All about STEAM Powered Poetry Videos

Hi everyone,

I have a guest today. I met HEIDI BEE ROEMER more than ten years ago at one of my poetry workshops in Pennsylvania for the Highlights Foundation. We’ve remained in touch and share a belief that poetry can play a key role in the lives of young people as they hone their skills with language. I’ve recently participated in one of Heidi’s projects (with partners) and invited her to tell everyone more about it. Heidi, welcome to the blog.

“Heidi Bee is all STEAM-ed Up!”

For 25 years I have tried (optimistically, enthusiastically, and in many instances, unsuccessfully) to set up poetry programs for children in unusual venues. A roller rink: “Read and Roll with a Real Author!” A fitness center: “Wild About Sports Poetry!” and “Poetry in the Park!” I even attempted a video blog called “Smarty Pants” featuring cutie patooties reciting their favorite rhymes. While all of these brilliant ideas fizzled, I’m happy to report I’ve had better luck smuggling children’s poetry into park districts, arboretums, farmers’ markets, libraries, schools, home school groups…and occasionally, books and magazines.  

These days I’m totally jazzed about sharing poetry with kids in a new format. STEAM Powered Poetry Videos is a blog dedicated to helping K-8 students explore important STEAM concepts through the medium of poetry. It also serves as a unique resource for primary and middle grade teachers who can access our gallery of STEAM videos, plus a plethora of poems, book lists, activities, and crafts—FREE.

But wait! There’s more!

This growing library of STEAM poetry videos is exclusively stocked by jr. high, high school and college age students by way of our annual CONTEST – Steam Powered Poetry Videos for Pk-8. How does it work? I was hoping you’d ask. Inspired by a poem of their choosing from our Poetry Packet, students create one-minute videos. Cash prizes offer motivation! All videos of good quality are posted on our site.

This year I am honored to have poems by e-STEAM-ed poets, David Harrison, Georgia Heard, Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Diane Murray, Joan Graham Bransfield, Charles Ghigna, Kenn Nesbitt, and Jane Yolen included in our Poetry Packet. Ka-POW! How cool is that?

By hosting our classroom contest, teachers offer their students a chance to read and reflect on poetry, hone their video-making skills, and enhance their personal creativity. It’s a new way to experience poetry. A new way to explore STEAM. Call it what you like: visual poetry, reel poetry, digital art, poetry film, or moving poetry— it’s a fun extra credit, midterm, or poetry month project A win-win for all!

As dedicated readers of David’s blog, you are very likely to be poetry lovers, writers, and word-crafters yourselves. You may agree that poetry is an enjoyable, engaging way to teach comprehension, vocabulary, word usage, and figurative language. STEAM poetry explores all that and more.

Want to help us get the STEAM poetry buzz going? Share our information with junior high teachers, high school educators, principals, college faculty, tech instructors, library media specialists, home school parents… and maybe that bored, but brilliant, high school kid or grandchild of yours, too! Here’s the link: CONTEST – Steam Powered Poetry Videos for Pk-8.

My heartfelt thanks to David for letting me hijack his blog today, and to you readers, for sticking with me to… Heidi.