Would you like a special treat today?

Jana Smith’s students in Maumee Valley Country Day School in Toledo, Ohio consistantly post good poetry on this blog. One of her poets, Courtney Clawson, is our 2010 Hall of Fame Young Poet.

I’ve just learned from Jana that she has taken her students a huge step beyond merely writing poems. She has them creating videos of their poems! Here’s what Jana has to say about the new challenge.

“I did something for the first time last year … I had the students create a movie of their poems. I loved the results – it was so interesting to see what the students visualized while writing. The only way I could figure to email it to you was to post it on youtube and send you the link (it is not public, you can only see it if you have the link). This one is one that was written by Cecily White; it is her Time poem which we submitted to the blog last year.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k4k7OpO4j4

I am so impressed! What a wonderful way to extend the pleasure of working with words. Jana says she has other movies and I’ve begged her to send them too. To refresh your memory, here’s Cecily’s original poem, which was posted in January 2010. The word of the month was “time.” and the name of Cecily’s poem was Time.

Time 1:16
We ride our bikes past
The old dog that sleeps lazily
Past the blue, blue sky
We ride past the man
Getting his morning paper
Time 1:24
You speed ahead of me
Time 1:26
I speed ahead of you
Time 1:27
I look behind at
Our house
But what I see
Is you
One wheel spinning
Lying on the ground
Holding your arm
Time 1:32
I pull you onto my handlebars
Time 1:39
And we ride our bike past
The old dog that barks frigidly
Past the gray, gray sky
We ride past the man
Who stumbles as he gets his morning paper

Thanks again to Cecily for a strong poem, and to Jana for helping her students bring their poetry to life.
David