#Cooperation and #Honesty with O, Miami Poetry
By Amalie Ise, senior, iPrep Academy and Sofia Maya, senior, iPrep Academy
By Amalie Ise, senior, iPrep Academy and Sofia Maya, senior, iPrep Academy
As with most years, poetry has been a significant part of iPrep’s Creative Writing Honors class. This year, however, we got the privilege to work with O, Miami, an organization dedicated to “[building] community around the power of poetry” according to their website (omiami.org). Dana Wahab, an educator with O, Miami, led 6 poetry workshops in our class. The curriculum consisted of reading, discussing, writing, and editing poems, giving us a chance to become published poets!
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When we were first introduced to poetry, we learned the fundamentals of poetry, which can be very constrained and solitary. As a class, Ms. Keller used a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) to supplement “teaching” the elements of poetry. As a class, we watched videos from Douglas Kearney’s “Sharpened Visions: A Poetry Workshop” on Coursera, then spent a few days working on two poem prompts relating to a poetic concept (such as metaphor or rhyme). Many Creative Writing students were completely “new” to writing and reading poetry, and many of the prompts were very precise (such as only being able to use one vowel– called a Lipogram– or having to use the rhyme scheme of an existing poem). Not only did we complete specific assignments, but we wrote poems independently, sharing them with friends in the class if we liked what we wrote. #Cooperation was something we didn’t do, and #Honesty was something we didn’t even think to employ in our work. This all changed with Dana’s workshops.
By the time she arrived, we were finished with the Coursera course and revised at least 4 of our poems, so it’s safe to say we were reasonably comfortable with poetry. Upon Dana’s arrival, most of us were excited that an “expert” would give us in-person poetry workshops, which piqued our curiosity about what they would entail.
We were not disappointed in the slightest.
We were not disappointed in the slightest.
We experienced the safe space that poetry provides to release one’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions about anything, trivial or profound, which Dana brought into the classroom. Though we generally think of #Honesty as being truthful to others, #Honesty with ourselves is just as important, and from day one, she encouraged us to write from personal experience and to be #Honest with ourselves in our work.
Rather than giving us strict assignments related to poetic techniques, she gave us broad prompts, like writing a poem based on a word we like, which allowed us to focus on putting ourselves into our work as authentically and #Honestly as we could. Dana taught us that rather than suppressing or ignoring certain pieces of ourselves, we, as humans, must take the time to contemplate ourselves and our place in the world.
Dana didn’t just teach us about #Honesty in our work, though. She also taught us valuable lessons about #Cooperation.
Dana didn’t just teach us about #Honesty in our work, though. She also taught us valuable lessons about #Cooperation.
#Cooperation is applicable in people’s day-to-day lives and is crucial for building relationships and creating trust between people. In order to become successful in writing poetry, we, as students had to #Cooperate, listen to what we were being told, and reflect those ideas back to the instructor. With proper #Cooperation and listening skills, the Creative Writing students were able to understand the synergy.
After the five immersive poetry workshops, we were challenged to become teachers. In pairs, we became the “experts” for sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, and twelfth-grade classes, each ranging in age and abilities! We taught the students how to write an “Ode to Language,” as Dana had. We had to employ the #Cooperation skills that we learned from Dana and use them in the classrooms to ensure that the beginner poets and younger students, were producing in a supportive environment.
Using the #Cooperation skills Dana taught us, we were able to maintain control and respect for the students in the “guest” classrooms and provide meaningful and engaging lessons where the students were able to extend their poetic writing skills.
Using the #Cooperation skills Dana taught us, we were able to maintain control and respect for the students in the “guest” classrooms and provide meaningful and engaging lessons where the students were able to extend their poetic writing skills.
In the end, Dana taught us what poetry can teach us about ourselves and the communities around us, #Honesty and #Cooperation. Experiencing the role of both the student and the instructor has given us an inside view of just what it takes to inspire others to embrace their writing or poetic potential.
Work Cited
“COOPERATION | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge Dictionary, 22 March 2023, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/cooperation.
“COOPERATION | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary.” Cambridge Dictionary, 22 March 2023, https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/cooperation.