My previous post began a series of posts focusing on teaching, writing, and youth. The new anthology Please Excuse This Poem is the catalyst for this investigation, and I shared poems and reflections from a group of minors charged as adults who are currently incarcerated in a Central Florida jail. They read a selection of poems from the anthology and responded with poetry and reflection of their own; they’re working with Caitlin O’Brien Masonis and Adam Kaplan. Adam was kind enough to answer a few questions for The Kenyon Review blog about his work.
Adam Kaplan has a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Columbia University, a Masters of Arts in Psychology from Pepperdine University, and is pursuing a doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Florida Tech. He strives to use the healing power of narrative to encourage self efficacy in underserved populations.
Dora: Can you talk a little bit about your own relationship or background with writing and teaching literature?
Adam: I started as a creative writing teacher at a school in San Francisco for at risk kids in the social service system. Most of the kids had very negative experiences with formal education, and held the default position that educators didn’t care about the value of their life experience. Creative writing exercises built rapport and helped develop areas of strength. It turned out writing exercises could be a tool to access other parts of the curriculum, especially social studies and science.
D: What are some challenges of teaching teenagers?
A: Teenagers, frankly speaking, don’t give a fuck about you. This is an advanced, and sometimes adaptive, perspective, as a lot of kids have been systematically fucked over by the adults in their lives. It takes months of showing up and demonstrating consistency before teenagers trust enough to open up. Teenagers, especially those from areas with few resources, are navigating tough stuff- family, survival, identity- and often have fascinating philosophical perspectives.
D: What are some challenges of teaching incarcerated youth, specifically?
A: Honestly, the biggest challenges revolve around logistics. Getting the proper background checks, drug tests, etc- and then once you are in the facility, securing a time and space to do the workshop. Also we need a corrections officer present, so the jail has to dedicate resources. If there is a suicide attempt (which happens quite frequently), or if a student is protective custody, staffing has to be adjusted. The workshop frequently gets cancelled because space and staffing simply aren’t available.
D: Are there aspects that are particularly important (gratifying, challenging, etc) to teaching this age group, or in this context?
A: The lack of activities for incarcerated youth is appalling, so a lot of times the kids are choosing between doing the workshop and literally staring at concrete, so participation is typically fantastic. The students in the workshop draw from a well of creativity that starkly contrasts their draconian surroundings. We read the beginning of The Road and the students were able to study and explore McCarthy’s stark absences because, by comparison, the novel’s world is lush. The students also have a future orientation that is optimistic and amazing. They burrow deeply and honestly into their work in a way I haven’t seen with kids who aren’t incarcerated.
D: Can you talk about your experience teaching poems from the anthology Please Excuse This Poem?
A: The kids loved the idea that they were reading poems written by [contemporary poets closer to their age], as it validated that someone at their age can have perspectives worth documenting. They also approached the work with a profound generosity, and a consistent desire to understand the author’s perspective. Using poems as a jumping off point for writing exercises was consistently fruitful, and is a strategy I would recommend across settings.
D: Were there poems or exercises that “worked” particularly well for you and your students?
A: The elegies worked, as all of the kids are familiar with loss. Also, they liked poems that had personal details- artifacts, experiences, defeats- that they could use to frame their own business. They like sensory details, tears, vulnerability, and chromatic richness.
D: Do you have any insights to share with other educators or potential educators about working with this anthology, with poetry, and/or with this particular age group and/or in this particular context?
A: Elicit feedback. Let them know it is OK to not like certain poems, and explore moments of disappointment and discomfort. Have them address the authors directly. Encourage them to see the authors as peers.
D: Thinking of your specific students as individuals or as a group, what do you think they would want “us” (adults, educators, strangers, etc) to know about them?
A: They want people on the outside to know that they are intensely human. They want them to know that they love their families. They maintain hope and a capacity for pain.