TWELVE Youth Programming

Room 201

Forming Critically-Conscious Youth Leaders Through Written Word

Room 201 is our FREE series of youth workshops provided to schools across Northeast Ohio. Thanks to the generous support of The Cleveland Foundation, Twelve Literary Arts is able to provide 4 – 8 week-long residencies for all qualifying public, private, and charter schools.  Our experienced teaching artists provide lessons across eight literary arts content areas including: 

INTRODUCTION TO POETRY

The short-term “Introduction to Poetry” workshop introduces students to various aspects of poetic craft, including imagery, metaphor, line, stanza, music, rhythm, diction, and tone. The long-term residency introduces students to contemporary poets not traditionally taught in most public high school literature courses. Students in the long-term residency will write and read widely, exploring a number of poetic traditions, including the sonnet, and the villanelle. Through peer critique, students respond closely to the work of fellow writers in a supportive workshop.

Student Writing Level: BEGINNER – INTERMEDIATE

Minimum Workshop Length: TWO HOURS

Length of Long-term Residency: TWO MONTHS

Workshop Size: 5 – 12 STUDENTS

POETRY FOR PUBLICATION

This workshop is designed to help youth submit their writing to professional literary journals, literary anthologies, writing residencies, and publishing houses that are most appropriate for their work. Youth will also develop and trust in their own process of revision, while becoming strong actors in a writing workshop community.

Student Writing Level: ADVANCED

Minimum Workshop Length: TWO HOURS (Introduction to Poetry Publication)

Length of Long-term Residency: TWO MONTHS

Workshop Size: 5 – 12 STUDENTS

POETRY FOR PERFORMANCE

This workshop is designed to help youth write and perform poems for a live audience. Students are provided unique, existential writing prompts to inspire their process. Students are also introduced to literary techniques and literary heroes/heroines that may influence the development of their individual voices. Strong writing forms the backbone of this course, but youth are also introduced to performance techniques and exercises and that will take their literary expression to another level.

Student Writing Level: BEGINNER – ADVANCED

Minimum Workshop Length: TWO HOURS

Long-term Residency: THREE MONTHS

Workshop Size: 5 – 20 STUDENTS

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Literary Theory

This college-readiness Socratic seminar challenges students to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the theoretical functions of creative language in society. The course prepares students to analyze creative writing after exposure to Feminist theory, Gender Studies, Critical Race Theory, Post-Colonialist Theory, and Post-Structuralist theory. Students are also introduced to the basic elements of semiotics and etymology. The class provides students with the tools to analyze narrative storytelling through the lens of these theoretical frameworks, and to apply these frameworks to their own writing.

Student Writing Level: INTERMEDIATE – ADVANCED

Short-term Workshops: NOT AVAILABLE FOR THIS COURSE

Long-term Residency: THREE MONTHS

Workshop Size: 5 – 12 STUDENTS

Hip Hop Culture and the Craft of MCing​

This college-readiness Socratic seminar challenges students to demonstrate an in-depth understanding of the theoretical functions of creative language in society. The course prepares students to analyze creative writing after exposure to Feminist theory, Gender Studies, Critical Race Theory, Post-Colonialist Theory, and Post-Structuralist theory. Students are also introduced to the basic elements of semiotics and etymology. The class provides students with the tools to analyze narrative storytelling through the lens of these theoretical frameworks, and to apply these frameworks to their own writing.

Student Writing Level: INTERMEDIATE – ADVANCED

Short-term Workshops: NOT AVAILABLE FOR THIS COURSE

Long-term Residency: THREE MONTHS

Workshop Size: 5 – 12 STUDENTS

PLAYWRITING FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

Youtube, Netflix, and other digital media have dominated our entertainment landscape over the course of the past 10 – 15 years. Increasingly, live performances and live theater have seemingly become less important than in years’ past. So why a course that focuses on live theater? This course is designed to help us answer this larger question. This three-month long residency is designed to help the emerging playwright discover the importance of writing plays with the goal of bringing communities together to better understand the world in which they live – and to give audiences the inspiration to think about social change and community transformation.

Students will learn to develop well-rounded characters for the bulk of this course. The guiding philosophy behind this strategy is that strong, believable characters are the basis of a play’s action, plot, mood, and tone. Throughout the course of this three-month residency, student playwrights undergo a rigorous series of peer-to-peer writing workshops, monthly writing retreats, and individualized discussions with the resident teaching artist.

Student Writing Level: BEGINNER – ADVANCED

Short-term Workshops: NOT AVAILABLE FOR THIS COURSE

Long-term Residency: THREE MONTHS

Workshop Size: 5 – 12 STUDENTS