This weekend WITS and Meta-four Houston held a free youth slam workshop with Danez Smith at The Pilot on Navigation. Post-rain, students poured into The Pilot’s theater space to hear what Danez would say about the craft of performance poetry. Even WITS writers and educators came out to the event to see what they could……
via Leading with the Body: What We Can Learn from World-Acclaimed Slam Poet Danez Smith — WITS Houston
In an ongoing effort to enrich creative writing through an integration of literacy and art, students at our Creative Writing Camp took field trips to iconic Houston art and cultural centers including The Menil Collection, Rice University, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. On these tours, they experienced and wrote about public art pieces, including James Turrell’s “Twilight Epiphany” and Jaume Plensa’s popular “Mirror.” Younger writers in grades K-2 were visited in the classroom by artists, including contemporary dancers and drummers, who help students find beauty and unexpected inspiration in art and culture. “Children are most stimulated by the things and activities that surround them,” said Robin Reagler, Writers in the Schools Executive Director. “Through the experience of seeing, touching and hearing art firsthand, our camp shows students that their writing is art and their words are powerful.”
![](http://wits.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/dsc_1617.jpg ""Mirrors" at Rice University")
Jameelah Lang, a second-year WITS writer goes on to say: “I continue to…
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There’s plenty of good Writers in the Schools (WITS) news around the world. Here are a few articles about WITS Alliance members and the work they’re doing.
- Terry Blackhawk, founding director of InsideOut Literary Arts Project in Detroit has been a featured blogger this month on the Huffington Post. Check out her column here.
- Cecily Sailor, Education Programs Manager for Badgerdog Literary Publishing in Austin, TX, was interviewed by Write by Night magazine.
- Seattle WITS has the highest level of service in its 16-year program: 26 elementary, middle, and high schools and one hospital.
- In the fall of 2010 the Missoula Writing Collaborative received new funding from the Heineman Foundation ($30,000) to
support their work teaching kids to love to write, and this funding was renewed in November 2011 at the same level.- WITS Houston’s Executive Director Robin Reagler was elected to the AWP Board of Directors. Her first term will begin in February 2012.
Share your literary education news with us, please.
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