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(upbeat music)

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-: Hello, there.

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My name is Shelby

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and I am a poetry teaching artist.

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And I'm really excited to be with you today

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to do just a little bit of writing.

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And a little known fact,

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writing is actually a form of magic.

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Because anything can happen in a poem

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and you have the power to make anything happen in a poem.

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So we're gonna sit down to write together

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and the only thing that you're gonna need

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for this lesson today is something to write with,

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maybe a pencil,

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you know, maybe a pen,

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whatever you prefer, colored marker,

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do what you feel, do what feels good.

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And something to write on, some paper,

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a notebook, anything like that.

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All right, so we are gonna get warmed up

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and what I wanna tell you

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is that our theme today

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is hello, my name is.

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So we're gonna be writing about our names,

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which maybe you guessed.

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So all you need is your paper, and your pen, and your name.

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And the first thing that I want you to do is

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to do a warmup, just write your name on your paper,

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on the left hand side, I'll show you how.

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But you're gonna write it going down the side of the page,

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because we're gonna do an acrostic.

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Like this.

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Shelby, that's me, I already told you that.

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So to get warmed up, I just want you,

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for each letter of your name,

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I want you to think of a word,

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it could be any kind of word

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that somehow describes you or something that you like.

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And so that way, you're gonna have an acrostic poem

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that goes to your name.

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All right, so go ahead and get started.

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(calming music)

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So some of the words that I came up with,

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and I would love if you went and shared

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some of the words that you came up with

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with anybody in your house.

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Sparkly, 'cause I just feel sparkly,

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even if you can't see it, it's true for me.

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For the H, I did hilarious.

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Excited for the E,

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lovely, bold, and yes!

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So, I would love to know what your words are.

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And now that you're warmed up,

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we are going to get a little inspiration

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from a poet named Hiwot Adilow,

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who has a poem about her name

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that I think is really powerful,

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so let's take a look at this clip.

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I'm hoping that you're feeling inspired,

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you're seeing what you can make possible with a poem.

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In her poem, Hiwot called her name a boat,

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a plane, she imagined that her name was a vessel

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that could carry her to a place she had never been before.

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And that's the kind of magic that a poem can do

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and that's the kind of magic that you get to do right now,

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here on the page.

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So we're gonna do a free write.

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And don't worry, I'm gonna give you prompts

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so you're not just gonna be looking at a blank page.

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What I'm gonna ask you to do is,

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with your paper and pen,

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I'm gonna give you a line

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and I just want you to write

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the first thing that comes to your mind

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when I say that line.

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And I really, the only rule is,

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well, I guess there's two rules,

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keep writing and don't judge yourself.

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Seriously.

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If you judge yourself,

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it's just gonna stop you

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from getting to the magical place that you need to get to

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and you don't have to share this with anybody,

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so just write what comes to your mind.

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I'm not gonna judge you,

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I mean, I'm with you,

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but I'm also like, a video version of myself,

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so I'm definitely not gonna judge you.

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And even if I was with you in real life,

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I wouldn't judge you

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because I admire you for just sitting down to write.

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Seriously, no joke.

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All right, so the first line that I want you to write to is,

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my name is the color of.

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What is your name the color of?

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You could just say red or blue

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or you could get really specific.

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So just take a minute and write that one.

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What color is your name?

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Okay, now I want you to keep writing,

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and yeah, I'm writing with you.

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The next line is,

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my name sounds like.

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What does your name sound like?

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Try to be really specific.

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And I know this can sound kinda funny or weird

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but just whatever comes to your mind.

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Does it sound like the dog next door barking?

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Does it sound like wind chimes?

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Does it sound like a bird in the morning?

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What does it sound like?

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Go!

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Okay, let's keep writing.

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Next line.

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My name tastes like.

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Yeah, that's totally weird, right?

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You can't eat a name.

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But what if you could?

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What would it taste like?

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An orange?

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A really perfect piece of toast?

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What does your name taste like?

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Okay, let's keep going.

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My name smells like.

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Does it smell like a warm,

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you know, warm bread that's baking

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that just came out of the oven?

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Does it smell like snow?

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What does your name smell like?

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As you keep writing,

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I want you to finish this sentence.

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I was named for.

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So you can finish that with,

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if you know who you were named for, you can write that.

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Or if you don't know, or if you just wanna make it up,

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you can do that.

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You can say I was named for the moon.

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I was named for every grandmother that has come before.

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Whatever you wanna write,

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whatever comes to your brain is the right thing to write.

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Go for it.

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I was named for.

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All right, let's keep going.

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If my name was an animal,

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it would be, dot dot dot.

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What's your name as an animal?

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You got this, go for it!

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If my name was a plant, it would be.

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What kind of plant would your name be?

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It could be a tree, it could be a flower,

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any kind of plant.

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And maybe you don't know the plant's name

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but you could just say that tree

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that I pass on my way to school,

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whatever it is.

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What plant would your name be?

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Okay, now we're gonna do our last line.

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If I renamed myself,

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if you could rename yourself, what would your name be?

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And again, this could be, you know, a real name,

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or it could be, if I renamed myself,

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I would be named the tallest sunflower.

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Or whatever comes to your brain.

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Go for it and just finish this free write

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with this last line.

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If I renamed myself.

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Okay, you did it.

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You just completed a literal act of magic

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because you made things happen on the page

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and you transformed your name

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into a whole pile of amazing things.

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So I really encourage you,

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if you want to, no pressure,

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but you could share this with someone in your house,

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or you could call a friend or a family member

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and share it with them.

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I really wish I could hear it, I'm really curious

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what you ended up coming up with.

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But I'll just share a couple of my weirdest ones with you.

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My name is the color of the inside of a watermelon seed.

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My name sounds like my mother laughing.

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My name is a gazelle and also a fire-breathing dragon.

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My name, if I got to rename myself

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would be something said through a mouthful of strawberries.

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So those are some of the lines that I came up with.

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Thank you all so much for sitting down

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to just write with me today.

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Again, my name is Shelby, Sparkly Shelby.

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And I feel huge gratitude to you for sitting down,

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writing, doing this weird kind of magic called metaphor.

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When you change something into something else.

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It's a really big deal that you tried that today,

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that you are persistent,

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that you kept writing even if you felt stuck.

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So thank you so much, magic maker, wherever you are.

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And have a great day.

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(upbeat music)