Poet to hold workshops with students at Glen-Worden March 16-20

Teacher, poet and musician Paul Hurteau will work with the 250 students at Glen-Worden during a week-long poetry writing residency entitled "Walking Through the Rainforest" March 16-20.

The program is offered through the One World Classroom program - www.oneworldclassrooms.org - and is being provided locally by the Glen-Worden PTA and GIVE community service programs at Scotia-Glenville.

"Walking through the Rainforest" is a poetry writing residency that focuses on the Amazon Rain Forest; incorporates art, music, creative movement and poetry reading/writing; and culminates in a stage performance featuring students.

He will conduct workshops each day with various classes to discuss his poetry about the rain forest animals and teach poetry techniques.

The residency opened on Monday, March 16 at 9 a.m. with an assembly Field Trip to an Amazon Rainforest Village, featuring slides, poetry, music, a crafts display and Q & A time with Hurteau who lived and taught in the Ecuadorian Amazon and has traveled there many times since.

In follow-up daily workshops, Hurteau shares his original rainforest animal poems w/ students and teaches poetry writing techniques; Hurteau and teachers work with students to create original rain forest animal poems; and Hurteau works with students to prepare for the culminating performance and develop creative movements that represent the animals.

On the last day of the residency, there is a dress rehearsal in the morning and a culminating performance in the afternoon. The culminating performance will includes animal slides and music and features students sharing their original poetry, representing animals through masks and movement, and playing percussion instruments. In the performance, the performers transport the audience to the Amazon Rainforest and take them on a walk to encounter rain forest animals, camouflaged in poetry.

The culminating performance will take place on Friday, March 20 at 2 p.m. in the Glen-Worden Cafeteria. This is a special performance for our Intergenerational Community Partners.

Below are some pictures of Glen-Worden kindergarten and grade 3 students preparing for the March 20 presentation. Each class will represent a specific animal or creature – sloths, tucans, macaus, etc. – during the final performance.