Phase 1 (2010/11)
Phase one of the Word Power project was completed in April 2011. Find out about the current phase.
Overview:
A group of 12 young people from Essex took advantage of a unique opportunity to learn about poetry with world renowned poet Lemn Sissay.
Lemn, who himself grew up in care and has published five books of his own poetry, used six two-hour sessions to teach the young people about poetry and help them to express their stories, thoughts and emotions through language.
They shared their poetry with each other by reading their work out in the sessions.
As well as being a poet, Lemn is a playwright who has worked on radio and television. He has also performed his poems all over the world. He was born in Lancashire and grew up in foster care and children’s homes. He was made an MBE in 2010.
An anthology of poetry written by the young people, Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover, was published at the end of the course.
Outcomes:
Some of the young people may have been a bit apprehensive when they started the course: “It’s not going to be like school is it?”, said one.
Others said they didn’t like English at school, and one said she thought Lemn might be boring.
All of these young people changed their minds during the six-weeks. They enjoyed themselves and some found it helped with their school work. Above all, many of the young people valued the chance to express their feelings and emotions about their lives and memories – which were often painful or difficult – in an environment shared with other people who had similar backgrounds or experiences.
One girl who read out a poem about her relationship with her mum said: “Usually I don’t like to talk about it but it was ok. I don’t usually like people to know but it was easier because other people in the group were in care.”
Another girl said: “Why can’t we do more of this? We should be able to meet like this and write more often. It’s really interesting.”
Many of the young people went away from the sessions encouraged and motivated to write in their own time, and brought in poems they had written the following week.
“I’ve enjoyed writing poems,” said one. “Mostly because it’s imaginative. I have enjoyed Word Power because it’s made my imagination more exciting.”
Many of the young people made some good friends in the group, and everyone said they had learned new skills, from “how to make your writing more emotive and interesting”, to “poetry skills”, “reading out skills” and “confidence in writing and more generally”.
“I’ve learnt that you can write a poem, you just have to put your mind to it!” said one.
All of the young people developed in confidence as a result of the sessions and reading out their work. Some of them were quiet to start with, but without exception they blossomed and at the end everyone had work they were proud to read out.
Chief executive of The Who Cares? Trust Natasha Finlayson said: “We wanted to run creative writing workshops for young people in care that inspired them, allowed them to experiment and have fun, and to produce work they could rightly be proud of.
“In First Story and Lemn Sissay we found the perfect partners with the expertise and passion necessary to help young people create some really amazing poetry.”
Twitter
Facebook
You Tube
Blog