only four local
> elementary schools, but also an additional eight
> rural schools. If we put
> stickers on from one school's list, a student from
> another school might
> select a book thinking that it applied to their
> school's list as well and
> (horror of horrors) might end up reading a book for
> which they couldn't get
> credit! Adding a second sticker to the spine to
> indicate which school the
> book worked for would get cumbersome, not to mention
> a headache to keep
> updated.
>
> Has anyone out there tried anything like this? If
> so, I would welcome any
> information to take back with me to either help with
> the logistics of
> implementing this program, or share your experiences
> that would support or
> discourage this plan.
>
> Hopefully yours,
> Peggy Kaney
> Youth Services Coordinator
> Tahlequah Public Library
> 120 S. College
> Tahlequah, OK 74464
> kaney@ipa.net
>
=====
Sushila Mertens kidlit_2000@yahoo.com
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Great stuff seeking new owners in Yahoo! Auctions!
http://auctions.yahoo.com
------------------------------
From: "Keeney, Scott" <SKEENEY@ci.albany.or.us>
To: "'pubyac@prairienet.org'"
<pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: RE: Labeling AR books
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain;
Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:02:02 CST
We, too, serve multiple schools each with their own AR collections
of books and tests. Rather than offer a nightmarish, coded rainbow of spine
dots to identify books by school, we annually solicit printouts of each
school's AR books, preferably by author, and store them in well-labelled,
good looking binders on the new fiction shelf.
The true key, though, is to jump up and serve AR patrons as they
attempt to find their school's authors and titles among our fiction,
nonfiction, beginning readers, and picture book collections.
Thanks,
_________________________________________
Scott Keeney
Children's Librarian
work 541-917-7591
Albany Public Library
fax 541-917-7586
1390 Waverly Dr SE
Albany OR 97321
skeeney@ci.albany.or.us
-----Original Message-----
From: Kaney [mailto:kaney@ipa.net]
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2002 6:57 PM
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: Labeling AR books
My manager recently announced that we are going to add spine stickers to all
AR (accelerated reader) books in our collection that are designated AR by
the local public schools. For anyone not familiar with the AR program,
schools can buy books with accompanying tests to use as a reading motivation
program. We have supported their program in the past by having the
school's
AR lists on hand for patron use, but adding stickers to the books in our
collection would take our involvement to a new level. It seems to me that
this will be a logistical nightmare as we serve not only four local
elementary schools, but also an additional eight rural schools. If we put
stickers on from one school's list, a student from another school might
select a book thinking that it applied to their school's list as well and
(horror of horrors) might end up reading a book for which they couldn't get
credit! Adding a second sticker to the spine to indicate which school the
book worked for would get cumbersome, not to mention a headache to keep
updated.
Has anyone out there tried anything like this? If so, I would welcome any
information to take back with me to either help with the logistics of
implementing this program, or share your experiences that would support or
discourage this plan.
Hopefully yours,
Peggy Kaney
Youth Services Coordinator
Tahlequah Public Library
120 S. College
Tahlequah, OK 74464
kaney@ipa.net
------------------------------
From: "Heather Grady" <hgrady@acpl.lib.in.us>
To: <kaney@ipa.net>, <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: Re: Labeling AR books
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Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:02:08 CST
We label our AR books with a spine sticker from DEMCO. They now have =
individual level stickers as well. We chose to use the general sticker.
=
We have three schools in our area that make use of the AR list. In order =
to accomidate all, we chose to use three labels inside the book. (For =
some reason when the new batch of AR tests came out a couple years ago, =
theyy changed the reading levels and points. So, our schools with older =
programs and those with newer share some of the same titles, but the =
points and reading level are different.)
We each of the labels has point value, reading level, and school name. We
=
highlight the school name to allow it to stand out. We instruct the kids =
on how to use the books and to always make sure it is for their school. It =
is working quite well, as we have a school across the street that makes =
great use of the books. It is now self serve!
Heather Grady
Heather Grady
Allen County Public Library
Shawnee Branch
Fort Wayne, IN
>>> "Kaney" <kaney@ipa.net>
01/31/02 10:14PM >>>
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My manager recently announced that we are going to add spine stickers to =
all
AR (accelerated reader) books in our collection that are designated AR by
the local public schools. For anyone not familiar with the AR program,
schools can buy books with accompanying tests to use as a reading =
motivation
program. We have supported their program in the past by having the =
school's
AR lists on hand for patron use, but adding stickers to the books in our
collection would take our involvement to a new level. It seems to me that
this will be a logistical nightmare as we serve not only four local
elementary schools, but also an additional eight rural schools. If we put
stickers on from one school's list, a student from another school might
select a book thinking that it applied to their school's list as well and
(horror of horrors) might end up reading a book for which they couldn't =
get
credit! Adding a second sticker to the spine to indicate which school the
book worked for would get cumbersome, not to mention a headache to keep
updated.
Has anyone out there tried anything like this? If so, I would welcome any
information to take back with me to either help with the logistics of
implementing this program, or share your experiences that would support or
discourage this plan.
Hopefully yours,
Peggy Kaney
Youth Services Coordinator
Tahlequah Public Library
120 S. College
Tahlequah, OK 74464
kaney@ipa.net=20
------------------------------
From: "Kathy Crawford" <kathy_crawford@hotmail.com>
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: Re: train craft needed
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Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:02:14 CST
My favorite train craft was to give each child a graham cracker, with one
section broken off. They spread peanut butter or topping of choice on them,
then add banana slices for wheels to the larger section. The smaller one
becomes the smokestack. raisins make the headlight, and center of wheel, and
mini-marshmallows become smoke.
As for websites, I think <http://www.nuttinbutkids.com>
is one of the best.
Anotehr one is <http://www.hummingbirded.com>
Both of these are more
book-centered than a lot of them. You may also check out
>http://www.thebestbooksite.com> There is a craft wizard there that
you can
email and with requests for ideas to go with a specific book and they will
send you suggestions. My favorite publication is Mailbox- available from
http://www.themailboxcompanion.com
Kathy Crawford
LaRue County Public Library
201 S. Lincoln Blvd.
Hodgenville, Ky. 42748
Phone:270.358.3851
Fax:270.358.8647
kathy_crawford@hotmail.com
----Original Message Follows----
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To: <pubyac@prairienet.org>
Subject: train craft needed
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 20:45:44 CST
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Folks,
I could use your help! I am just beginning to add crafts to our preschool
storytime, which starts next Thursday. I have combed several websites for
an easy train craft, to no avail. If you have one you think I could handle
on my very first try, I'd appreciate hearing about it!
Also, I'd love to hear what books or websites you find useful for finding
crafts for preschool storytime.
Thanks so much,
Lori
***********************************
Lori H. Fritz
Reference/Youth Services Librarian
College Station Public Library
1818 Harvey Mitchell Pkwy. South
College Station, TX 77845
ldhodges@cox-internet.com
Phone: 979-764-3416
Fax: 979-764-6379
***********************************
_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.
------------------------------
From: "Marta Segal" <martasegal@hotmail.com>
To: pubyac@prairienet.org
Subject: Poetry Responses
Mime-Version: 1.0
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Date: Fri, 1 Feb 2002 20:02:20 CST
Hi
I've gotten a few requests to post the information I got about poetry slams
and poetry nights to the list, so below are all the responses not already
posted to the list.
Please feel free to keep sending me ideas and suggestions! I'm curious if
anyone had a hard time explaining the concept of a "poetry slam" to
those
unfamiliar with it. Thanks for all your help.
Marta
A couple of years ago I was working at a public library in Oregon organizing
programs for all ages. During National Poetry Month (April) we decided to
offer a series of activities. We hosted poetry writing workshops, a
how-to-get-published program, a poetry reading session and other poetry
related events. Members of the community hosted many of these activities.
The grand finale, however, was a poetry slam at a local coffee shop who
co-hosted the program with the public library. I was fortunate enough to get
a few members of the Portland National Poetry Slam team to perform some of
their pieces and then run the slam. Members of the community were expected
to register beforehand so we could plan the rounds of competition, etc. We
had a huge turn-out and actually had to turn people away who wanted to
register at the last minute. Everyone had a great time and we gave prizes to
the winner(s). It was a great way to promote the library in a hip and fun
way.
As a high school librarian in Santa Barbara, I worked with the English
department promoting National Poetry Month and convinced the administration
to pay for two performance poets from Los Angeles to visit the school and
share their material. We arranged for all English classes each period to
attend the program. It was a huge success. Students who just knew they were
going to hate the poetry reading, tried to sneak in other periods during the
day to see the program again.
Good luck organizing something. It took a lot of effort on my part, but it
was definitely worth it. Students were so excited about poetry after they
saw this "new" medium. I should also mention that members of the
"poetry
community" are very helpful and willing to do as much as they can to
increase interest in poetry. They gave me names, numbers, ideas, etc. I
couldn't have pulled these programs off without their help and insight.
If I can help out in any way, let me know.
Mandy Combs
Bishop Garcia Diego High School
4000 La Colina Rd.
Santa Barbara, CA 93110
(805) 967-1266
mcombs@bishopdiego.org
I supervise 4 small rural libraries. We do not have the staff (or
space) to do a poetry slam. Instead, I made posters with pictures of
10 famous Canadian poets. Teens are invited to come to the library
to see the poster, grab a "hint sheet" and an answer sheet. A teen
with the most correct answers will win a prize (local pizza gift
certificate). I call it "Name That Canadian Poet - Contest", and then
contacted the head of the English Dept. in each local high school
and issued the challenge. We'll see what happens over the March
break period when the contest is on. This doesn't cost much, and
doesn't take much staff time. I think it's a good way to introduce
poetry to the teens. It might be a good way for you to test the waters
and find potential participants for your slam.
Best of luck.
Joanne HeadJoanne Head
Co-ordinator, Library Services
Western Counties Regional Library
405 Main Street
Yarmouth, N.S.
B5A 1G3
Tel:(902)742-2486
FAX:(902)742-6920
jhead@nsy.library.ns.ca
We did a poetry slam last year in Tiverton, RI. I hired the city's poet
laureate who organizes these events. We had over 250 entries, and then
he came with two professional poetry slammers (?) and performed a
selection of the poems. After each poem, they read the author and if the
author was in the audience he/she could take a bow, and were invited to
perform their poem. I had prizes donated by local bookstores. This was a
community-wide event and we received poems from children, teens, and
adults.
Janice
Hey! We did a Poetry Slam here in Carroll county last April. The 7th and
8th graders came down from school which made it easy to get kids to
attend...they were at school and walked over. It got them out of LA class,
so they liked that. We had the lights low and candles and incense burning.
The kids were invited to bring their own poetry and I read some that I
really liked. I used song lyrics as well as some 'real' poetry. I used
some Alannis Morsette 'Ironic' and 'You Learn' and - believe it or not -
Neil Diamond 'I Am I Said...' along with others. I explained about
beatniks (sp?) and their fascination with poetry and that they could snap
their fingers or some other(quiet) creative way to to show appreciation. I
brought bongos and other rythym instruments to accompany the poetry. We
served hot chocolate instead of coffee and the kids really liked the whole
thing! Some of the teachers made it a mandatory thing to bring a poem, but
some just let the kids read if they wanted. Lots of kids brought stuff
they had written or that they liked...I hearsd some really good stuff! I
will do it again this April (National Poetry Month)! We all had lots of
fun!!
Marcia Schaffer
Carroll County District Library
Carrollton, Ohio
Each month at University Place Library (a branch of Pierce County Library
System in Washington state) we hold a poetry cafe for teens one evening of
the month. We set up our meeting room with small tables with tablecloths,
candles, glassware for decorations, and have "mood lighting" with
lowered
lights and red light accents. We also always have snacks - coffee, pop,
chips, cookies and granola bars. We have a make-shift stage that we use and
a microphone for their use. The idea is an "open mike" time for them.
They
can read their own poetry or anything written by someone else. We have a
mixed-audience that comes regularly. It's about half adults, half teens. The
numbers are still very small, but it is worth it, in my opinion. This month,
thanks to a grant from ALA "Live! @ the library", we have hosted a
four-part
poetry slam workshop each Tuesday night in January. We are hosting SPLAB,
the spoken word lab from Auburn, Washington to direct the workshops. The
first night we had about 6 poets from SPLAB present a real-live poetry SLAM
performance and talk about performance and judging. The next workshop was on
writing poetry, then followed by the performance workshop last week. Tonight
(our final workshop) we are having a "poetry slam" event where anyone
can
participate and win cash prizes, poetry books and cds. This workshop (called
"Write Out Loud!") has been really successful! We have had between
23-28
participants at each workshop (these are great numbers for our branch,
especially for this age-group and a poetry event). The crowd has included
both adults and teens. The ages range from middle-school through the
elderly. Everyone seems to have really enjoyed it. The poets leading the
workshops have been excellent as well. We have advertised for this program
through typical flyers, web, and ads run in our local paper. Word-of-mouth
has also served well. I also spoke with area librarians and teachers and
sent flyers to the junior high and high school in our community. I would
recommend it highly. If you have teens that are active at your library,
having their enthusiasm and opinion can really help. Talk with english
teachers and perhaps even the drama department as well. If you want more
information about our workshops, let me know.
Good luck!
Kristin Arnett
Youth Services Librarian
University Place Library, WA
es, I held a poetry slam for teens at I library at which I used to work. I
marketed it with flyers and adds in the local section of the papers. The
response was interesting - about 7 kids all from the middle school. I used
trustees and library staff for judges. The rules I used came from the South
Shore Poetry Club of Massachusetts. This really involved rounds of poetry
reading within each round every participant was graded on writing ,
presentation and then given an overall score one through ten. This is how
the rounds were narrowed down until the final round was just two people.
Cash prizes were given out. I should note that this was a small town with a
difficult relationship with the schools so to have 7 kids was a big deal.
Later, we had a battle of the bands which was a huge success. Maybe your
town is different.
I hope this helped.
Karen L. Gabbert Armand
Children's / Young Adults Librarian
Ames Free Library - Easton's Public Library
53 Main Street
North Easton, Massachusetts 02356
508-238-2000
Sorry so long but:
I have done both a Teen Coffee House Poetry Night and a Teen Poetry Slam at
the Shaker Heights Public Library. I am no longer there, but I can share
what I learned, and how I miss those programs. Both were very successful! It
seemed to help that the CH started first and then we grew into a Slam.
The Coffee House nights were growing in popularity. The first CH had around
30 attend, and something like 12 actually got up and spoke. The next 3 grew-
more than 75 attended- (including parents, grandparents, teachers, etc.)
who came to watch the +30 teen poets. Once the teens found out that spoken
word/rap was OK, that we were looking to hear things they wrote not stuff
out of a book, and that it could be raw/"uncensored" (we did ask the
poets
to be aware of language used due to the age spread of the audience-- they
were respectful to that) that is when the numbers really started growing. I
have learned to let one of the teens emcee- it was interesting because the
teens laid down the ground rules (respect the poet, open forum, breaks will
be at.. etc), and if someone was being disruptive the teens took good care
of crowd control. I also learned to have little breaks during the evening,
this cut down on teens getting up and disrupting the poets on "stage".
A 1 1/2 slot seems to be a good span- leaving 1/2 before the library closes
to make sure all are out. There were times when the cleaning crew was
waiting for everyone to leave because the teens did not want to go home!!!
The last 2 CH and The Slam we went over and the teens stayed to help
clean!!!
By the time we attempted the Slam (which pulled roughly 125 in attendance),
we had to limit it to 4 teams (2 signed up), and 50 solo competitors- the
solo list was full by the evening. I did get help- having someone from the
community assisting me in running it, (along with hosting workshops on what
is a Slam, writing and reading poetry, and speaking in front of an audience;
before the Slam. She helped in recruiting local poets/writers, editors, etc.
to come in and judge- even one of our staff members was a former Slam artist
and she served on the judging panel. We had permission/ rule slips made- so
the teens knew it was more competitive and what to expect. We originally
were going to leave an Open Mic. at the end, but we had too many wanting to
compete. The prize was to sign your name on a pair of boxing gloves and your
name/ stage name would go on a trophy to be displayed in the Teen Center
(where we hosted these things). The teens were fine with that sort of prize,
and the winners got a big kick signing their names to the gloves that would
also be displayed in the Center. Some of the rules we had: 1.) come prepared
with 3 poems (3 rounds- round robin- highest scores move onto R2, etc), 2.)
2 minutes per poem- deducted points if you go over, 3.) Prefer original
work, if reading a published poem- must state poet before reading- avoid
plagiarism, 4.) judges grade on a 10 pt scale looking for - examples:
delivery, creativity of poem and use of words, audience response. 5. you
must be on time, if you miss your call- no points (we actually did not
follow this through- we let those who missed their spots go at the end if
there was room- this seemed to appease the late parents who came to see
their teen perform). I searched the web for these rules, and the rules did
help. The order: I picked who went first out of names from a hat. ****As a
caution I would ask if the person who was picked for first would like to go
first- and ask for volunteers if not, make sure you have someone who is
comfortable being first... my big mistake. Otherwise that process seems to
work well with such a large group pressed for time.
I think the teens mostly handled the competitions OK, I don't think kids
would. It was pretty tense, even though no grand prize was offered. I will
admit that a few teens left pretty upset when they did not make it past
round 1. (sadly, you have to eliminate quickly with such a large group).
I had a tween group who really wanted me to host a Tween Coffee house for
them, but I left before that ever came to be. It is amazing to hear what
teens pour out, I would enjoy those evenings so much, I miss them so. If and
when your program comes, you will see what I mean. I have had nothing but
positive feedback from parents to teachers about this program. If you have
any more questions please feel free ask away.
Best success
Jennifer Stencel
Youth Librarian
Richfield Public Library
jenniferstencel@msn.com
jstencel@ascpl.lib.oh.us
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End of PUBYAC Digest 673
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