The Process of Poetry & Technology

Small Press Publishingwith students in

NYC Alternative High Schools, Special Education,

and Inclusion Programs

Question 1

Will “at risk” youth and

students with disabilities, who

creatively express themselves,

develop a sense of personal

merit through desktop and

online publishing?

Freedom of the press is limited to those who own one.

A. J. Lieblin

(1904-1963)

The greatest social theme of our time is the empowerment of those

previously regarded as powerless.

Richard Kostelanetzliterary critic, and editor of

The Avant Garde Tradition in Literature 

In the 1980s, the dissemination of the personal computer, enabled student writers

with poor graphomotor skillsto compose legible copy,

and facilitated its storage and transport.

In 1986 Ten Penny Players began using Commodore 128s, IBM clones, Apple IIs,

Bank Street Writer, PW, and 5” floppy disksto bring poetry and small press publishing to “at risk” and special education students

in NYC public schools.

Students with disabilities and those attendingalternative schools and programs -- including incarcerated youth,

many of whom had registered reading scores below the average for their respective ages.

were encouraged to write poems and to prepare their work

for publication in chapbooks that were printed in small editions.

While student authors received ten gratis copies,

the surplus (of editions of 50) was made available

to teachers to use in their classes.

“The mish-mosh of your life becomes a story.You’re not a troubled kid.

You’re an author by becoming one of a community.Here is a sense of a kid embracing literacy.”

Alison Koffler, poet

I like to write poetry because I like to express my feelings

and tell the world about different things

without giving a boring lecture. Anthony

Streams OnLine (SOL) is licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL)

which is an open source license.

Question 2

Do students, using technology,

write at a level radically

different from their reading

skills or oral language skills?

The SOL project began in late December 1998.

The tool was introduced to two alternative school programs by January 1999

for Alpha testing.

Frederick Douglass Literacy Center was a NYC Board of Education site

in Brooklyn that served 17-21 year olds testing below 6.0 reading levels.

Island Academy is a NYC Board of Education site

on Rikers Island jail that serves 16-21 year old

incarcerated youth (including those with disabilities).

The literacy center reported more enjoymentand enthusiasm to get back to SOL

than when students used a word processor.

Students prepared their own chapbooks,when they added work to SOL.

Immediate feedback motivated the students to write expressively in order to be published in their own

chapbooks.

There was an increase in the production of publications and the number of participating teachers and students.

Chapbooks!

Chapbooks!

Chapbooks!

Poets and mentoring teachers workedwith student authors to edit, design,print, and digitally format chapbooks.

By year 2, SOL used the Internet domain name---sol.tenpennyplayers.organd grew from 2 to 23

different NYC high school collaborations.

The 2003 NYC schools reorganizationstopped further SOL development.

But, in terms of use, SOL was clearly

a success!

23 collaborations

1,997 student authors

663 teachers, poets, and mentors

6,284 original works

2,876 comments

Question 3

What is the transformative result

when technology is applied to the

process of writing, being recognized

as a writer, accumulating a body of

work, and being published?