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Hi, Dane Minich here. I took Professor Hassler's "Teaching Poetry in the Schools" course during the spring semester of 2005. I've always enjoyed poetry and writing in general, so the prospect of being able to share one of my passions with students had me pretty jazzed, albeit a bit nervous. I mean, some of the students I would end up teaching weren't much younger than I was at the time - it was almost like I'd be teaching my friends in a classroom setting, or my friends' younger siblings. I got over my jitters rather quickly, though, and had an absolute blast teaching Mr. Parsons' 12th grade English class at the Maplewood Career Center and Mrs. Skidmore's 7th grade English class at the Miller South School for Visual and Performing Arts.
All too quickly, the end of April arrived, and with it the "Giving Voice" program. I felt an enormous sense of pride in my students that participated in the program, as well as accomplishment in myself when those same students, their parents, and Mrs. Skidmore and Mr. Parsons told me what a great job I had done.
Shortly after graduating in 2006, and with a hankering to get back to teaching after my experiences in the TPS course, I made my way out to Seoul, South Korea to teach English as a Foreign Language to students as young as preschoolers and as old as 6th graders. It goes without saying, but I worked as much poetry into my lesson plans as I could. The younger students loved the melodies and rhyme patterns, and for my older students writing poetry was one of the few homework assignments I could assign that was a guarantee that everyone would complete it.
My sincerest thanks to Professor Hassler and everyone else involved in the Wick Poetry Center for the opportunities they presented me and for all the fun I've had!
dhminich@yahoo.com
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