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(upbeat music)

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-: Hi there, my name is Shelby

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and I am a poetry teaching artist,

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and today I just wanna sit down with you to write.

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So I'm gonna be inviting you to do

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a very special form of magic,

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literal approved official magic

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which is called free writing,

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and I'm gonna guide you through a series of prompts

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and the only things you're gonna need

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are something to write with, pen, pencil,

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whatever you got around the house,

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something to write on, paper, notebook, anything like that.

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And today our theme is writing home.

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And so, the first thing that I want you to do

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before we start writing,

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I want you to go grab an object from your home

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that reminds you of home.

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Something that reminds you of belonging,

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of safety, something that when you hold it in your hand,

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it says, "I belong here, I'm understood here."

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So an example might be a special rock,

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something that feels good in your hand.

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Or maybe like a weird toy that you've had since childhood,

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that totally applies.

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Do you have a random bell that you really love?

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That would be perfect.

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You could also choose a stuffy like this one

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that I've had since before I was born stuffy.

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Or if you've got the moon.

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Okay, now that you've got your object,

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what I want you to do, place it in front of you

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and you're gonna look at it

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and I want you to do a little warm up,

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a little just writing on the page

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whatever comes to your mind to describe this object.

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So, first question, what color is it?

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Maybe it has multiple colors.

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What shape is the object?

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What size is it?

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Is it big, small, medium?

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What texture, like how does it feel

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when you hold it in your hand?

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What word would you use to describe that texture?

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Okay, now that we're a little bit warmed up,

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we've gotten acquainted with our home object,

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I wanna read you a poem to get a little bit of inspiration

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to write our own poem object odes

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and we're gonna talk more about what an ode is in a second.

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So this is a poem by Francisco Alarcon.

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and it is called "Ode to My Shoes."

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"My shows rest all night under my bed.

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"Tired, they stretch and loosen their laces.

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"Wide open, they fall asleep and dream of walking.

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"They revisit the places they went to during the day

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"and wake up cheerful, relaxed, so soft."

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So that was "Ode to My Shoes."

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And as you might have been able to tell,

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an ode is when you write a poem

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that's sort of in honor of an object or a thing.

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So in this poem, the poet is praising his shoes.

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And the way that he praises his shoes

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is he does this funny thing, maybe you noticed it,

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'cause he's saying that his shoes are sleeping

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and dreaming and if we ask any random grown up,

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they would say, "Oh shoes can't dream, shoes can't sleep."

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But in a poem, they can and when that happens,

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when an object does something that usually a human would do,

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it's called personification.

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You can say that word out loud if you like,

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personification, it's really long.

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So that's what you're gonna do today with your object.

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You're gonna write an ode to it,

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you're gonna praise the object

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and you're gonna do a little bit of personification.

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All right, so we're gonna keep writing,

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you can stay on the same page, you can start a new page,

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and I'm gonna write along with you.

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At the top of your page or wherever you are on it,

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I want you to write ode to whatever the object is.

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So I'm going to write an ode to the mermaid toy.

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Let's go for it.

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The first line of your ode describes the object

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and you can use some of those words

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from your warm up to get started.

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Go for it, describe the object.

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Okay, as you keep writing,

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the second line gives the object an emotion.

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So I just want you to imagine,

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how do you think that object feels?

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Is it sad, is it tired?

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Is it wild, happy, joyful?

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Just give it an emotion, go for it.

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As you keep your pen or pencil moving across the page,

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the third line I want you to describe the object

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doing something that usually a human would do.

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So maybe you imagine the object doing a dance,

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maybe you imagine the object flying a rocket ship,

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maybe you imagine the object laying down next to you in bed

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and going to sleep for the night.

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Or maybe the object is dreaming like the shoes did.

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What's your object doing?

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Go for it.

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All right, the fourth line of your free write

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describes why you love the object.

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Why do you love this object?

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Why did you choose it?

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Why does it make you feel safe?

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Say why you love it.

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Now you're gonna write your last line.

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And the fifth and last line must have the word home in it.

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So this is kind of a wild card line.

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It can be anything you want

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but it has to have the word home in it.

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And if you're feeling stuck,

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you can just try home is and just finish that sentence

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and maybe bring in another description of your object.

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Go for it.

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(upbeat music)

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Good job, you did it.

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You did a form of magic,

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I hope you didn't judge yourself too much,

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just wrote whatever came to your mind.

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And I really wish I could hear what you wrote,

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I'm very curious about what your object is

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and I really encourage you, if you wanna go share this

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with someone in your house or call someone on the phone

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and share with them or over video chat or whatever.

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Even though we're not together,

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I wanna share with you what I just wrote,

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just see what it is, not gonna judge it, just gonna read it.

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So ode to the mermaid toy.

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The mermaid is smooth, worn by age,

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blue, pink, yellow, flowy and flippy.

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The mermaid is lonely, missing a younger version of me.

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The mermaid sings and spits as far as I do

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with a watermelon seed.

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I love this mermaid,

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she reminds me I can be anything on sea or land.

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Home is what my mother has given me.

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So that's my ode to the mermaid.

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Thank you all so much for writing today,

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for writing about home,

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it's a really brave and vulnerable thing to do

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to write about the things that make us feel safe

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and you just wrote an ode.

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If it's your first one, congrats;

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if you've already done it, no big deal.

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Again, my name is Shelby and I'm really grateful for you all

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for sitting down to just write.

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Have a great day.

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(upbeat music)