Teacher Workshops Coming in January!

When Dream Flag teachers get together, great dreams go around! Thant's what we've found at past workshops. There are lots of things that we have to share from running the project, but the really great things are the stories people share and the goals they have for themselves and their students. It's also great to see actual work that's been created by students, share books, talk about poetry lessons that work (or don't) and more. We hope that--either live in Philadelphia or on-line over the computer--we can get together this January to share dreams, hope, and the nitty-gritty that makes meaningful teaching happen in our classes.
Here's the link for the details and registration.

Visit from A Dream Flag School in Nepal

Check out this video clip of Pherba Sherpa, a graduate of the Khumjung School near Mt. Everest in Nepal. She was talking with sixth graders at The Agnes Irwin School to answer their questions about life at her school then and now. This year, we're all invited to send Dream Flags to be part of the 50th anniversary of the Khumjung School in May. They'll be trekked up to 12,500 feet to be joined with others made by current students at Khumjung as they celebrate thier past and dream of a future.

www.dreamflags.org/news/10-11news/PBvisit11-16-10shorts1.mov
(Mac or PC)

www.dreamflags.org/news/10-11news/PBvisit11-16-10shorts1.wmv
(PC)

EPA Invites Dream Flags

The US Environmental Protection Agency is having a conference in Philadelphia next April and want to invite some Dream Flags! They're hosting a conference on "Brownfields," old industrial sites that pose environmental challenges for reuse. Taking an old steel mill and making it into residential and retail comples, for example, is a Brownfield.

What they would like is to be able to exhibit Dream Flags with an environmental theme at the Pennsylvania Convention Center as part of their event in early April. Folks from all over the country will come and receive inspiration from the flags. So if this sounds interesting to you, let us know and we'll connect you with Stephanie Branche at the EPA. She's the organizer. You can email us at dreamflags@agnesirwin.org .

To help with teaching poetry. . .

Here's a new poetry book that might be very useful, and it's got a great Ning site that goes with it: http://letspoemresources.ning.com/ The site has sections on each chapter and some very good resources--video clips of demonstrations, links to related poetry sites, specific poems, etc. There are chapters on topics such as "Choral Reading," and "Hip-Hop and Spoken Word." The active approach is great.

It's geared primarily toward teenagers, so may not be right on target for elementary and lower middle school Dream Flag Groups. As a general source for poetry teaching inspiration, though, it seems very useful.

Let us know if you check it out and find something that works well with your students.

Joining the Dreamers

Just updating on who's dreaming with us so far this year:

About 18 schools have signed up to date from Romania to California to Georgia with 3,808 student participants and 158 teachers participating.
Returning schools are from Targoviste, Romania; Bridgeport, Pennsylvania; Malvern, Pennsylvania; Tallahassee, Florida; Ronan, Montana; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Newark, New Jersey; and Tunnel Hill, Georgia/
New schools include the Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program in San Benito, Texas; Cave Spring Elementary School in Cave Spring, Georgia; OFL (Opportunities For Learning Charter??) in Northridge, California; a school from Brownsville, Texas; and St. Stephen Elementary in St. Stephen, South Carolina.
Welcome ALL!!

Also, if you have a friend or relative who might be interested in joining us this year, let them know about it. You could send this pdf update if it's useful (the one we just sent). More dreamers ... stronger dreamers!

Library Liaison

Had a great meeting with administrators from the Philadelphia Free Library this week to explore working together. We share a lot--free for everyone; everyone's invited; we're all about reading and appreciating poetry. We hope that we may have an exhibit in the Main Branch and that branch libraries may get involved as well. Will keep you posted.