Poetry Summer School Report
Day 1:
Only three children (one absentee through sickness, one wouldn't get out of the car - better luck tomorrow maybe?!)- but a great morning all the same. Deb Alma worked with us on 'aspects of ourselves' that other people wouldn't know about.
We answered quick-fire questions such as What memory do you have of an old person in your life? What do you do when you're bored? What is your favourite food? with one or two word answer and then used these words to create a five line poem where each line starts with "I come from ..." We then drew round our hands and wrote the poem with a line in each finger. Then we decorated, laminated, hole-punched and stringed them ready for hanging up!
It was good fun, and interesting to see the boys at work and thoughtful: they did work hard! We all had lunch at twelve (I had known the boys would be ravenous but the adults were too!) and ended with a photo session and reading out our finished poems to each other. Deb also gave us each a badge that proclaims "I am a successful poet!"
There was lots of laughter, good discussions, use of alliteration, a challenge to not rhyme (!) and the time flew by.
Thank you Deb!
Day 2:
Three children today: yesterday's poorly boy turned up, but Jack couldn't get out of bed!
We started with an impromptu game of 'consequences' with everyone writing the line of a poem, folding over the paper & passing it on, until the paper came back to the original person again; very random poetry ensued!!
Angela Topping got us working with similes, using an exercise where we all chose either a noun, adjective or noun again and these words were then made into sentences such as the planet was as circular as petals; the wizard was as smelly as books. We discussed which sentences worked & which didn't and then built them into poems. Angela got us thinking about how a poet wants us to see exactly what they see, and how a simile helps us to do that, to be very specific and concise in making us see something in a particular way.
The children were wonderfully engaged and hard-working throughout the morning - working through lunch, again! Angela's exercises were demanding and inspiring - no finished work but lots to be developed!
Lots of sharing, and thought-provoking moments, today's challenge was to let our imaginations fly.
Thanks Angela!
Day 3:
We began by making random 'found poems' from words on the back of my book delivery slips - amazing poems one and all!
Given the loveliest of days, Mandy Ross armed us all with clipboards and paper & we headed into the High Street to observe & record anything that we saw on the themes of huge/tiny, old/new and anything else of interest along the way. We noted ancient buildings, a letter box, security systems, railings, grass (we're on the church green by now), insects, stones, flowers, doorbells, the sound of a dog's footsteps, a car alarm going off - and more and more and more!
The boys also played 'elephant tig' (surely made up on the spot?) and enjoyed the sun and space in true boyish fashion!
From the Church Walk to The Square - where we sat on the steps and recorded some of our impressions of Much Wenlock on to red and yellow ribbon which we then festooned on the railings in the square.
Back to the shop, and here we made tiny, tiny books - 6 pages long, and about 1.5" square on the theme of "In Much Wenlock ..." our books are beautiful and we are all very proud!
Today's challenge was to get huge ideas into tiny spaces!
Thank you Mandy!
Day 4:
We were invited to invent meanings for our names for example: Jack means Super Striker, & then to write a favourite word on the back – such as Snozzboggle, explosive, elephant. The boys decorated the cards and the idea was that they wore them around their necks to help Roz Goddard with names, but in fact they very soon had them hanging the backs of their chairs! A lovely opening exercise.
Roz brought in a pile of lovely old keys and invited us to choose one, then to visualise what door it might have opened. The boys had incredibly vivid responses to this! Having described their doors very specifically, they then visualised what was on the other side of their door and described it using all of their senses.
Different coloured card was used so that the senses of sight, smell, touch, hearing and taste were recorded on the cards and after much discussion they then wrote the poems up in their notebooks. The great advantage of using the different cards was that they could be moved about and put in different order as ideas changed & developed. The results were fab!
The boys again worked incredibly hard - I am so impressed with them! Today's challenge was to be unexpected!
Thanks Roz.
Day 5:
We spent the first three quarters of an hour doing a detailed feedback and evaluation, capturing the boy’s responses to each part of each day, and to general questions regarding the length of the summer school, whether it met their expectations, would they come again, and so on. This was extremely interesting and we will use the information to inform future planning.
Then 15 minutes run around to burn up some energy, and then back to the shop to prepare for the presentation. I left this bit to Pat, who has been with us all week, and Kate, a volunteer member of the children's sub-group. All the boys prepared at least two pieces, covering a range of days.
At 12 o'clock various parents, grand-parents and one little brother arrived. The boys used our half-stairs up to the next floor as their stage and proceeded to give a brilliant presentation of their work and I introduced each piece putting it in context.
This was very much enjoyed by everyone.
The boys were then provided with a certificate and a sheet of photographs taken during the week. There will be more on the web site in due course.
This was a successful and immensely enjoyable week - HUGE thanks to all our lovely poets for their generosity and everything they contributed to the week and to our wonderful boys for being so mad about poetry!!
THANK YOU!!
Anna Dreda Artistic Director WPF