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OurSchool Goes Swimming in Poesias
In Puerto Rico, we lived on 100 acres of land. We had a farm and we had to bring the animals to the water everyday. We were always in the water. My mother used to take the girls to the river to bathe and swim. To me, that was natural.
Magdalena Picot, a poet who grew up in Puerto Rico and now works in Cranston, remembers water as an ever-present force in her youth. She recently brought these experiences and her talents as a poet to EFA, leading the Family Literacy class in a project entitled Swimming in Poesias (Swimming in Poetry). The project was an exciting combination of language, literacy, creative writing, and environmental education. Working with Maggie, seven families explored a variety of topics related to watersheds, while building language and literacy skills, exploring personal expression through poetry, and building strong parent-child relationships. The project also encouraged children and families to take a more public role in the local community by sharing their poetry with others.
Maggie and the learners spent the first few weeks of the project breaking the ice and getting comfortable with each other by sharing personal experiences and drawing pictures that help get the poems flowing. People love it, people get into it, says Maggie. I bring music with water noises and thunder. I ask them, How do you see yourself when you listen to the music? Are you running? Are you barefoot?
To build understanding and awareness of watershed issues in Rhode Island, Maggie showed the class images of local water bodies and picture books about pollution. I want to show them why water needs to be clean, why they need to protect it, she says. I want them to get connected. We all want beautiful places. And from the looks of it, Maggie's message is sinking in. One of the boys drew two angels looking down at the garbage, asking "why do people do this?"
In the last weeks of the program, the families went public with their work. They compiled their watershed poetry into a book of poems, and presented their poems orally at the Olneyville Community Schools showcase at William D'Abate Elementary School in May. A copy of their work can be found at the Olneyville branch of Providence Public Library.
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Maggie Picot's own work is available in a volume entitled Tus campinas claman el llanto de mi alma, published in 2000. Spanish language copies are available from the author, at area libraries, and on display at English for Action.
A big thank you to RI State Council on the Arts and RI Department of Environmental Management, whose Watershed Arts and Science Grant made Swimming in Poesias possible!
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