Soul Riffs: Unfolding Worlds (Border Voices, Volume 14) - Softcover

The 14-year-old Border Voices project operates on the theory that a total immersion in the art of poetry via intensive workshops and an annual Poetry Fair will result in increased verbal skills and dramatically increased scores on standardized tests for K-12 students. The project also believes that these positive effects will be enhanced when students receive public recognition on TV, in books, and in the local newspaper, and when they also receive the opportunity to work with major poets from around the world. This theory was implemented during the last 14 years, as Border Voices selected local poets to teach in schools throughout the county. The project also gathered sponsors - including The San Diego Union-Tribune and many others - to get student poetry into the newspapers and on TV, as well as in an annual anthology. The theory and implementation were validated in the just-concluded fiscal year as Border Voices published data showing "huge and continuing increases in scores on standardized English tests" following Border Voices workshops and related programs at Pershing Middle School. The study also showed that new, cutting-edge methods of teaching creative writing, based on the latest educational theories, increase the positive effects, and that teachers tend to adopt these Border Voices methods after the poets leave. Although the Pershing workshops and related study (funded by the California Art Council) received the most attention in the media and the schools, Border Voices also sent poets into dozens of other schools throughout the last year; televised numerous new and old TV shows involving students and poets from around the world; held its annual Poetry Fair the weekend of April 29; published an anthology of student poetry from workshops throughout San Diego County; and launched a new contest in which student poets appeared on TV and were featured in the Union-Tribune.