Poet visit a hit with Sisters students

Sisters' elementary and middle school students heard former Children's Poet Laureate Kenn Nesbitt speak last week. Nesbitt, brought to Sisters by a grant through the Sisters-based Roundhouse Foundation, spoke at four assemblies designed for different age groups this past Tuesday and Wednesday.

Nesbitt, a published author for the last 15 years, who now lives in Spokane, Washington, travels extensively throughout the United States and even internationally discussing poetry and writing with students.

"Annually, I do about 60 visits to schools mostly in the U.S.," he said. "I also do between 30 and 50 visits online via Skype with different schools and classrooms every year."

In addition to the assemblies, Nesbitt spoke at a parent workshop on Tuesday, April 28, at the Deschutes Public Library and provided a writing workshop for fourth-and fifth-graders and a publishing workshop for sixth-graders.

Nesbitt's poems are known for their humor and irreverence. Even the youngest kids got a chance to experience his exuberance at the assembly especially designed for ages pre-kindergarten to second grade.

The preschool students in Sisters Park & Recreation's Community Preschool housed at Sisters Elementary School got a chance to sit in on one of Nesbitt's assemblies.

"He was funny!" said Valerie Selig, lead teacher in the preschool. "He was very much in tune with the kids in our age group. We were impressed he wrote a poem during the assembly with kids just calling out words - definitely the best assembly this school year!"

Within each assembly Nesbitt had students work together to create a silly poem. But once their poem was finished in the assembly - he told them it wasn't really finished. They revised it a few times as a group, changing words, creating new rhymes and adding alliteration. Nesbitt encouraged students to work with their teachers after the assembly on the group poem to make it even better.

"I liked the piece he added about revision to the workshop," said sixth grade language arts teacher Becky Aylor. "Although the poem was 'fine' on the first go-round, it became great after multiple revisions."

Throughout all of his speeches he discussed poetry and wrote poems with students and he shared information about writing as a profession as well as publishing, including how to self-publish.

"There are several students taking his self-publishing tool very seriously," says Aylor. "Poems can be about anything. I think students forget sometimes how much fun writing can be - both in and out of class."

Nesbitt has found that his style is helpful in getting even the most reluctant readers to read and enjoy reading.

"That's the most rewarding part for me," he said. "Getting kids who don't otherwise like to read to suddenly discover that they love to read. It's tricking them into thinking that reading is fun and writing is easy - and they can do it, too."

One Sisters Middle School student asked him what was the hardest part of being a writer.

Nesbitt's response: "Finding a pencil."