Poster Session at NYLA

I will be presenting a poster on the Poem Possibilities Project at the New York Library Association Conference in Buffalo, NY on Saturday, October 20th, 2007.

Final Book Order & Dissemination

The final order of books are on their way. All teachers in my building will receive the book, all libraries in my school district will also receive the book, and the public library will also receive two copies (as well as the grantor, IPEI).

I am now working on the final report (tallying the evaluations) and also on putting together a packet to accompany each book, to share how the project was planned and evolved, for purposes of replication.

I also hope to upload here, various forms, flyers, and handouts I created for the project.

Almost there!

Final Details

I’m working on the final details of the grant project. I still have to order the final copies for classroom teachers and put together a packet to send out with their copies for replication of some or all of the project components.

I will post this information here.

I’ve also applied to present a poster session at the New York Library Association Annual Conference in Buffalo, NY October 2007. Decisions on those applications will be made by June 30th.

Post-program Evaluation

I surveyed both students and parents on the program, with the questions below. They had to choose one of the following responses:

strongly agree           agree           no opinion         disagree          strongly disagree

PARENTS:

• I feel my child benefited from taking part in the Poem Possibilities Project (PPP) with Mrs. Blood’s class.
• My child has shared her/his poetry with me since taking part in the PPP.
• I received information on the project that was useful and timely.
• I have attended a poetry reading before this project.
• I would consider attending a poetry reading or book signing in the future.
• I enjoyed the poetry reading and the published poetry book.
• My child is excited about writing and/or poetry since taking part in this project.

STUDENTS:

•  I benefited from taking part in the Poem Possibilities Project (PPP) with Mrs. Blood’s class.
• I have shared my poetry with my parent since taking part in the PPP.
• I learned more about poetry after participating in this project.
• I have attended a poetry reading before this project.
• I will attend a poetry reading or book signing in the future.
• I enjoyed the poetry reading and the published poetry book.
• I am excited about writing and/or poetry since taking part in this project.

Poetry Reading A Success!

We had the student poetry reading last night at the Tompkins County Public Library. It was a huge success! The kids were confident and poised and excited and very well-behaved. I was so proud of them.

It’s been sunny here for awhile but last night it decided to rain. I had the help of two other teachers carting refreshments and other items in for the reading, but still, I had to use a rolling suitcase to bring it all in. I was glad I thought of using the suitcase. It was fine though. Miss N set up all the food (and shared her lovely trays and linens) and Mrs. Blood offered to pick up three students who did not have a ride to the reading (very kind of her). All the other students arrived with parents or family members.

Armin Heurich, one of our high school librarians, videotaped the whole event (thank you thank you!) and we hope to have that video to share with parents on DVD (I’ll be learning the finer points of iMovie because of that).

We also had the pleasure of hearing more of Jay Leeming’s poetry before the student’s read their poems. He did a great job, again, with the students, in exciting them about writing poetry.

Finally the students read their poems. It was standing room only and the students read like real poets. I was so proud of them. They handled themselves perfectly and displayed more confidence than many adults would be able to muster.

We presented their published book at the close of the reading, with a laminated bookmark that gave information on how to order more books. This was followed by a short tour of the youth services department in the library and a small reception.

Thanks again to the Ithaca Public Education Initiative and the Tompkins County Public Library for their support of this project. My special thanks to Judy Blood, Patricia Lia, Karla Notarinna, and Armin Heurich for going above and beyond.

PS- The kids came in to the library this morning and presented me with flowers and then each one proceeded to tell me what they liked best about the project. It brought me to tears. Thanks little ladies and gentlemen! (and they certainly were).

Final Details for the Reading

I spoke with the head Youth Services Librarian this morning to finalize some details. She’s going to check into a podium and microphone and let me know. I also spoke with a teacher here who’s offered (so gracious) to help set up the food and share her serving dishes, etc. THANK YOU!

One of the high school librarians has also graciously agreed to videotape the kids and the program. Thank you A!

Finally, I have to write up a shopping list for food (which are parent advocate may be able to get money to reimburse us for) for the small reception after the reading, shop for name tags, videotape, food and card stock paper to make bookmarks.

Also have to send a final note home, permission to have video and photos taken (from parents) and a questionnaire to assess the impact of the program on the kids.

Also, we made an announcement this morning about the reading, and I will do that again the next couple of mornings.

Finally, someone made a comment about sharing books with other libraries and I do have plans to do that, but wanted to get all the details for the reading done first.

Thanks for your support!

The Books Have Arrived

I received the multiple copy shipment of books this afternoon. With the small changes I made (mainly, I re-numbered the even pages so the page number was on the outside edge)  the book looks good. I am pleased with it and I think the kids will be pleased as well.

Order The Book

You can order the book on this webpage.

Marketing

Here’s what I’ve done so far for marketing:

1. flyers to parents in our school
2. flyers to the public libraries in Trumansburg and Ithaca
3. press releases to the Ithaca Times and the Ithaca Journal
4. flyers and notices to our district listservs
5. press release and request to be added to the calendar for National Poetry Month at the American Academy of Poets
6. school newsletter article
7. posting notices on this weblog and other websites
8. flyer to IPEI about the poetry reading
9. school parent newsletter article
10. school morning announcements
11. school website announcement

The Book Has Arrived!

I put a rush order on the draft copy of the book so I could preview it and make any last changes that needed to be made. It arrived by UPS on Tuesday afternoon and I received it yesterday morning. It looks good, except for a few typos and the page numbers need to be arranged a bit differently.

As of this morning, I’ve made the changes and uploaded a revision and ordered multiple copies for the students. You can see the book online here.

One last note: I woke up at 12:55 AM this morning and realized that there was one word I forgot to correct. I was fairly upset (as I am a perfectionist) but this morning one of my colleagues said to me, “Well, only God is perfect.”

She went on to remind me of the tradition of some artists to leave a flaw or mistake on purpose, so that’s just going to be my excuse