VIDEO: Students’ Page-to-Stage poetry performances @ Chief Sealth IHS

Again this year, we were at Chief Sealth International High School for ninth-graders’ Page-to-Stage poetry performances – group performances of 19 poems, in the four clips below:

As explained in the program for Thursday night’s performances:

The project is a collaboration with classroom teachers Heather Griffin, Gentle McGaughey, Luke Azinger, and Andy Tuller. This semester half of the 9th-grade classes wrote original poetry focusing on a variety of poetic devices. After the writing process, the poems were given to the remainig 9th graders in Ms. Griffin’s, Mr. Azinger’s, and Mr. Tuller’s classes. There, Book-It teaching artists worked with (the) students to analyze and adapt the student poems into scripts for the stage. The adaptations followed the Book-It style of creating dynamic tableaux, and adapting the poems using skills such as vocal expression, repetition, and choral lines. The result is what you will see here … these groups collaborated to create live plays out of the poems – taking them from page to stage.

This is the program’s 18th year at CSIHS; this year’s Book-It teaching artists were Jillian Johnson and Kelly Kitchens.

1 Reply to "VIDEO: Students' Page-to-Stage poetry performances @ Chief Sealth IHS"

  • Susan February 9, 2018 (9:52 am)

    Fabulous!  Young adults have so much to say, when given the opportunity.  It would be a very meaningful experience to see one’s inner feelings be brought to life on stage, for writers and actors alike.  I have endless respect for the adults who work with kids to explore and put words to the cacophony in their heads.  Who can validate their feelings as being Real.  Who can work with them to move beyond cliques to become a supportive Whole (group).  All while surreptitiously addressing the curriculum.  This is a class that these young people will always remember. 

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