Rik Leaf's Blog, page 4

French Immersion & The Challenge of Creative Risk Taking

French Immersion Songwriting Workshop

I want to tell you about an incredible music creation project I just completed with a French Immersion school in Fort St John, B.C. I think it might inspire many of you teachers and administrators who would like to do something similar in your school.

The project involved five days of creative collaboration with over 300 students at Ecole Central Elementary School. In the week together we wrote and recorded an original song, filmed a live performance that included everyone in the school and had each class interpret the themes and values of the project through visual art and acting. We had a general assembly on Thursday, where we recorded the live performance elements for the video, Ecoutez Notre Historie.

What’s Involved in a Project Like This?



Songwriting is a very unique (and valuable) creative activity. I just want to be super clear that I actually meant it when I said I wrote a song with over 300 students. I don’t write the song in advance and come to school to teach the students to sing it. This is a creative collaboration where I work with 300+ students to write a song together…from scratch. Because in this project, the process is more important than the finished project. Of course, I hope we end up with a great song, and I will do everything I can to make that happen. But the finished song…or product, is less important than the process of creating an inviting and supportive environment for students to be creative with each other. I’ll get to that in a bit.

The Production Process & Getting From A-Z When Writing A Song

On Monday I meet with all of the classes. In this case, two classes came to the common area at a time and we had 30 minutes per session. I start by asking questions. What’s your school like? Tell me a story of something someone in your class did that made your day better. Tell me a story of something you did for someone else. I want students to know that their stories, experiences, and ideas are valuable and important.

For this project, the school wanted to develop the theme around eight values they had assigned to each class for the year. Things like empathy, cooperation, kindness, and citizenship. So I asked students to explain in their words what these words meant.

After taking notes and listening to their stories all day, I took that information home and Monday night wrote the outline of a song. Or at least the beginning of a song, and then I brought that back to school for day two, where we started to refine and develop it together. In particular, I wanted as much French as possible in this song, and I don’t speak French. So I was constantly asking for teachers and students to help me translate different ideas into French, and then working out the phrasing to make it work with the melody and song structure. In between singing the song, we also talked about ways visually oriented students could represent the ideas of the song through drawing and acting.

Why Do Something Like This?



This songwriting and storytelling project is powerful and exciting for a number of reasons. Creativity involves risk. If we are interested in team building and creating a safe place to try things for the first time, we need a safe place to get it wrong. This is as true for students in a classroom as it is for professional musicians in a recording studio.

But no one starts off being perfect. Every beginning involves risk, and risk takes vulnerability. Pride and insecurity are casualties and killers of creativity. If you’re arrogant, you think you’re better than everyone around you, and you can’t be creative with others because you think all your ideas are better than everyone else’s. That’s not a safe place…no one will try. No one will step out and take that initial risk. In the same way, if you’re insecure then you won’t believe your ideas are as good as everyone else’s. In that situation, you will be too afraid to try. Other people being creative will make you feel threatened…like everyone’s success is coming at your expense. This is the real value of a project like this.

I ask a lot of students in these projects. I ask them to take a risk and share their ideas. I ask them to sing at the top of their lungs. In the case of this most recent song, I had an idea for actions where they would point to people in their school every time they said, ‘You.’

You light the fire inside me.

You should know that you inspire me.

You make me better than I ever thought I’d be.

Vous, vous, vous, vous…whoo!

So I asked them to point at each other, including their teachers, as they sang. I wanted to make singing the song a physical experience, because we’re all created differently, and for some students being able to move and dance is key to their engagement. Watch the video and you can pick them out.

How Do You Produce a Project Like This?



Success is tied to creating a safe place. And a safe place comes when you know you are being heard. From knowing that people want to hear your ideas, that your story is important. And the stories of the other people around you in your class are not in competition to yours.

So I take the first risks. I try to sing melodies. I try to fit lyrics into my melodies. I purposefully make a point of taking as many risks as possible. In a sense, I want to make mistakes. I want to get it wrong. I don’t care if I sing off tune, or out of key, or whatever…I want to show the students that it’s OK. We can try, we can get it wrong, and if we make a mistake we can laugh and have fun because none of us are perfect. When we take a creative risk, whether we mean to or not, we encourage those around us to do the same. It just works that way.

A Safe Place For Risk Taking is Key



Teachers want their classrooms to be a safe place for their students to try something new. Staff and parents want the school to be a safe place for everyone. That’s another reason a project like this is so amazing. It sets the tone for the school, for the year. It creates a common ground for every student in every grade. They all wrote the song together. They all sang it together and they’re all featured in the school video we produce together. It belongs to them because they created it together.

The staff said this sets the tone for the year. They are able to show students the video throughout the year and remind them of the values and themes that they developed together. I recorded a podcast for, The Teacher’s Toolbox, before I left Central, interviewing the principal, Broyden Bennett, and Marjo Rivard-Lorincz, a teacher I’ve worked with each year for the last four years. I wanted to get their feedback on the value of investing in a creative project like this. They had some really interesting perspectives and insights. You can listen to the podcast HERE. 

Would you like to do a project like this in your school? Let me know if you have any questions. I offer virtual classroom and one-on-one creative capacity building sessions for educators, so please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time.

I hope you and your students have a great year!

 

 

Hi, I’m Rik Leaf

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

I invite you to check out the Closed Facebook Group, The Teacher’s Toolbox. It’s an online community forum that provides creative resources to teachers.

 

 

The post French Immersion & The Challenge of Creative Risk Taking appeared first on Creative Resources That Transform Schools.

Music Creation For French Immersion Schools

C’est Notre Histoire, Ecouter Notre Historie (This is Our Story, Listen to Our Story)

I want to tell you about an incredible music creation project I just completed with a French Immersion school in Fort St John, B.C. I think it might inspire many of you teachers and administrators who would like to do something similar in your school.

The project involved five days of creative collaboration with over 300 students at Ecole Central Elementary School. In the week together we wrote and recorded an original song, filmed a live performance that included everyone in the school and had each class interpret the themes and values of the project through visual art and acting. We had a general assembly on Thursday, where we recorded the live performance elements for the video, Ecouter Notre Historie.

What’s Involved in a Project Like This?

Songwriting is a very unique (and valuable) creative activity. I just want to be super clear that I actually meant it when I said I wrote a song with over 300 students. I don’t write the song in advance and come to school to teach the students to sing it. This is a creative collaboration where I work with 300+ students to write a song together…from scratch. Because in this project, the process is more important than the finished project. Of course, I hope we end up with a great song, and I will do everything I can to make that happen. But the finished song…or product, is less important than the process of creating an inviting and supportive environment for students to be creative with each other. I’ll get to that in a bit.

The Production Process & What’s Involved In Writing A Song

On Monday I meet with all of the classes. In this case, two classes came to the common area at a time and we had 30 minutes per session. I start by asking questions. What’s your school like? Tell me a story of something someone in your class did that made your day better. Tell me a story of something you did for someone else. I want students to know that their stories, experiences, and ideas are valuable and important.

For this project, the school wanted to develop the theme around eight values they had assigned to each class for the year. Things like empathy, cooperation, kindness, and citizenship. So I asked students to explain in their words what these words meant.

After taking notes and listening to their stories all day, I took that information home and Monday night wrote the outline of a song. Or at least the beginning of a song, and then I brought that back to school for day two, where we started to refine and develop it together. In particular, I wanted as much French as possible in this song, and I don’t speak French. So I was constantly asking for teachers and students to help me translate different ideas into French, and then working out the phrasing to make it work with the melody and song structure. In between singing the song, we also talked about ways visually oriented students could represent the ideas of the song through drawing and acting.

Why Do Something Like This?

This songwriting and storytelling project is powerful and exciting for a number of reasons. Creativity involves risk. If we are interested in team building and creating a safe place to try things for the first time, we need a safe place to get it wrong. This is as true for students in a classroom as it is for professional musicians in a recording studio.

But no one starts off being perfect. Every beginning involves risk, and risk takes vulnerability. Pride and insecurity are casualties and killers of creativity. If you’re arrogant, you think you’re better than everyone around you, and you can’t be creative with others because you think all your ideas are better than everyone else’s. That’s not a safe place…no one will try. No one will step out and take that initial risk. In the same way, if you’re insecure then you won’t believe your ideas are as good as everyone else’s. In that situation, you will be too afraid to try. Other people being creative will make you feel threatened…like everyone’s success is coming at your expense. This is the real value of a project like this.

I ask a lot of students in these projects. I ask them to take a risk and share their ideas. I ask them to sing at the top of their lungs. In the case of this most recent song, I had an idea for actions where they would point to people in their school every time they said, ‘You.’

You light the fire inside me.

You should know that you inspire me.

You make me better than I ever thought I’d be.

Vous, vous, vous, vous…whoo!

So I asked them to point at each other, including their teachers, as they sang. I wanted to make singing the song a physical experience, because we’re all created differently, and for some students being able to move and dance is key to their engagement. Watch the video and you can pick them out.

How Do You Produce a Project Like This?

Success is tied to creating a safe place. And a safe place comes when you know you are being heard. From knowing that people want to hear your ideas, that your story is important. And the stories of the other people around you in your class are not in competition to yours.

So I take the first risks. I try to sing melodies. I try to fit lyrics into my melodies. I purposefully make a point of taking as many risks as possible. In a sense, I want to make mistakes. I want to get it wrong. I don’t care if I sing off tune, or out of key, or whatever…I want to show the students that it’s OK. We can try, we can get it wrong, and if we make a mistake we can laugh and have fun because none of us are perfect. When we take a creative risk, whether we mean to or not, we encourage those around us to do the same. It just works that way.

A Safe Place For Risk Taking is Key

Teachers want their classrooms to be a safe place for their students to try something new. Staff and parents want the school to be a safe place for everyone. That’s another reason a project like this is so amazing. It sets the tone for the school, for the year. It creates a common ground for every student in every grade. They all wrote the song together. They all sang it together and they’re all featured in the school video we produce together. It belongs to them because they created it together.

The staff said this sets the tone for the year. They are able to show students the video throughout the year and remind them of the values and themes that they developed together. I recorded a podcast for, The Teacher’s Toolbox, before I left Central, interviewing the principal, Broyden Bennett, and Marjo Rivard-Lorincz, a teacher I’ve worked with each year for the last four years. I wanted to get their feedback on the value of investing in a creative project like this. They had some really interesting perspectives and insights. You can listen to the podcast HERE. 

Would you like to do a project like this in your school? Let me know if you have any questions. I offer virtual classroom and one-on-one creative capacity building sessions for educators, so please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time.

I hope you and your students have a great year!

 

 

Hi, I’m Rik Leaf

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

I invite you to check out the Closed Facebook Group, The Teacher’s Toolbox. It’s an online community forum that provides creative resources to teachers.

 

 

The post Music Creation For French Immersion Schools appeared first on The Centre For Creative Community.

Powerful Songwriting & Storytelling Project

C’est Notre Histoire Ecouter Notre Historie – This is Our Story, Listen to Our Story

I just finished a powerful songwriting and storytelling project with a French Immersion school that I’m very excited to tell you about. I think it might inspire many of you teachers and administrators who would like to do something similar in your school.

The project involved five days of creative collaboration with over 300 students. In the week together we wrote and recorded an original song, filmed a live performance that included everyone in the school and had each class interpret the themes and values of the project through visual art and acting. We had a general assembly on Thursday, where we recorded the live performance elements for the video, Ecouter Notre Historie.

What’s Involved in a Project Like This?

Music is so powerful, I hope there is a music program in every school. But I need to clarify that what I do is not a music program. Songwriting is a very unique (and valuable) creative activity. So to begin with, I just want to be super clear that I actually meant it when I said I wrote a song with over 300 students. I don’t write the song in advance and come to school to teach the students to sing it. This is a creative collaboration where I work with 300+ students to write a song together…from scratch. Because in this project, the process is more important than the finished project. Of course I hope we end up with a great song, and I will do everything I can to make that happen. But the finished song…or product, is less important than the process of creating an inviting and supportive environment for students to be creative with each other. I’ll get to that in a bit.

On Monday I meet with all of the classes. In this case, two classes came to the common area at a time and we had 30 minutes per session.

I start by asking questions. What’s your school like? Tell me a story of something someone in your class did that made your day better. Tell me a story of something you did for someone else. I want students to know that their stories, experiences and ideas are valuable and important.

For this project, the school wanted to develop the theme around eight values they had assigned to each class for the year. Things like empathy, cooperation, kindness and citizenship. So I asked students to explain in their words what these words meant.

After taking notes and listening to their stories all day, I took that information home and Monday night wrote the outline of a song. Or at least the beginning of a song, and then I brought that back to school for day two, where we started to refine and develop it together. In particular, I wanted as much French as possible in this song, and I don’t speak French. So I was constantly asking for teachers and students to help me translate different ideas into French, and then working out the phrasing to make it work with the melody and song structure. In between singing the song, we also talked about ways visually oriented students could represent the ideas of the song through drawing and acting.

Why Do Something Like This?

This songwriting and storytelling project is powerful and exciting for a number of reasons. Creativity involves risk. If we are interested in team building and creating a safe place to try things for the first time, we need a safe place to get it wrong. This is as true for students in a classroom as it is for professional musicians in a recording studio.

But no one starts off being perfect. Every beginning involves risk, and risk takes vulnerability. Pride and insecurity are casualties and killers of creativity. If you’re arrogant, you think you’re better than everyone around you, and you can’t be creative with others because you think all your ideas are better than everyone else’s. That’s not a safe place…no one will try. No one will step out and take that initial risk. In the same way, if you’re insecure then you won’t believe your ideas are as good as everyone else’s. In that situation, you will be too afraid to try. Other people being creative will make you feel threatened…like everyone’s success is coming at your expense. This is the real value of a project like this.

I ask a lot of students in these projects. I ask them to take a risk and share their ideas. I ask them to sing at the top of their lungs. In the case of this most recent song, I had an idea for actions where they would point to people in their school every time they said, ‘You.’

You light the fire inside me.

You should know that you inspire me.

You make me better than I ever thought I’d be.

Vous, vous, vous, vous…whoo!

So I asked them to point at each other, including their teachers, as they sang. I wanted to make singing the song a physical experience, because we’re all created differently, and for some students being able to move and dance is key to their engagement. Watch the video and you can pick them out.

How Do You Produce a Project Like This?

Success is tied to creating a safe place. And a safe place comes when you know you are being heard. From knowing that people want to hear your ideas, that your story is important. And the stories of the other people around you in your class are not in competition to yours.

So I take the first risks. I try to sing melodies. I try to fit lyrics into my melodies. I purposefully make a point of taking as many risks as possible. In a sense I want to make mistakes. I want to get it wrong. I don’t care if I sing off tune, or out of key, or whatever…I want to show the students that it’s OK. We can try, we can get it wrong, and if we make a mistake we can laugh and have fun, because none of us are perfect. When we take a creative risk, whether we mean to or not, we encourage those around us to do the same. It just works that way.

A Safe Place For Risk Taking is Key

Teachers want their classrooms to be a safe place for their students to try something new. Staff and parents want the school to be a safe place for everyone. That’s another reason a project like this is so amazing. It sets the tone for the school, for the year. It creates a common ground for every student in every grade. They all wrote the song together. They all sang it together and they’re all featured in the school video we produce together. It is there’s. It belongs to them, because they were creative together.

The staff said this sets the tone for the year. They are able to show students the video throughout the year and remind them of the values and themes that they developed together.

Would you like to do a project like this in your school? Let me know if you have any questions. I offer virtual classroom and one-on-0ne creative capacity building sessions for educators, so please don’t hesitate to contact me at any time.

I hope you and your students have a great year!

 

Hi, I’m Rik Leaf

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

I invite you to check out the Closed Facebook Group, The Teacher’s Toolbox. It’s an online community forum that provides creative resources to teachers.

 

 

The post Powerful Songwriting & Storytelling Project appeared first on Rik Leaf.

Discover How To Create a Safe Space (To Try Something New)

Slam Poetry and The Key To Taking The First Step

Jerry Seinfeld told a joke a few years ago about a study that said people’s number one fear was speaking in public. Number two was dying. His punch line was that at a funeral, more people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy. So where would that put slam poetry on the fear scale?

When I started working as a producer, I learned very quickly that everyone needs a safe place to take a creative risk. This is as true for young slam poets in a classroom as it is for musicians in a studio or actors on set. So if we want our students to take a creative risk and write and perform slam poetry (especially for the first time) we need to create a safe place for that to happen.

This Is How I Create A Safe Place For Students To Try Slam Poetry For The First Time



I start my first session by getting students to help me create word banks of metaphors and similes. (most of the time I just call them expressions) I start by calling out a line and ask the students to fill in the blank and then write their answers on the white board.

“Has anyone ever heard the expression, life is like a box of…”

Someone will yell, “chocolates!”

“How about, your room looks like a…”

“Disaster zone/tornado/bomb went off,” are typical answers.

“He’s as cute as a…kitten, button, puppy.”

I want to fill the room with voices because it generates a creative energy that draws everyone into the process whether they’re calling out answers or not. After we have developed word banks of at least 5 metaphors and 5 similes, (feel free to write more) I ask students to write 2 lines each.

I give them some ideas to lead them into their first line, “your words hurt like…” and I ask them to use a metaphor or simile to describe words that have hurt them. Their second line starts with, “your words are beautiful like…” and again I ask them to use a metaphor or simile.

When they start handing their papers in, I’ll get lines like,

“your words are like grizzly claws and teeth that tear me apart like a serrated blade”

“your words feel like Lego under my bare feet”

“your words are as beautiful a sunset that takes my breath away”

“your words feel like Advil with the power to heal”

Success is When We’ve Created a Safe Place To Try Something New



We don’t spend a lot of time, maybe five minutes. As soon as they’re done I get them to pass their papers in, and I compile their lines into one group poem on the board at the front of the class. Then I slam it for them. This first session is all about creating a safe place for students to try something new. And there is a psychology behind the way I run this session. By passing their paper into me, there is the safety of anonymity, cause no one knows which line they wrote. Giving them some common word banks and lead lines provides just enough structure that the exercise flows easily when I go to put their lines together.

I created this lesson to introduce the idea of slam poetry while providing a safe place to take the first step. I also designed it to show how our individuality and creativity is not in competition with those around us. What invariably happens is students realize their writing is just as good as anyone else and they go away knowing that they can do it.

This is the first video lesson in my online course, and I’ve made it available for free. I encourage you to CHECK IT OUT HERE. It’s about 10 minutes long and goes into the detail of how this session works. 

Being Creative Should Be Fun And Interactive 

As the pieces of paper are handed to me, I make a big deal about shuffling them up to make sure no one feels exposed. I read them out loud because obviously, I can’t use every single line that everyone writes, but I want to acknowledge their work and their words. I might mention that we’ve already touched on that idea, or we said a similar thing already, but that it was a great line. If the lines are very similar, I mention how they share a wavelength and it shows they’re thinking and writing like everyone else. (insinuating that they are just as good as anyone else) I praise their sense of humour. I praise their sincerity. I praise a clever metaphor or simile…basically anything that’s even remotely praiseworthy I praise.

This moment is about gaining confidence. About trying something risky with a safety net. I’ve overheard students talking with each other and with their teachers after the session, brimming with confidence because I’d exclaimed or said something positive about what they’d written. It’s a completely different environment than the recording studios and TV sets I’ve worked, but the psychology is exactly the same. People need a safe place to try something new. And when you give it to them, and they know that they can trust you, they are willing to try. 

Everything You Need To Get Your Students Excited In Creative Writing

Slam Poetry in Schools is a course created for teachers that uses the material I’ve taught to thousands of students over the last 10 years. It comes with instructional videos for each lesson, worksheets and learning objectives that you can download and print, along with ‘sample’ slam poetry performance videos. I provide everything you need to use slam poetry in your classroom. It is a collection of the best lessons I’ve developed and taught over the last decade that you will be able to use year after year, for just $99.95 

I have to tell you a really sweet (and pretty hilarious) story about an elementary student who wanted to perform his poetry in front of the school so much, he pretty much had a full on physical and emotional breakdown backstage, but could not be talked out of it. It seriously felt like I was in some kind of rock and roll tabloid story you’d hear about Keith Richards at a Rolling Stones concert! Haha…I’ll tell you all about it next time.

I hope you and your students are having a great week!

 

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

Developing the Slam Poetry in Schools training course for teachers is a passion project 10 years in the making.

I invite you to check out the Closed Facebook Group, The Teacher’s Toolbox. It’s an online community forum that provides creative resources to teachers.

The post Discover How To Create a Safe Space (To Try Something New) appeared first on Creative Resources That Transform Schools.

Here’s How You Can Create a Safe Space (To Try Something New)

Slam Poetry and The Key To Taking The First Step

Jerry Seinfeld told a joke a few years ago about a study that said people’s number one fear was speaking in public. Number two was dying. His punch line was that at a funeral, more people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy. So where would that put slam poetry on the fear scale?

When I started working as a producer, I learned very quickly that everyone needs a safe place to take a creative risk. This is as true for young slam poets in a classroom as it is for musicians in a studio or actors on set. So if we want our students to take a creative risk and write and perform slam poetry (especially for the first time) we need to create a safe place for that to happen.

This Is How I Create A Safe Place For Students To Try Slam Poetry For The First Time



I start my first session by getting students to help me create word banks of metaphors and similes. (most of the time I just call them expressions) I start by calling out a line and ask the students to fill in the blank and then write their answers on the white board.

“Has anyone ever heard the expression, life is like a box of…”

Someone will yell, “chocolates!”

“How about, your room looks like a…”

“Disaster zone/tornado/bomb went off,” are typical answers.

“He’s as cute as a…kitten, button, puppy.”

I want to fill the room with voices because it generates a creative energy that draws everyone into the process whether they’re calling out answers or not. After we have developed word banks of at least 5 metaphors and 5 similes, (feel free to write more) I ask students to write 2 lines each.

I give them some ideas to lead them into their first line, “your words hurt like…” and I ask them to use a metaphor or simile to describe words that have hurt them. Their second line starts with, “your words are beautiful like…” and again I ask them to use a metaphor or simile.

When they start handing their papers in, I’ll get lines like,

“your words are like grizzly claws and teeth that tear me apart like a serrated blade”

“your words feel like Lego under my bare feet”

“your words are as beautiful a sunset that takes my breath away”

“your words feel like Advil with the power to heal”

Success is When We’ve Created a Safe Place To Try Something New



We don’t spend a lot of time, maybe five minutes. As soon as they’re done I get them to pass their papers in, and I compile their lines into one group poem on the board at the front of the class. Then I slam it for them. This first session is all about creating a safe place for students to try something new. And there is a psychology behind the way I run this session. By passing their paper into me, there is the safety of anonymity, cause no one knows which line they wrote. Giving them some common word banks and lead lines provides just enough structure that the exercise flows easily when I go to put their lines together.

I created this lesson to introduce the idea of slam poetry while providing a safe place to take the first step. I also designed it to show how our individuality and creativity is not in competition with those around us. What invariably happens is students realize their writing is just as good as anyone else and they go away knowing that they can do it.

This is the first video lesson in my online course, and I’ve made it available for free. I encourage you to CHECK IT OUT HERE. It’s about 10 minutes long and goes into the detail of how this session works. 

Being Creative Should Be Fun And Interactive 

As the pieces of paper are handed to me, I make a big deal about shuffling them up to make sure no one feels exposed. I read them out loud because obviously, I can’t use every single line that everyone writes, but I want to acknowledge their work and their words. I might mention that we’ve already touched on that idea, or we said a similar thing already, but that it was a great line. If the lines are very similar, I mention how they share a wavelength and it shows they’re thinking and writing like everyone else. (insinuating that they are just as good as anyone else) I praise their sense of humour. I praise their sincerity. I praise a clever metaphor or simile…basically anything that’s even remotely praiseworthy I praise.

This moment is about gaining confidence. About trying something risky with a safety net. I’ve overheard students talking with each other and with their teachers after the session, brimming with confidence because I’d exclaimed or said something positive about what they’d written. It’s a completely different environment than the recording studios and TV sets I’ve worked, but the psychology is exactly the same. People need a safe place to try something new. And when you give it to them, and they know that they can trust you, they are willing to try. 

Everything You Need To Get Your Students Excited In Creative Writing

Slam Poetry in Schools is a course created for teachers that uses the material I’ve taught to thousands of students over the last 10 years. It comes with instructional videos for each lesson, worksheets and learning objectives that you can download and print, along with ‘sample’ slam poetry performance videos. I provide everything you need to use slam poetry in your classroom. It is a collection of the best lessons I’ve developed and taught over the last decade that you will be able to use year after year, for just $99.95 

I have to tell you a really sweet (and pretty hilarious) story about an elementary student who wanted to perform his poetry in front of the school so much, he pretty much had a full on physical and emotional breakdown backstage, but could not be talked out of it. It seriously felt like I was in some kind of rock and roll tabloid story you’d hear about Keith Richards at a Rolling Stones concert! Haha…I’ll tell you all about it next time.

I hope you and your students are having a great week!

 

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

Developing the Slam Poetry in Schools training course for teachers is a passion project 10 years in the making.

I invite you to check out the Closed Facebook Group, The Teacher’s Toolbox. It’s an online community forum that provides creative resources to teachers.

The post Here’s How You Can Create a Safe Space (To Try Something New) appeared first on The Centre For Creative Community.

Creating a Safe Space For Students to Try Something New

The Key To Creativity Is A Safe Place To Take The First Step

Why We Desperately Need To Create A Safe Place

Jerry Seinfeld told a joke a few years ago about a study that said people’s number one fear was speaking in public. Number two was dying. His punch line was that at a funeral, more people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy. So where would that put slam poetry on the fear scale?

When I started working as a producer, I learned very quickly that everyone needs a safe place to take a creative risk. This is as true for young slam poets in a classroom as it is for musicians in a studio or actors on set. So if you want your students take a creative risk and write and perform slam poetry (especially for the first time) you need to create a safe place for that to happen.

This is How I Create A Safe Place



I start my first session by getting students to help me create word banks of metaphors and similes. (most of the time I just call them expressions) I start by calling out a line and ask the students to fill in the blank, and then write their answers on the white board.

“Has anyone ever heard the expression, life is like a box of…”

Someone will yell, “chocolates!”

“How about, your room looks like a…”

“Disaster zone/tornado/bomb went off,” are typical answers.

“He’s as cute as a…kitten, button, puppy.”

I want to fill the room with voices, because it generates a creative energy that draws everyone into the process whether they’re calling out answers or not. After we have developed word banks of at least 5 metaphors and 5 similes, (feel free to write more) I ask students to write 2 lines each.

I give them a lead into their first line, “your words hurt like…” and I ask them to use a metaphor or simile to describe words that have hurt them. Their second line starts with, “your words are beautiful like…” and again I ask them to use a metaphor or simile.

When they start handing their papers in, I’ll get lines like,

“your words are like grizzly claws and teeth that tear me apart like a serrated blade”

“your words feel like Lego under my bare feet”

“your words are as beautiful a sunset that takes my breath away”

“your words feel like Advil with the power to heal”

Success is When We’ve Created a Safe Place To Try Something New



We don’t spend a lot of time, maybe five minutes. As soon as they’re done I get them to pass their papers into me, and I compile their lines into one group poem on the board at the front of class. Then I slam it for them. This session is all about creating a safe place for students to try something new. By passing their paper in to me, there is the safety of anonymity, cause no one knows which line they wrote. Giving them some common word banks and lead lines provides just enough structure that the exercise flows easily when I go to put their lines together.

I created this lesson to introduce the idea of slam poetry while providing a safe place to take the first step. I also designed it to show how our individuality and creativity is not in competition with those around us. What invariably happens is students realize their writing is just as good as anyone else and they go away knowing that they can do it. This is the first video lesson in my online course, and I’ve made it available for free. You are welcome to CHECK IT OUT HERE.

Slam Poetry in Schools is a course I created for teachers. It comes with instructional videos for each lesson. Each lesson includes worksheets and learning objectives that you can download and print, along with ‘sample’ slam poetry performance videos. I provide everything you need to use slam poetry in your classroom. It is a collection of the best lessons I’ve developed and taught over the last decade that you will be able to use year after year, for just $99.95 One of the things that makes this slam poetry course so unique and valuable for educators is that it was created for students in schools.

I have to tell you a really sweet (and pretty hilarious) story about an elementary student who wanted to perform his poetry in front of the school so much, he pushed through stage fright and emotional breakdowns and actually threw up backstage. It seriously felt like some kind of rock and roll tabloid story you’d hear about Keith Richards at a Rolling Stones concert! Haha…I’ll tell you all about it next time.

I hope you and your students are having a great week!

 

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

Developing the Slam Poetry in Schools training course for teachers is a passion project 10 years in the making.

I invite you to check out the Closed Facebook Group, The Teacher’s Toolbox. It’s an online community forum that provides creative resources to teachers.

The post Creating a Safe Space For Students to Try Something New appeared first on Rik Leaf * Creativity in Education.

How to Create a Space to Try Something New

Training For Teachers – Taking The First Step

When I started teaching slam poetry in schools I hadn’t written any subject appropriate material for elementary age students. I remember one assembly slamming a piece about ‘ecumenical economics and the inequitable distribution of wealth’ and looking out at all these confused little kids and thinking to myself, “Rik…seriously, you’ve got to write some new material ASAP!” Haha…so I did. I wrote a slam specifically for those little dudes about trying to decide what I wanted to eat for breakfast every morning…cereal or toast. I called the poem, Cereal Monster.

It’s a goofy little slam (and going off audience response, really resonates with the 5-8 year-old crowd) Anyway…in this one class a little boy put up his hand and said, “Mr. Wick, you shouldn’t call it, ‘Cereal Monster’ you should call it, ‘Cereal Killer.’ Guys…seriously, that is THE BEST slam title ever! But could you imagine if I walked into your class and said, “hey boys and girls, would you like to hear a poem called ‘Serial Killer’…haha. You’d send me straight to the principal’s office before I could say another word.

Why We Desperately Need To Create A Safe Place

Jerry Seinfeld told a joke a few years ago about a study that said people’s number one fear was speaking in public. Number two was dying. His punch line was that at a funeral, more people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy. So where would that put slam poetry on the fear scale?

When I started working as a producer, I learned very quickly that everyone needs a safe place to take a creative risk. This is as true for young slam poets in a classroom as it is for musicians in a studio or actors on set. So if you want students your students take a creative risk and write and perform slam poetry (especially for the first time) you need to create a safe place for that to happen.

This is How I Create A Safe Place

I start my first session by getting students to help me create word banks of metaphors and similes. (most of the time I just call them expressions) I start by calling out a line and ask the students to fill in the blank, and then write their answers on the white board.

“Has anyone ever heard the expression, life is like a box of…”

Someone will yell, “chocolates!”

“How about, your room looks like a…”

“Disaster zone/tornado/bomb went off,” are typical answers.

“He’s as cute as a…kitten, button, puppy.”

I want to fill the room with voices, because it generates a creative energy that draws everyone into the process whether they’re calling out answers or not. After we have developed word banks of at least 5 metaphors and 5 similes, (feel free to write more) I ask students to write 2 lines each.

I give them a lead into their first line, “your words hurt like…” and I ask them to use a metaphor or simile to describe words that have hurt them. Their second line starts with, “your words are beautiful like…” and again I ask them to use a metaphor or simile.

When they start handing their papers in, I’ll get lines like,

“your words are like grizzly claws and teeth that tear me apart like a serrated blade”

“your words feel like Lego under my bare feet”

“your words are as beautiful a sunset that takes my breath away”

“your words feel like Advil with the power to heal”

Success is When We’ve Created a Safe Place To Try Something New

We don’t spend a lot of time, maybe five minutes. As soon as they’re done I get them to pass their papers into me, and I compile their lines into one group poem on the board at the front of class. Then I slam it for them. This session is all about creating a safe place for students to try something new. By passing their paper in to me, there is the safety of anonymity, cause no one knows which line they wrote. Giving them some common word banks and lead lines provides just enough structure that the exercise flows easily when I go to put their lines together.

I created this lesson to introduce the idea of slam poetry while providing a safe place to take the first step. I also designed it to show how our individuality and creativity is not in competition with those around us. What invariably happens is students realize their writing is just as good as anyone else and they go away knowing that they can do it. This is the first video lesson in my online course, and I’ve made it available for free. You are welcome to CHECK IT OUT HERE.

Slam Poetry in Schools is a course I created for teachers. It comes with instructional videos for each lesson. Each lesson includes worksheets and learning objectives that you can download and print, along with ‘sample’ slam poetry performance videos. I provide everything you need to use slam poetry in your classroom. It is a collection of the best lessons I’ve developed and taught over the last decade that you will be able to use year after year, for just $99.95 One of the things that makes this slam poetry course so unique and valuable for educators is that it was created for students in schools.

I have to tell you a really sweet (and pretty hilarious) story about an elementary student who wanted to perform his poetry in front of the school so much, he pushed through stage fright and emotional breakdowns and actually threw up backstage. It seriously felt like some kind of rock and roll tabloid story you’d hear about Keith Richards at a Rolling Stones concert! Haha…I’ll tell you all about it next time.

I hope you and your students are having a great week!

 

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

Developing the Slam Poetry in Schools training course for teachers, is a passion project 10 years in the making.

I invite you to check out the Closed Facebook Group, The Teacher’s Toolbox. It’s an online community forum that provides creative resources to teachers.

The post How to Create a Space to Try Something New appeared first on Rik Leaf.

How to Create a Space to Try Something New

Discovering Slam Poetry and The Power of Words

Jerry Seinfeld told a joke a few years ago about a study that said people’s number one fear was speaking in public. Number two was dying. His punch line was that at a funeral, more people would rather be in the casket than giving the eulogy.

When I started working as a producer, I learned very quickly that everyone needs a safe place to take a creative risk. This is as true for young slam poets in a classroom as it is for musicians in a studio or actors on set. So if we want students to take a creative risk and write and perform slam poetry (especially for the first time) we need to create a safe place for that to happen. Creating this space is the first thing I need to do when I come into a new school.

I’d like to tell you how I do it. This is the first lesson in my online slam poetry course for teachers which I’ve available for free. You can CLICK HERE to check it out.

I start the session by getting students to help me create word banks of metaphors and similes. (most of the time I just call them expressions) I start by calling out a line and ask the students to fill in the blank, and then write their answers on the white board.

“Has anyone ever heard the expression, life is like a box of…”

Someone will yell, “chocolates!”

“How about, your room looks like a…”

“Disaster zone/tornado/bomb went off,” are typical answers.

“He’s as cute as a…kitten, button, puppy.”I want to fill the room with voices, because it generates a creative energy that draws everyone into the process whether they’re calling out answers or not. After we have developed word banks of at least 5 metaphors and 5 similes, (feel free to write more) I ask students to write 2 lines each.

I give them a lead into their first line, “your words hurt like…” and I ask them to use a metaphor or simile to describe words that have hurt them. Their second line starts with, “your words are beautiful like…” and again I ask them to use a metaphor or simile.

When they start handing their papers in, I’ll get lines like,

“your words are like grizzly claws and teeth that tear me apart like a serrated blade”

“your words feel like Lego under my bare feet”

“your words are as beautiful a sunset that takes my breath away”

“your words feel like Advil with the power to heal”

The session is called The Power of Words, and I want students to tap into their own memories of times people either hurt them or encouraged them with words. I want to highlight the power of words in our life, and why they are worth investing in.

 We don’t spend a lot of time, maybe five minutes. As soon as they’re done I get them to pass their papers into me, and I compile their lines into one group poem on the board at the front of class. Then I slam it for them.

This session is all about creating a safe place for students to try something new. By passing their paper in to me, there is the safety of anonymity, cause no one knows which line they wrote. Giving them some common word banks and lead lines provides just enough structure that the exercise flows easily when I go to put their lines together.

This lesson introduces the idea of slam poetry and encourages creative risk taking while providing a safe place to take the first step. It also shows how our individuality and creativity is not in competition with those around us. What invariably happens is students realize their writing is just as good as anyone else and they go away knowing that they can do it.

The Slam Poetry in Schools course I’ve created for teachers, comes with instructional videos for each lesson. Each lesson includes worksheets and learning objectives that you can download and print, along with ‘sample’ slam poetry performance videos. I provide everything you need to use slam poetry in your classroom. It’s the best material I’ve developed over the last decade for $99.95

One of the things that makes this slam poetry course so unique and valuable for educators is that it was created for students in schools. Working in classrooms with teachers helped me create lessons that reinforce core learning objectives and support existing curriculum.

I have to tell you a really sweet (and pretty hilarious) story about an elementary student who wanted to perform his poetry in front of the school so much, he pushed through stage fright and tears and even threw up backstage. It seriously felt like some kind of rock and roll tabloid story you’d hear about Keith Richards at a Rolling Stones concert! Haha…I’ll tell you all about it next time.

If you’re interested in using slam poetry with your students, but you’ve never written it, performed it or even seen it live…I provide absolutely everything you need. You can CLICK HERE for more info.

 

Hi, I’m Rik Leaf,

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

Developing the Slam Poetry in Schools training course for teachers, is a passion project 10 years in the making.

The post How to Create a Space to Try Something New appeared first on Rik Leaf.

The Big ‘Ah-Ha’ Moment That Will Change a Student’s Life

A Game-Changing Moment For Young Writers

As a student, I hated report cards. It wasn’t the mediocre grades that bothered me; it was the effect the teacher’s comments would always have on my parents. “Easily distracted” “disruptive in class” “passes too many notes” “preoccupied with narcissistic illusions of grandeur” haha…OK I admit, I made that last one up. But you get the drift.

My Grade 4 teacher generously described me as, “an eager, yet unexceptional student.” My unexceptional exuberance was captured perfectly one day when I copied a message from the blackboard for our end of school party. Describing the menu, I wrote that we would be eating, ‘weners and calk’ ” instead of “wieners and cake.”

That night at the supper table I gave the now, ‘infamous’ note to my parents. I can still picture my family howling uncontrollably with laughter, as they passed the note back and forth taking turns blubbering out the phrase, ‘weners and calk’ as tears of mirth ran in rivers down their glistening cheeks. I am teased mercilessly about that note to this day!

I happily share my ‘weners and calk’ story, because believe it or not, it became a huge inspiration for my slam poetry workshops.

The Canvas Of Perception And Students Who Don’t Believe They Are Writers  



There are many reasons students get shut down and fail to recognize their creative potential. In her book, The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron describes the voices in our head that tell us we can’t do something as, censors. Being a bad speller was definitely one of my censors. I mean seriously, how could little Rikky  Leaf ever imagine he would grow up to become a professional writer when he couldn’t even spell wieners and cake! Enter slam poetry…

Creative Writing + Creative Performance = Slam Poetry



Slam poetry is the combination of creative writing and creative performance. Where traditional poetry was written for the eye and experienced through published books and journals, slam poetry is written for the ear, and only experienced when it’s performed. This is actually a pretty big deal for a student. Because if no one else is going to read what you’ve written, then maybe it doesn’t really matter if you follow the rules of writing. 

This came to me in the middle of one particular session years ago. There was a group of students in this class who weren’t even trying. I kept encouraging them and pushing them, but they just kept fooling around. I can’t remember exactly what this one kid said, but I suddenly realized they all thought they couldn’t do it because they weren’t good at spelling. Now…I know spelling is important, but in that moment it was the last thing I wanted them to worry about, and because their censor was the same one that had shut me down for years I exclaimed, “who cares how you spell a word! If you know what you mean that’s all that matters!”

We all kind of looked at each other for a couple seconds, and they put their heads down and started to write. And wow…did they ever write!

This was my big ‘Ah-Ha’ game-changing moment. I’d figured out how to shut down the censors and help these students approach words in a new way. I’m all about leveling the playing field for the ‘wener and calk'” writers out there!

The rules had given them this false perception of their potential and stripped them of their confidence. All of a sudden slam poetry opened a window to a world they didn’t even know existed. And speaking about the canvas of perception…I’d never actually seen myself as a teacher until that moment. But that moment felt pretty spectacular. 

Poetry Slams And The Art Of Performing Words

The creative performance element of slam poetry is equally as powerful and important but for different reasons. Slam poetry is different than acting because we don’t use costumes or props. It’s also different than rap or hip-hop because there are no beats and no music. It’s just about words. So you don’t have to be interested in theatre or want to be an actor and you don’t need to be musical or have any expensive gear or equipment…it’s just about words and finding your way of expressing yourself.

At a poetry slam, the audience is an active participant. Everyone knows it can be scary to get up in front of people and read or perform. So when the slam master (host) calls the next poet to the stage, (front of the room) we clap and cheer them all the way from their seat to the stage. And if we like something that they said, or how they said it, we give them snaps. We snap our fingers because it’s just loud enough they can hear, but it’s not so loud that we miss the next thing they might be saying. This creates a really fun, interactive and supportive environment in a classroom.

Removing The Obstacles And Setting Creativity Free

The first step is the hardest, and taking a creative risk and try something new takes courage and a safe and supportive environment. This is a HUGE part of why slam poetry has proven to be so effective in schools. It provides a unique opportunity not only in how students approach being creative as writers, it also transforms the classroom into a dynamic environment that supports and encourages creative risk-taking.

Next time I have to tell you about a little elementary student that innocently suggested I change the name of the poem I’d just performed. He came up with the best slam poem title I’ve ever heard…but if I ever tried to use it in a school I’m 100% sure the teacher would immediately drag me down the hall to the principal’s office before I could say another word. But the title is GOLD! I’d tell you now, but I can still hear my Grade 4 teacher in my head, “Rik is too easily distracted by stories and can’t focus long enough to even finish a simple blog post!”

We are only as limited as our creative talents and abilities…so imagine who we could be and what we could do if we gave ourselves permission to explore the gifts inside of us.

If you have any thoughts, feedback or stories of your own, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment below.

I hope you’re having a great week!

Hi! I’m Rik Leaf!

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

Developing the Slam Poetry in Schools training course for teachers is a passion project 10 years in the making.

I’d also like to invite you to join a Closed Facebook Group I started called, The Teacher’s Toolbox. It is an online forum designed to provide creative and cultural project development ideas and support for teachers.

 

 

 

 

The post The Big ‘Ah-Ha’ Moment That Will Change a Student’s Life appeared first on Creative Resources That Transform Schools.

How Slam Poetry Can Set Your Students Free

A Game-Changing Moment For Young Writers

As a student I hated report cards. It wasn’t the mediocre grades that bothered me; it was the effect the teacher’s comments would always have on my parents. “Easily distracted” “disruptive in class” “passes too many notes” “preoccupied by narcissistic illusions of grandeur” haha…OK I admit, I made that last one up. But you get the drift.

My Grade 4 teacher generously described me as, “an eager, yet unexceptional student.” My unexceptional exuberance was captured perfectly one day when I copied the message from the blackboard for our end of school party. Describing the menu, I wrote with gusto that we would be eating, “weners and calk” instead of “wieners and cake.”

That night at the supper table I gave the now, ‘infamous’ note to my parents. I can still picture my family howling uncontrollably with laughter, as they passed the note back and forth taking turns blubbering out the phrase, ‘weners and calk’ as tears of mirth ran in rivers down their glistening cheeks. I am teased mercilessly about that note to this day!

I happily share my ‘weners and calk’ story, because believe it or not, it became a huge inspiration for my slam poetry workshops.

How To Empower Students Who Don’t Believe They Can Be Creative Writers  

As a teacher, you know there are many reasons students can get shut down and fail to recognize their creative potential. In her book, The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron describes the voices in our head that tell us we can’t do something as, censors. Being a bad speller was definitely one of my censors. I mean seriously, how could little Rikky Leaf ever imagine he would grow up to become a professional writer when he couldn’t even spell wieners and cake! Enter slam poetry…

What is Slam Poetry?

Slam poetry is the combination of creative writing and creative performance. Where traditional poetry was experienced through published books and journals, slam poetry is only experienced when it’s performed. So to begin, I tell students not to worry about spelling, grammar and punctuation because no one is going to read what they write but them. So if they know what they’re trying to say, that’s all that matters.

The creative performance element of slam poetry is equally as powerful and important but for different reasons. Slam poetry is different than acting because we don’t use costumes or props. It’s also different than rap or hip-hop because there are no beats and no music. It’s just about words. So you don’t have to be interested in theatre and or want to be an actor and you don’t need to be musical or have any expensive gear or equipment…it’s just about words and finding your way of expressing yourself.

I recognized that many students were shut down creatively because of the rules of writing. It wasn’t that they didn’t have anything to say or weren’t excited about writing; it was that they didn’t think they could do it, or would be allowed to do it, if they didn’t follow the rules.

Removing The Obstacles Sets Students Free

This was my big ‘Ah-Ha’ moment and I told them not to worry about spelling, grammar and punctuation. This simple step of removing the rules from the equation is always a game changing moment for some students. Usually the student’s who struggle the most and are the least engaged with creative writing. Suddenly the roadblocks are gone and there is nothing but open road. Given this freedom, students can approach words in a new way. It levels the playing field for all the “wener and calk” writers out there!

I know that you’ve seen ways that censors can shut students down. Getting them out of the way is something I love to do, and there are always students who come alive in slam poetry workshops in ways they never have before. As a teacher you know how awesome that is to see.

Obviously it’s not that the rules of writing aren’t important, but as writers we can always learn the rules later. The first step is the hardest, and taking a creative risk and try something new takes courage and a safe and supportive environment. This is a HUGE part of why slam poetry has proven to be so effective in schools. It provides a unique opportunity not only in how students approach being creative as writers, it also transforms the classroom into a dynamic environment that supports and encourages creative risk taking.

Next time I have to tell you about a little elementary student that innocently suggested I change the name of the poem I’d just performed. He came up with the best slam poem title I’ve ever heard…but if I ever tried to use it in a school I’m 100% sure the teacher would immediately drag me down the hall to the principal’s office before I could say another word. But the title is GOLD! I’d tell you now, but I can still hear my Grade 4 teacher in my head, “Rik is too easily distracted by stories and can’t focus long enough to even finish a simple blog post!”

We are only as limited as our creative talents and abilities…so imagine who we could be and what we could do if we gave ourselves permission to explore the gifts inside of us.

If you have any thoughts, feedback or stories of your own, I’d love it if you’d leave a comment below.

I hope you’re having a great week!

Rik Leaf Slam Poet

Hi! I’m Rik Leaf!

As a performer/producer, published author and slam poet, discovering the value of my own creative talents and abilities has allowed me to tour the world, and participate in some life changing projects with the United Nations and the Foreign Affairs Department of Canada.

I’m the author of, Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind, and the Creative Director for Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists, musicians, dancers and slam poets.

Developing the Slam Poetry in Schools training course for teachers, is a passion project 10 years in the making.

I’d also like to invite you to join a Closed Facebook Group I started called, The Teacher’s Toolbox. It is an online forum designed to provide creative and cultural project development ideas and support for teachers.

 

 

 

 

The post How Slam Poetry Can Set Your Students Free appeared first on Rik Leaf.