LAKE COUNTY ? Local writers are working to encourage high school students to participate in “Poetry Out Loud,” a national competition that promotes the study of great poetry. A Lake County preliminary event is scheduled for Sunday evening, Feb. 10, in the Soper-Reese Community Theatre.
“The job of the two writers and one retired teacher currently trying to contact all teachers and home-schooled high-schoolers, is to generate enthusiasm in the schools,” said Lake County Poet Laureate Sandra Wade, who is being aided by Lorna Sue Sides of Upper Lake and Carol Dobusch of Kelseyville in spearheading local participation.
Poetry Out Loud was created by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the Poetry Foundation, which are partnering with state arts agencies to present the program nationwide. The 2007 national finals awarded the title of champion to Amanda Fernandez, a senior at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in the District of Columbia.
“Learning great poetry by heart develops the mind and the imagination,” according to Dana Gioia, chairman of the NEA. “By encouraging your students to study, memorize and perform some of the most influential and timeless poems of the English language, you immerse them in powerful language and provocative ideas.”
According to Wade, the program also fulfils part of the English curriculum requirement.
Any school identified as eligible by the California Arts Council is able to participate in the official Poetry Out Loud. Schools that are not part of the official contest are still welcome to conduct their own “unofficial” competitions using material available for free from www.poetryoutloud.
The program begins with lesson plans that participating teachers present within their classrooms. A suggested class schedule, produced by the NEA and Poetry Foundation, suggests a three-week timeframe that ends with a school-wide competition.
Students choose poems to memorize from an official anthology or from the Poetry Out Loud Web site, www.poetryoutloud.org. A teachers” guide suggests encouraging students to build up range and level of difficulty.
Performances are subject to evaluation criteria that can be modified to accommodate students with disabilities. Judges gauge student performers upon physical presence, voice and articulation, appropriateness of dramatization, level of difficulty, evidence of understanding and overall performance. A separate judge is in charge of scoring for accuracy by making small deductions for missed or incorrect words.
The statewide competition takes place next March in Sacramento. National finals take place in April in D.C.
For information about participating locally in Poetry Out Loud, contact Sandra Wade, balancesandrar@yahoo.com; Lorna Sue Sides, poetryshared@yahoo.com; or Carol Dobusch, hansdobusch@mchsi.com.
Contact Cynthia Parkhill at cparkhill@clearlakeobserver.com.
