Every year the Oregon Association of School Libraries holds a big Fall conference. And every Spring, each region hosts a small conference. Fortunately for me, as the region 1 rep, I get the pair up with the region 4 rep to plan this conference. We decided on a poetry theme, since the one day event would take place at the end of April,national Poetry Month. Then came the scramble for presenters. I think we did a great job and ended up with a fun & informative day for people, who have some really great ideas to take back to their buildings.
First up was Nancy Sullivan, librarian at Madison High School in Portland. She shared her experience with poetry slams, which started small 10 years ago and has now gone city-wide with Verselandia.
Tickets to this event, which is this Tuesday, April 29th, are only $10! You can buy them HERE! I already have my ticket. Maybe I’ll see you there.
We followed Nancy;s presentation with on e by Deborah Vaughn, who is the Oregon coordinator for Poetry Out Loud, a contest that encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and recitation.
Although the official contest is designed for high school students,we all went away with ideas on how to make poetry recitation work at any level.
I was the last presenter before lunch. I shred what I’ve done with NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Writing Month.
After lunch, attendees shred their favorite poetry idea then rotated through three stations: looking at online poetry resources, browsing a selection of poetry books selected by Multnomah County Library’s School Corps, creating a pocket to celebrate poem in your pocket day.
It was great day and a good time was truly had by all.
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