Causes to Celebrate: Get Lit

I don't remember where I was or what I was doing that brought this organization to my attention, but I jotted down a note several days later intending to go back and take a look at it sometime last month.  That, of course, didn't happen.  But I was so intrigued by the idea of a youth poetry program that involved spoken word poems and offered a venue for learning about poetry that today I finally got a chance to settle down and take a look at Get Lit.

There were so many high points and then a few low points as I realized that the program is only offered here in Southern California, though the curriculum is available for purchase so that schools and teachers in other states can use it.  But what an amazing way to not only promote literacy, but also to teach invaluable skills while doing so.

Get Lit is a vehicle for enabling kids to find their own voice in the world.  The curriculum appears to offer students the chance to learn poetry and then also to perform it.  And it brings the spoken word of poems back into the classroom.  I remember one of my high school English teachers bringing in a record to play us some of Robert Frost's poems, and hearing them spoken aloud, rather than just reading them on the page, leant those words new life and new meanings to me.  Had I known then that there were opportunities to speak and perform poems back then, I imagine I might have done just that.

Thinking on that makes me wonder just how much we as parents, educators, and mentors can miss out on these kinds of programs and opportunities for kids.  I often wonder how teachers and school counselors manage to keep up with everything that's available out there.  I expect there are plenty of organizations out there that help with this, but if you're a  grades 4-12 drama, English, or arts teacher, or if you know someone who is, I hope you'll consider sending them this way.  

Now, from everything I'm seeing, this is not a cheap program, but I don't actually see the prices listed anywhere on their site or elsewhere.  I did check out their book on Amazon, however, and it was $11ish dollars just for the Kindle version.  So yeah, without some serious support from the school district, parents, or private donations, you're going to likely be unable to afford the school program on your own.

BUT, it does look like most of the youth programs they have available online don't cost anything for kids to join and be a part of; so, for those homeschooling their kids, this might be worth the time and effort of looking into to see if it's something worthwhile.

From every review that I've seen so far, there is no one who is dissatisfied with the program, and while I am skeptical of that (surely -someone- must have had a bad experience somewhere, right?) ...what I have seen and heard so far leads me to believe that Get Lit is the real deal.  Just looking through their current staff and board members, I find myself incredibly daunted by the sheer amount of creative talent working for the organization.

All the rest aside, though, this is something that I wish were everywhere and existed for every child.  The ability to meet with, read through, and talk about diverse ideas and cultural norms other than our own is so powerful, and the fact that this group exists to do not just that, but also to educate and inspire kids to read and find their own voices is phenomenal.

And that is why I chose to make them my first "Causes to Celebrate" post this month.  I hope you'll consider sharing this.

The video below is from their Facebook page, and I see it as a testament to their desire to inspire hope--not just in the lives of the children they teach, but also in the rest of us as we listen and see the vision and voices of future generations.