Be a part of Poetry Out Loud!

Dear New Jersey Public and Private High School Teachers:

On behalf of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts (NJSCA) and its cosponsor partners, Playwrights Theatre of NJ (PTNJ), Discover Jersey Arts, the New Jersey Theatre Alliance, New Jersey Network, Rutgers/Camden Center for the Arts and the Bergen County Division of Cultural & Historic Affairs, we cordially invite your participation in the 2007-2008 Poetry Out Loud program, taking place in public and private high schools throughout New Jersey this school year. 

Poetry Out Loud was inaugurated two years ago by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.  It is now active in 50 states and two territories with over 100,000 teens participating. The program encourages the nation’s youth to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance, which help students master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about our literary heritage.  From an anthology of great poetry, high school students select works to memorize and recite in competitions -- first in the classroom and then at the regional, state and national levels.  Last year 34 New Jersey high schools and over 4,000 students took part.  Our state champion, Naja Selby of Newark Arts High, went on to place in the top twelve in the nation and won a college scholarship and a stipend for her school library’s poetry collection.

Starting at the classroom level, teachers are provided with free multimedia curriculum materials – a poetry anthology, audio guide, teachers’ guide, posters, and comprehensive website, http://www.poetryoutloud.org, all aligned to national standards – to augment their regular poetry curriculum with poetry recitation and a school-level competition. PTNJ and NJSCA have added an optional residency component to the national POL curriculum to take students deeper into poetry. A limited number of Residency Grants are available.  School-level recitation champions will advance to regional contests and those regional finalists to the NJ state final. Then the state champion advances to the national contest in Washington, DC.    In 2007, Poetry Out Loud awarded over $100,000 in prizes to students and schools at the state and national levels.

We invite you to encourage other teachers to participate as well. You can point them to the website or circulate this information to them. If your school would like to participate in New Jersey’s regional and state competitions this year, or are interested in further information, please visit www.JerseyArts.com and click on the Poetry Out Loud link.  Please note that the sign up deadline for schools to officially participate is October 30, 2007. The application deadline for the Poetry Out Loud Residency Grant is September 28, 2007.

Sincerely,

Steven Runk                                                                     Robin Middleman

Acting Executive Director                                                Arts Education Coordinator

New Jersey State Council on the Arts                             New Jersey State Council on the Arts

New Jersey Poetry Out Loud (NJPOL) 2007-2008 Program Structure

All NJ public and private high schools are invited to participate. High school teachers are invited to sign up their school for the program and contest. The program is designed for teachers and schools to conduct the classroom and school level program on their own using the Poetry Out Loud website and program materials provided. All schools will follow the same contest structure described in the Teacher’s Guide. Important supplemental information: Since NJPOL has an additional contest level, the regional competitions, please make special note of the number and types of poems for students to prepare at that level.  For the classroom contest students prepare at least one poem; for the school contest students must prepare two poems, for the regional and the state level contests, students must prepare three poems. At least one poem must have been written before the 20^th Century and at least one of the three poems must also be 25 lines or shorter.

Beginning at the classroom level, winners from each class will advance to the school-wide competition. Each school will send a finalist to regional finals and then the regional finalists will advance to the state level competition. Ultimately, one student will advance to the National Finals in Washington, DC. 

Contest Timeframe and Deadlines:

Interested NJ public and private high schools are invited to go to the NJ Poetry Out Loud home page, www.jerseyarts.com, for the program guidelines, timeline and registration. Schools are asked to sign up by October 30, 2007. Once signed up, your school will receive the free program materials which include the Poetry Out Loud Teachers’ Guide, the anthology, CD and posters.

NEW THIS YEAR! A limited number NJPOL Residency program grants are available. These 8-day residencies, which were piloted with great success in 2006 & 2007,  bring experienced teaching artists (poets & performing artists) into schools to partner with teachers to expand upon the benefits of the POL experience. Please go to www.ptnj.org for more information and the on-line application form. The application deadline for the Poetry Out Loud Residency Grant is September 28, 2007. Please remember to register your school for Poetry Out Loud before applying for a POL residency program grant.

Poetry Out Loud will be implemented in schools in the fall of 2007 and early winter of 2008.

Three regional finals will be held across the state in February 2008.   The NJ State Final will take place at New Jersey Network Studios in Trenton in March 2008.  The state champion will receive $200 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington to compete for the national championship. The state winner's school will receive a $500 stipend for the purchase of poetry books. A state runner-up will receive $100, with $200 for his or her school library. The National Finals will take place April 27-29, 2008 in Washington, DC.