UCFs Literary Arts Partnership

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UCFs Literary Arts Partnership

• Autobiography of a Community

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UCFs Literary Arts Parntership

• provides an opportunity for UCF students
• to apply their knowledge in the real world,
  building a bridge between their academic world
  and the greater community.

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The project uses the literary arts

• to improve literacy, learning attitude, ability,
  and self-sufficiency of vulnerable youth and
  adults in our community.

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History

• This project began in February 2003 when one UCF
  faculty member and five UCF students taught a
  creative writing workshop at P.A.C.E. Center for
  Girls in Orlando

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UCF Students at P.A.C.E.

• Celebrate with Pizza

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UCF Music Students

• Provided Entertainment for the Girls

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Bannum Place Halfway House for Reintegrating
Felons

• During the summer of 2003, several UCF students
• and a faculty member taught creative writing
• at a private correctional facility in Orlando.

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Poem by Jon (resident)

• Someday This Door Will Open
• There stands the door
• two hundred pounds of solid steel
• immovable in the manner
• of an indifferent parent.
• Someday this door will swing open and
• I will step into the sunlight.
• This steel door will be but a memory.
• The other door could be more difficult to move
• maybe impossible to unlock.
• (used with permission)

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Poem by Giraldo

• At the moment Im deeply embarrassed,
• because they killed my cousin in Colombia
• and theyve threatened all my family with death,
• for this reason I do not like to talk very much
  and Im very quiet.
• I dont have hardly any family here and I do not
• get along with those
• who are here. I dont know what else to write
• Forgive me for telling you this, now you know how
  I feel.
• Thank you for listening.

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Our Primary Civic PartnerCoalition for the
Homeless

• In Fall 2003, students in Advanced Fiction
• and Advanced Poetry class taught once a week
  creative writing workshops at the Coalition for
  the Homeless of Central Florida

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Coalition Participants December 2, 2003At
Guineveres Coffee House, Orlando
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Spring 2004

• We developed a new course in which students
  work in teams of 3-5 and lead writing exercises
  in poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction at
  various locations in our community.

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Coalition, Childrens Group, Spring 2004

• The flowers I think
• have super powers
• like Super man
• but more
• like my Uncle Dan.
• --Carli, 8

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Community Partners, Spring 2004

• Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida
• Children
• Adults
• The Center for Drug-Free Living
• Teens
• Harbor House, Orange County Center Against
  Domestic Violence
• Women

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Spring 2005

• In Spring 2005, we expanded our workshops to
  include not only the Coalition and the Center for
  Drug-Free Living, but also Stonewall Jackson
  Middle School and Crooms Academy High School

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What Does Service Have to Do with Your Education
or Your Writing?

• Determine what writers, not in university
  classes, can teach you about the world.
• Include subjects, characters, events from your
  service in your own writing through observation.
• Analyze the difference between academic literary
  creative writing classes and community expressive
  writing workshops.
• Determine how (if?) art is a basic human need and
  list the community needs that are met with art.
• Determine what happens without
  self-communication.

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and about literacy

• Evaluate and analyze the correlation between
  literacy (the ability to write well) and creative
  writing.
• Literacy is a primary hindrance to children of
  poverty.

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The Writers Tradition

• We join the tradition among other writers of
  being involved in their community. (Poets in the
  School Program, NYU Outreach Program, PEN
  American Center, etc.)

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Course Assignments Goals
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Spring 2006

• CRW 4932 is being offered again in Spring 2006
• We will meet as a class every other Thursday,
  beginning January 12, from 6-850 p.m. at the UCF
  Lake Mary Campus (on the SCC campus).
• Each week you will go to your site and lead
  creative writing workshops with your group.
• Course Number for registration 10356

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Hope You Can Join Us