Calling All High School Teachers...

Poetry Out Loud is having a Professional Development Workshop for High School Teachers on the 9th of October. This nation-wide program encourages high school students to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance, and now they're offering a chance to learn how to introduce Poetry Out Loud to students. Learn more about Poetry Out Loud, how to run the program in your school, and how to help students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.

Who should attend?
High School teachers of English, Language Arts, Drama, or related classes
Teachers new to Poetry Out Loud
Teachers who have participated in prior years – come and share your expertise and learn what’s new this year

What will the workshop cover?
What is Poetry Out Loud?
How do you run a successful classroom and school-wide program?
What does good poetry recitation look like?
What are strategies for teaching memorization and recitation?

Workshop Schedule
Friday, October 9th
9AM - NOON
Riverpoint Campus Student Activity Center 205 (building where the library is)

Note: persons requesting disability accommodations call Dani at: 509-368-6590

Parking info:
The south campus yellow lot now has a multi-spaced pay station (“pay and display”). Rates will match the meters. The advantage over a meter is that you can purchase parking with coin, bills, and debit/credit cards. The machine prints out a ticket that you stick to the inside of your window. There are also meters in the parking lot closest to the SAC. Meters and street parking are patrolled regularly during the week and on weekends.

Registration:

This workshop is free and 3 clock hours will be given. Show up and please bring a friend or colleague. You can email Daniel to let him know how many will be attending... to arrange snack quantities. Yes, that’s right, there will be some goodies and the 2009 Poetry Out Loud teachers kits to ensure that this year will be a success. The free kits include Teachers resource guide, 2 poetry books, Audio Cds, and a DVD of best P.O.L. performances from previous years.

We look forward to seeing you, and please let others know about this opportunity so we can make Poetry Out Loud in the East side of Washington the best it can be!!

For more information and registration contact: Daniel Harrington at poetryoutloud509@gmail.com or 509-218-8426

Brain Food

Get Lit! Programs supports literacy and the arts year-round through educational outreach. This week one of our partners, Page Ahead, has a tasty, easy way for you to get involved!


On September 24th, Page Ahead will host Spokane's third annual “Dish Up Literacy” event. That Thursday, restaurants across Spokane will support local kids by donating a portion of the day's proceeds to Page Ahead. Dish Up Literacy is a delicious community event that brings families and friends together to celebrate and boost children's literacy.

By enjoying a meal at one of the following restaurants tomororrow, you can help Page Ahead continue to support literacy in our community:

Azteca - Northpointe
9738 N Newport Hwy, 99218
509.465.9101
(all day)

Azteca- Spokane Valley
14700 E. Indiana, 99206
509.228.9661
(all day)

Hills' Restaurant & Lounge
401 W. Main Ave, 99201
509.747.3946
(lunch)

Laguna Cafe
4302 S. Regal St., 99223
509.448.0887
(all day)

Perry Street Cafe
1002 S Perry, 99202
509.535.4949

Since 1990, Page Ahead has been providing new books to at-risk children, encouraging parents to read with their children, and promoting community involvement in literacy. With the help of the community and community partnerships such as Dish Up Literacy, Page Ahead has placed more than 1.7 million new books into the hands of children in need throughout Washington State.

Stay tuned for more info about Get Lit!'s upcoming book drive with Page Ahead and where you can donate!

Are you ready for Get Lit! 2010?

Have you picked up the latest Annual Manual from The Inlander? It is full of reminders about what makes Spokane an interesting place. Pick one up from the typical Inlander stands all over town to find out about food, shopping secrets, weekend ideas, and ARTS, ARTS, ARTS. Here are two articles on Get Lit! (pg 148 and 196) that I wanted to share with you:

Begotten by Lit

by Michael Bowen

"Spokane's literary festival got started in 1998 with a marathon, day-long reading that was attended by about three people huddling in the rain.

Get Lit! has expanded since then - so much so that we've all gotten a little spoiled. In the peak years of 2004-5, a long line of literary big dogs - Garrison Keillor, Kurt Vonnegut, Sarah Vowell, Dave Barry, Lynda Barry, Rita Dove, David Sedaris, Robert Bly, Salmon Rushdie - delivered readings here. It seemed that we'd be able to attract the big names for quite some time.

Yet while budgets have slenderized in recent years, Get Lit! forges on with new ideas. In 2009, for example, EWU creative writing professor Sam Ligon gave novelist Charles Baxter the full James Lipton/Actors Studio treatment, complete with note cards; there was a lively discussion at Auntie's Bookstore about the role in a digital environment of newspapers and other media; and wonder of wonders, a late-night crowd jam-packed a side room at Europa to hear ... five poets reading and discussion their poetry.

And people say nobody cares about reading anymore. Especially poetry.

On the contrary, there's a hunger for it.

For April 2010, for example, another one of those household names (like one of those big names from five years ago) seems likely to make an appearance. But whoever's here, Get Lit! will still present multiple opportunities to see the woman behind the poem, the man behind the novel: the literary word, humanized. Writing and reading, such solitary exercises, feel even more energized than almost any other art form by the presence, voice, mannerisms, quirks of the author, seen in person.

Cities that care about books don't simply have bookstores. They encourage - and attend - literary events. So let the Lit Get you: It's one week out of the year when reading isn't solitary but social."

Get Lit! Reaches out to Kids

by Michael Bowen

Get Lit! doesn't just run for a week. It runs all year long.

You've heard about the big name authors dropping in for readings during April, sure. But Get Lit! also organizes educational outreach projects for students (K-12) throughout the year. Since 2004, in fact, Get Lit! has reached more than 25,000 students in our area.

And how does it "reach" them? Through author tours, for one thing.

Imagine being a fifth-grader on the rez or a middle-schooler at a remote rural school. Your teacher's making you read some dumb book by some guy who's probably ... and then the guy himself actually shows up at your school. You get to hear the author read his words in his own voice. He discusses his writing habits, how he works, how he got his book published. He helps you create your own stories.

When students get a chance to meet a published author, books come alive and imagination blooms.

Another way that Get Lit! reaches out to students is the Writers-in-Residence program. A professional writer with a master's degree commits to a particular school for a semester or even an entire school year. Working with three classrooms, she leads literary discussions and writing workshops. The kids get to write their own poems, stories, essays, and songs - and even go on creative-writing field trips. Then, at the end of the residency, the students hold a community reading and collect their work in an anthology for all to see.

Get Lit! also hosts the regional competition for Poetry Out Loud, the national recitation contest - supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and Poetry Foundation - which encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization and performance.

And that's one of several ways that Get Lit! helps make writing come alive for young authors - not just in April, but all year long."

**Save these dates for the 2010 festival: April 14-21

Spokane does Sci-fi/Fantasy this weekend

This weekend, if you see some interestingly dressed folks wandering around the Gonzaga Campus, fear not. It is just the local sci-fi/fantasy lovers letting their imaginations out in the open...I just thought you'd like to know that the 2009 SpoCon is in town this weekend. Starting this afternoon and ending Sunday evening, they will host panels, workshops, readings, and much more. Some of the topics I noted might be of interest to local writers were: finding your voice, looking at what's in a story, info on self-publishing, reading/performance tips, how to write for young adults, music/songwriting lessons, doing research, and how to write Elvish. I don't really know what this last one is, but it sounds interesting. I figure it's always great to get new perspectives on writing from a variety of sources. The also have a workshop on Saturday morning for writers under the age of 18. All sort of options for you to check out. According to their website, the whole weekend costs $35.

For more information check out: http://www.spocon2009.com/