By Jenna Murphy | Story Tapestries Artist
We're just weeks away from launching our new website - and we can't wait! But in the meantime, we want to share this story with you about a program directly serving middle school students in Montgomery County, Maryland.
In collaboration with Montgomery Village Middle School, Montgomery Community Media, Montgomery County Public Libraries and their nonprofit partner, Friends of the Library Montgomery County, Story Tapestries has been delivering programs thanks to funding support from the Trawick Foundation's TeamUp grant program. Students have been learning about the value of teamwork, improving their literacy and critical thinking skills while increasing their confidence and desire to actively engage with their peers and educators. These skills are the foundation that allow for learning in all academic areas.
"Building Bridges" program participants putting their poetry in motion
ST Artist, Jenna Murphy, is actively working on the project and reports:
"Building Bridges" is off and running at Montgomery Village Middle School. We have nearly 40 students in this after-school program that meets bi-weekly. In this program, we teach students how to write dynamic and thought-provoking personal narratives, which we then weave together to create a student-performed, student-written play. The titles of their plays will be "Worlds Apart" and "Destination Unknown." We are hard at work creating material for these socially-minded pieces. Here is a taste of what our young artists have been creating!
The following poem came about from a a poetry form called "I Am." As a class, we discussed the most creative ways we could fill out this form that guides artists to create an autobiographical poem. The artists were challenged to avoid the obvious or the cliche, and to instead use metaphor and descriptive language to write a poem just as unique as they are. Here is a particularly outstanding example.
"I am a wave bounding onto shore with confidence and pride
I wonder who put me on this earth and if they’re on my side
I hear the soft whisper of the wind calling out to me
I see an uproar of life in every animal and tree
I want to be heard and most of all recognized
I am a wave bounding into shore with confidence and pride
I pretend to be Maya Angelou and above all rise
I feel the sweet home of nature and see it with my eyes
I touch the very stars and sky above
I worry that when I grow up I will feel a lack of love
I cry for my father and his father before him
I am curious about heaven and if I’ll ever see it’s rim
I understand that God is real trust me I know
I say that I believe in me but that is just a show
I dream about a world where I don’t have to hide
I try to be myself in my every single stride
I hope to see a better future the odds are on my side
For I am a wave bounding onto shore with confidence and pride"
-Sixth Grade Artist from Montgomery Village Middle School
Links:
By Katie Sill | Program Manager
By Katie Sill | Program Manager
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