In this workshop/residency, Terry Creech, a BreatheINK teaching artist, will perform an original poem for the students. Students will then engage with the teaching artist in an interactive discussion on poetry and poetic devices. Following the discussion, students will observe videos of group poems during class. They will discuss the structure, tone, presentation styles, messages, and goals of each poem within small groups and as a whole class. Students will return to their small groups and participate in writing exercises, including writing a one-to-two minute individual and/or group poem about a topic of their own choosing. Poems must include five poetic devices from a list discussed prior to the video observations and given to them at the beginning of their writing process. All students must participate in the writing and performing (in their own way) of their poem. The students will be allowed to provide additional music, props or costumes deemed appropriate by the assigned teacher to enhance the performance of their poems.

The goals of this workshop/residency are that every student will engage with poetry through our innovative process, understand how the poetic devices they learned in class connect to their own creative storytelling abilities, and produce expressive works through building individual and teamwork skills.

Artist Background

BreatheINK creates poetic safe spaces while helping to build a young artistic community by developing opportunities for positive self-expression through youth-focused poetry workshops, residencies, and performance events. Our mission is to seek to create cultural and educational equity for underserved youth through poetic arts programming. We deliver year-round writing and performance development instruction from highly qualified professional teaching artists who combine for over three decades of experience in classrooms and on stages across the country. Over the last three years, BreatheINK has received grants from the North Carolina Arts Council, Foundation for the Carolinas, The Poetry Foundation, the Offices of Mecklenburg County, Bojangle’s Literary Foundation, CMS Foundation, and the Arts & Science Council of Mecklenburg County to fund youth poetry workshops and programming. BreatheINK continues to offer workshops to schools in Southwest NC as an Education Provider Organization with the Arts & Science Council of Mecklenburg County. Our work has impacted over 6,000 teenagers and pre-teens in over 50 schools, community centers, and juvenile detention centers across the state. BreatheINK equips and empowers teens to share personal stories and opinions on issues they are passionate about. Our goal is to share our joy and knowledge of poetry with all youth so that we may empower the next generation of great North Carolina writers and performance poets.

Search Criteria

• Program Type: Workshop/Residency
• Discipline: Literary, Multi-Disciplinary
• Grade Level: High, Middle
• Accepts bookings in Johnston County