The UNCW Office of Cultural Arts has combined outreach efforts with New Hanover middle schools and the non-profit organization Dreams of Wilmington in hopes to bring innovative and engaging teaching styles to students. From Wed. Oct. 17 through Sat. Oct. 20, Glenis Redmond, a professional poet, educator, performer and counselor, was brought to local D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy in order to assist with educational workshops focused on the program called “Poetry off the Page.”

 

“It’s [Poetry off the Page] an art integrative approach to poetry where you’re teaching students to learn to embody the art form,” Redmond said.

 

The UNCW Office of Cultural Arts created all educational outreach efforts through a program called Artwork back in 2005. The office hoped to strengthen the university’s learning experience by building effective partnerships with local, state and national organizations in order to develop opportunities for leadership roles in enhancing the growth of art throughout the region.

 

Courtney Reilly, Assistant Director involved with the Cultural Arts office, says that the workshops are designed to allow teachers and students to get comfortable moving around and engaging with each other. The teachers get to see how important Redmond’s techniques and processes are through firsthand experience.

 

This is the Cultural Arts first time partnering with “Poetry off the Page” and Glenis Redmond. The program focuses on art integration by using professional development, in-school workshops and free school performances to integrate the learning experience and enhance participatory involvement in the classroom.

 

Redmond uses techniques involving metaphor and simile exercises, brainstorming, performance tips and provides enhancements to teachers’ lessons through music and dance. Her writing skills were developed at the young age of 12, while she was in Ms. Sargent’s middle school English class, making it easy for her to relate to these young students.

 

Every day for 15 minutes, the students were to write a journal entry. At first she argued and complained about doing the assignments, but then she started writing in poetry form and she never stopped. 25 years later she recalled receiving a dozen yellow roses from her middle school teacher. The two went out to lunch and she thanked her for being the reason why she started her writing career so many years ago.

 

Redmond continued her writing through counseling, teaching in South Carolina for over 20 years and through her current involvement with the Kennedy Center and their educational workshops. She believed that if you weren’t doing what it was you enjoyed doing in life, that you weren’t living right. You need to do what you’re passionate about.

 

For her poetry, a compressed language full of rhythm, feeling and imagery according to Redmond’s terms, was her life passion. She was influenced by an artist named June Jordan and her efforts for “Poetry for the People.” According to Jordan poetry had three lives: to read it, write it and speak it.

 

When working with teachers from Virgo Prep and several UNCW faculty members and students, Redmond had them up and out of their seats performing poems and interacting with one another. She walked them step by step through one of her poems, making them act out the words using various actions and emotions.

 

Sara Hendery is a senior at UNCW pursuing a Creative Writing major and a minor in Non-Fiction. She’s attended several workshops before, but most were for personal gain while this time it was to learn new teaching ideas.

 

“I’m about to start a creative writing therapy group and I wanted ideas for activities to do with kids and adults,” Hendery said.

 

Most of Redmond’s workshops are conducted in six hour increments, but for these particular circumstances the workshop was only three hours long. Aside from working with teachers and UNCW faculty and students, she also had in class sessions with many of the 6^th grade classes.

 

“I love it [working with students]. They’re unpredictable, full of energy and passion, with a lot of untapped potential,” Redmond said.

 

Georgeann Haas, a supervisor for the Arts at New Hanover County schools involved with the program, and Reilly both claimed that students were very excited and very engaged with one another. The kids were so excited they wouldn’t stop talking about it.

 

The classes met individually in the school’s media center for a 75 minute workshop where Redmond was able to work one on one with the students to help them edit and develop their poem drafts. The students drafted two styles of poems, one that reflected where the students were from and another that reflected who the students were as a person. At the end of the workshop the students were enthusiastic about sharing their poems with the class.

 

Additional involvement from Dreams of Wilmington helped provide the youth with a higher quality learning experience through programs like these that are centered around the literary, visual, multimedia and the performing arts. On Sat. Oct 20, the organization provided a performance and community arts day that used art activities to involve families and students, as well as a live performance by Redmond.

 

By getting involved with students and schools, Redmond hopes to spread poetry inside the classroom using responsive and innovative teaching lessons that manipulate her techniques. These lessons should enhance memorization and establish beneficial interaction amongst students.

 

“I hope that one they’re exposed and provided a higher level of awareness, two that they tap into their inner poet and three I want them to just witness, and whatever happens, happens,” Redmond said.

 

When she writes she pulls her creations from personal experiences and memories that have happened throughout her life. One poem that she performed at her teacher workshop was called “Bruised.” As part of her educational outreach she was brought to a school embodied with students that were mostly gang members that had either been in jail or were going to jail in the near future. The poem was designed to influence the students to learn and express themselves through poetry.

 

Redmond revolves her workshops around how they’re best going to influence the students. For the classes at Virgo Prep, each student had the opportunity to create their own poem following her techniques.

 

Once all the students draft a poem they are going to be submitted to future school residences so that they can review them and select significant lines from each poem in order to then compile them all into one large compilation. The students will then use a voice record to capture the vocals of the sentences collected, and a final compilation of the recordings will be drafted by a group out in Los Angeles.

 

The recording that they develop will then be used to create a new dance influenced by the students. This experience provides the students with real life interaction and a form of appreciation for the arts.

 

Redmond has been to many schools nationally and has worked with many students, spreading her innovative and unique techniques everywhere she goes. All of those that have participated in her workshops find them helpful and successful tools.

 

The teachers, UNCW faculty and students that were involved with the adult workshops took a survey at the end of the sessions and most gave ratings of 5s across the board, which was the highest level they could have given. They described the workshops as interactive and hands on, making poetry fun through memorable and compassionate exercises that bring the words to life. Redmond was seen as being very vibrant and full of energy; she left most of the participants wishing the workshop was longer so that they didn’t have to see it come to an end.

 

“Poetry off the Page,” the Kennedy Center, UNCW Office of Cultural Arts and other programs that pursue similar efforts make it possible for Redmond to connect with so many schools and classrooms on a personal level. The process is difficult and challenging, but it’s rewarding for teachers to experience the same writing process as the students. She’s making a difference and creating creative, interactive teaching styles that adapt to a variety of levels in education.

 

“I’ve had opportunities to see follow ups and see students make qualitative leaps in their growing,” Redmond said about how effective her workshops have proven in the past.

The D.C. Virgo Preparatory Academy recently reopened this year after being shut down for a year due to poor performance skills and low enrollment, so for the school it’s beneficial to have outside efforts come in to help the students better their educational experience. From involvement with efforts like these, the school hopes to continue growing and providing the students with opportunities to learn and gain knowledge through effective hands on experiences.