Poetry Slam!

Did you know that April is National Poetry Month? It's also Autism Awareness Month, Mathematics Awareness Month and Distracted Driving Awareness month. So many worthy causes to educate your students about, but so little time! Some of these topics could be covered in a passive program or by participating in a community event. I am hoping to write an entry for Autism Speaks before the month is over. I ran a half marathon in Disneyland last January that benefited them, and they sound like a really cool organization!

But back to National Poetry Month. A poetry slam is relatively easy and inexpensive to put on, and can be pretty fun! Most people expect poetry to be like this:

But with a beret and a tiny drum.

But it can be anything you or your students want it to be. You can choose a theme or just let them go on their own. It's a fun way to get them to be creative and try something new. If you're worried about getting people to come, offering a gift card prize seems to work pretty well. And snacks, because who doesn't love snacks?

Also if Starbucks wants to hook me up, I'm very okay with it.

What will you need for this event? Advertisements! Microphones are pretty easy to make out of butcher paper (bonus points if they're taller than you) but if you feel like a giant paper sculpture is going to look ridiculous next to your recycled Earth Day board, you can go for something smaller but still eye-catching. These microphones are made of toiler paper tubes, Styrofoam balls, and glitter.

I won't tell anyone where you got the empty rolls.

Just secure them to the wall around your sign up sheet and you'll be sure to get a few students signed up. Don't be too discouraged if you don't get a lot of signatures, you're sure to get people who come to the program and then decide they want to participate.

The basic format of a poetry slam is this: in each round each participant reads a poem they've written, and the judges vote for who they would like to hear more from. The person with the lowest score each round is out. 

Judging can be done either by the audience or a judging panel. Each has its pros and cons. An audience would be easier because no additional people would need to be contacted, but there is a temptation for people to just vote for their friends. A panel will  be harder to organize, but can be more fair. Either way, it might be fun to invite a poetry or creative writing professor to act as a judge and can give more technical feedback. 

Professor Kittensworth has been moved by your use of iambic pentameter. 10 points to Kittendor!

Have fun!

So, You Think Passives Are Your Ally...

...but you merely adopted the passives. I was born to do them, molded by them. I didn't see an active program until I was already an RA. By then, they were nothing to me but blinding!

Maybe I shouldn't be updating from Starbucks.

I kinda love passives. Like the kind that take up the wall and make the fire marshal cry. Or the kind that are presented in unexpected ways in unexpected places.

Something I liked to do every month was decorate my bathroom. My wing would all share a bathroom and in a way it served as a common area that was exclusively theirs. Sure, other floors could hang out in our lobby, but the bathroom was a great place to promoted upcoming events in a place that students would have to see them. 

I am talking, of course, about bathroom stalls.

The Perpetual Programmer cares about literacy and classiness, but  not at the same time.

Step 1. Find some cute paper at the dollar store, 1 page per stall.

Step 2. Write a few short blurbs about upcoming events on campus or in your hall, or reminders about rules.

Step 3. Fill the rest of the page with Snapple Facts.

Step 4. Prepare to hear residents reading them aloud to each other for the next month. 

These were pretty easy to maintain, and I just switched them out every month along with a few festive diecuts around the sinks and mirrors (snowflakes for December, hearts for February) and voila! My floor knows I care even when I am busy/dead to the world. The best endorsement to this day about bathroom facts was after hanging up new facts one of my residents ran past me and said "I'm so excited to poop now!"

WHAT HAVE I DONE?

If putting something you made with love near where other people poop is weird for you, then good news! If you laminate them they can also be placed in the shower! No more off key singing for your residents!

Plus, Earth Day is April 22nd. What better place to share a few facts about saving water? In addition, Earth Day is the best excuse to put Wall-E all over everything. 

Like I need an excuse.

Here is a board I made using Earth Day facts and Wall-e.

Wall-e and Eve are recycled from an earlier and less attractive board which I would show you if I could find the picture. Wall-e is easier to make then he looks; when you break it down, he's just squares and circles and rectangles. The eyes for each were the hardest part, but one you has one down you could just flip it, trace and boom you have two. I included a few facts about the history of Earth Day and conservation and then I had a board going.

Starbucks is closing, but there's more to come!

Where to start?

It's the beginning(ish) of a new month, and you have no idea what kind of program to do.

Lucky for you it's April.

When I'm stuck, I look for a calendar. If I'm lucky, I'll find one as detailed as this. So many different days! Plus you now (if you live somewhere wonderful) have the ability to go outside and be warm, and daylight savings means you can program longer. 

Is it time for midterms? The good thing about most of the events on this calendar can be quick and easy (but still fun) social programs. For example, Hans Christian Anderson's birthday is April 2nd. He wrote The Little Mermaid (although his version is traumatizing to say the least) which inspired a lovely wonderful happy Disney mermaid movie and lead to a whole generation of girls combing their hair with dinglehoppers. 

And many concerned parents.

Easy peasy social program. If you want to kick it up a notch, this is a perfectly good excuse for cake. And, as everyone knows, food is excellent program bait. And you deserve some cake, you beautiful programming genius.

"But Eryn," I can imagine you saying, "That's way too easy and I can't believe it's worth a blog post. I want my students to learn something!" But wait! There's more. Also please go watch The Little Mermaid and remember how awesome it is. 

Let's jump to April 10th, Encourage a Young Writer Day. Full disclosure:  I'm biased towards thinking this one is awesome because I minored in creative writing. Does your campus have a Creative Writing department? Get in touch with them and see if they would be willing to run through a few writing  exercises. If they have some of their own, even better! If the professor has any work published, you could also ask them to do a reading and plug their department to undecided students. Campus involvement FTW!

"But Eryn," you might say again, "With all their school work, my students don't want to do more writing even though it has been scientifically* proven to make them amazing and beautiful!"

*Scientist. Also, hey look,  your adverts are done!

I totally get that feeling. Sometimes I would spend all day in writing classes and workshops and my brain would be pudding, which probably has nothing to do with my childhood clumsiness and frequent dinglehopper usage. 

April 5th, National Read A Road Map Day, is an educational program that your students can apply to their own lives (bonus if they haven't taken spring break yet!). Sure, some of them will have a GPS or their smartphone, but at some point, their phone will die or their GPS will fail. Personally, I have had both of these things happen to me in addition to not knowing where I was going in the first place. And you get to go outside!  

This activity will go down in two parts. First, a quick guide to what everything on the map's key means. Print out maps of your state, county or city (this could take some doing, but you can make one easily by going to Google Maps, zooming in until all the street names are visible, and taping the printed pages together. 

"I know, honey, I know. I'm good. I am good. You look gorgeous!"

Divide your residents up into teams of two or three and give them each a map and some markers. Using your hall or a spot on campus as a starting point, have them find a few places around town (either walking or driving) and have them trace the route. You can make this a competition too!

The second part of this activity involves your residents going out into the world with nothing but a map, a list of directions, and if you want to be fancy or can borrow them from your school's outdoor rec department, compasses! 

You'll want a map with a scale for this activity, probably done in feet as they'll be doing some walking. If you have compasses, you can use NSEW directions, otherwise you can use rights and lefts or street names. Have them start at your residence hall and pick somewhere fun as an endpoint to meet them. Maybe use some floor funds to treat them to ice cream? 

It'll go great with your cake from earlier.

Boom! Three programs and you haven't even broken a sweat!

Hello world!

I was a Resident Adviser for three years and that experience defined my college experience. Who even knows "student affairs" is a thing that exists until you're a part of it? Definitely not me!

 During those three years, developed a passion for helping students learn and grow through creative programming. I loved to surprise residents by taking a subject or activity that interests them, like Harry Potter or scavenger hunts, and turning it into a teaching moment. This was the most exciting part of my job because I got to see my residents develop an interest in a subject that they would have dismissed as boring before.  In the end, what I was tasked with was teaching my residents what it meant to be an independent adult, and while it was demanding, I was rewarded in the end when thirty-two adults leave my floor prepared for the rest of their college career. 

It was so fulfilling to see students begin to take an interest in the campus community and then the world outside of that over the course of a year, and being able to facilitate that change with programs or talks. Creativity is a strength for me, and my goal with each program was to meet the needs and interests of my students in a way that will resonate with them. After three years, I still find myself thinking about new programs (seriously, a lot) and feel like I have more to give and therefore, I blog.

I'm still getting the hang of this "blogging" business, but I will try to post pictures, temples, sample advertisements and resources to help you on your way. I have examples of my own work and can make mock-ups of things I have come up with since graduating from Residence Life (and college, of which I am equally proud) because I was serious about thinking about them a lot.  

Contrary to what the length of this post will have you believe, I'm actually awful at talking about myself. What I am good at finding creative and fun ways to get your students engaged! So hello, I'm Eryn and I'll be programming with you today!