| Member of the Western New York RLLN | |
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Cultural Organization Contacts
Barbara Cole , Education Director Just Buffalo Literary Center Market Arcade 617 Main Street Buffalo, NY 14203 Phone: 716-832-5400 Fax: 716-270-0184 Email: bcole@justbuffalo.org Website: www.justbuffalo.org Laurie Dean Torrell, Executive Director Just Buffalo Literary Center Market Arcade 617 Main Street Buffalo, NY 14203 Phone: 716-832-5400 Fax: 716-270-0184 Email: Ldeant@justbuffalo.org Website: www.justbuffalo.org
School Partner Contact
Michael Gruber, Principal Frederick Law Olmsted School #64 & @ Kensington Amherst Street & Lincoln Parkway Buffalo, NY 14216 Phone: 716-816-4330 Fax: 716-888-7104 Email: mgruber@buffaloschools.org Website: www.olmstedschools.org Buffalo Superintendent: James A. Williams, Ed.D. Images:   Students learn about the various poetic forms and create their own poetry  A student shows off the photos she has chosen as her favorite  The selected photographs will be used as inspiration for writing poetry |
Project
Description: Just Buffalo Literary Center is the proud partner of the Frederick Law Olmsted Schools (P.S. 64 and P.S. 56). Bringing together students, teachers, and the Buffalo community with professional writers, the Empire State Partnership typifies Just Buffalo’s mission to create and strengthen communities through the literary arts. Through the ESP program, students work one-on-one with professional writers in the classroom, composing original poetry and fiction inspired by a diverse range of active-learning lessons. In addition, the ESP program has also given rise, first, to Picturing Poetry and, more recently, to Writing With Light. These joint education programs with CEPA Gallery bring students in contact with both professional writers and photographers. The results are innovative multidisciplinary artworks which combine word and image. In 2008-2009, as we strive for whole-school participation, Just Buffalo writers will engage students in Kindergarten, 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 9th grades. Specific projects include the following: BOOKMAKING: 4th and 5th grade students will work with award-winning teaching artist, Sherry Robbins, writing poems modeled after Henry David Thoreau’s ideas and themes from Walden. Students will then hone their attention to editing and design by experimenting with printmaking and bookbinding techniques to produce artist’s books. PICTURING POETRY: 6th grade students will have the unique opportunity to work with both a Just Buffalo writer (Robin Brox) and CEPA Gallery photographer (Amy Meza-Luraschi). This year’s theme, CREATE, invites students to create the world they want to live in through the lens of the camera and the words they put down on paper. Students’ original photographs and captivating creative writing will culminate in a multidisciplinary exhibit at the school in April. PERFORMANCE: Olmsted’s inaugural 9th grade class will work closely with poet and playwright Susan Anner on theatre and performance, composing dramatic monologues and collaborative dialogues which they will perform at Olmsted’s Creativity Fair in April 2009. Achievements: What students are saying about the partnership: “I discovered that poetry is used in everything that you say.” — Lache Black, 6th grade student, Frederick Law Olmsted School, P.S. 56 “poetry makes it easy to turn words into works of art, and it is something to be proud of.” —Jasper Swiezy, 6th grade student, Frederick Law Olmsted School, P.S. 56 “I discovered that poetry is sort of like cause and effect. Once I start writing, a whole bunch of ideas pop into my head.” —Claire Schroeder, 6th grade student, Frederick Law Olmsted School, P.S. 56 “I comprehend now that I am art, a living poem, a breathing painting, a moving music.” —Freddi Krehbeil, 4th grade student, Frederick Law Olmsted School, P.S. 64 PLANNING: This year’s Strategic Foundation Building Retreat took place on November 20, 2008 at UB Anderson Gallery. In the inspiring setting of the gallery, surrounded by artwork, Jack Langerak expertly facilitated an invigorating day of thought-provoking reflection and active planning as we collectively explored where we have been and where we are going as a partnership. Focusing on the Olmsted School’s emphasis on Creativity, our conversations revolved around a critical investigation on the nature of creativity and its impact on learning. Teaching artists Susan Anner and Sherry Robbins led us in hands-on writing activities, reminding us that regardless of age or vocation, we are each students as well as artists, forever learning and endlessly capable of creating.  |
Just Buffalo Literary Center, Inc. and Frederick Law Olmsted School Last Updated
5/22/2009
