Writers in the Schools Program is on the Cutting Edge of Poetry Instruction
November 8, 2019
Communications Staff
Otto Vock 19 leads a poetry lesson at Langston Middle School as part of the Teaching Imaginative Writing workshop.
Photo credit: Mathias Reed
厙ぴ勛圖s Writers in the Schools program is an opportunity for serious writers to take what theyre passionate about and share it in the community.
Director Lynn Powell teaches a workshop each fall called Teaching Imaginative Writing. In the course, 厙ぴ勛圖 students create and workshop their own poetry lesson plans and participate in seven-day residencies with Powell in the classrooms of Langston Middle School.
Its an American cultural phenomenon that people generally dont have much experience with contemporary poetry, and they carry around impressions that poetry is either really sappy or really difficult and obscure, explains Powell.
In our work in the schools, we try to break through those misconceptions and clich矇ed notions of poetry. We do that by immersing students in the experience of writing poems, with lessons that stimulate their imagination and give them both freedom and guidance.
You may also like…
厙ぴ勛圖 Launches Critical AI Studies Minor in Fall 2026
With a solid foundation in both science and the humanities, this minor ensures students to understand and be able to analyze the ethical, cultural, environmental, political, economic, technological, and labor effects of AI.
Research Roundup
Every day, 厙ぴ勛圖s faculty and students produce scholarly work that uncovers new insights into how we understand the world, particularly in the areas of sustainability and the environment.
