“Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn, and caldron bubble.”
Poet Kathleen Flenniken recites the famous line from Macbeth to an intent class at View Ridge Elementary. After they have listened to the Shakespeare poem, she asks the fourth- and fifth-grade students: “What could you write a spell for?”
One girl suggests concocting a love spell; the boys stick out their tongues. Another student proposes a spell to create a snow day. Still others think it would be fun to be able to hypnotize someone or make something disappear. Flenniken then encourages the students to write, using magic words to start their poems, appropriate ingredients and a good dose of creativity.
This is a day in the life of the Writers in the Schools program, the education outreach arm of Seattle Arts & Lectures. Local writers are placed in public elementary, middle and high school classrooms, using their passion and expertise to help students discover the power and joy of writing. Twenty-six schools across the region are currently being served by these writers in residence, including classes at Seattle Children’s and on the Lummi Nation Reservation.
Writing sessions often begin with a fun warm-up activity to get the kids’ creative juices flowing. At a recent class at View Ridge Elementary, Flenniken begins with a “rhyming bee” (akin to the spelling bee). With the words they brainstorm – slain, bane, insane – they could have been working on their own Shakespearean poem. Then the classmates compare and contrast work from a famous writer with anonymous student poems. Last, but certainly not least, they write.
“Having a professional – a person whose life work is poetry or writing – really gets through to the kids,” said Rebecca Hoogs, director of education at Seattle Arts & Lectures. “The students come alive with creativity.”
Mickey Russo, who teaches the View Ridge class Flenniken has been working with, agrees. “I’m always amazed at the impressive poetry the kids turn out when working with Kathleen,” said Rousso, who is in his fourth year of working with Flenniken. “She has a great depth of knowledge about poetry. She also knows how to pick good examples to use as models for the students.”
When Flenniken reads a student poem, the View Ridge kids get into an animated discussion about what they like and dislike about the work, everything from its concept to its punctuation. Flenniken’s gentle questioning encourages conversation. Without realizing it, the students are learning how to think critically about poetry and are gaining confidence about their own opinions and perspectives.
The Writers in the Schools experience doesn’t stay in the classroom. At the end of the residencies, the students’ best poems and prose (chosen with the writer) are honored in a reading for the schools and families. As well, a professionally-produced anthology, featuring work from each school, is created every year and celebrated with a book launch, reading and book signing.
“It is important for the kids to have that moment when they get praised for their poetry,” said Hoogs. “They gain a great deal of self confidence from just that moment.”
A few lucky and talented students are even invited to be the opening act of Seattle Arts & Lecture events. Last spring, View Ridge student Emma Benson was selected to read her poem “A Little Girl’s Journal,” a plucky ode to the boy she had a crush on, at Benaroya Hall before poet Linda Gregg hit the stage.
“When I heard they wanted me to read my poem I was shocked,” admits Emma. “I was nervous at first, but it felt great when I was up there.” Her mom, Sarita Benson, concurs, saying it made her daughter feel like a real poet.
“This program sparked Emma’s interest in poetry,” said Benson. “As soon as she had time with Kathleen, she would come home and talk about what she was writing and the poems Kathleen chose to talk about. She would even find my poetry books to read.”
The writers in residence are not always poets; they are also prose writers, composers, performance artists and even the co-creator of a comic book series (Greg Stump, with the Urban Hipster series). The residencies are customized to each school’s needs.
A typical residency includes 84 teaching hours per school, divvied up into 9- to 14-week units over the course of the school year. The schools and PTAs generally cover about $5,000 to $6,000 of the cost of the program; the rest of the $13,000 or $14,000 it costs to run the program is covered with fundraising done by Seattle Arts & Lectures.
Reflecting on her work with View Ridge Elementary, Flenniken says: “Being with children is a good fit for me. Poetry is often poorly presented in schools, and it is my mission to get kids invested in poetry earlier in life, to help them feel ownership and feel confident about reading poetry. And, I can spend a lot of time with their papers.”
Flenniken came to poetry later in life, after an epiphany one rainy afternoon when the kids were busy with her husband and she sat down to read some poetry from the library. She talks about how empowering it was when the “door opened and I fell in love with poetry.” Her first book, Famous, won the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry and was named an American Library Association Notable Book and a finalist for the Washington State Book Award.
Flenniken hopes she is able to open the door for some students, too. She knows her work is paying off when she comes into class and the kids say, “Oh good, it’s poetry today.”
