Please join California Poets in the Schools staff and Poet-Teachers for a brief, 75-minute professional development workshop.  Three experienced panelists will offer their ideas and insights on how to encourage impactful recitations among student participants in this nationwide poetry recitation program.  There will be time for a broader sharing of ideas, as well.  This event is organized by California Poets in the Schools and is geared towards classroom teachers and poet coaches who are preparing for this year's Poetry Out Loud season.   Poetry Out Loud is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, administered statewide by the California Arts Council.

Fernando Albert Salinas is the brand new Program Manager at California Poets in the Schools.  He has coached Poetry Out Loud in Ventura County for many years.  Fernando is well-known for his community leadership as an arts activist throughout the state, and in Ventura County particularly. He has made a tremendous, positive impact in lifting up youth, schools and entire communities through the literary arts. He is an award winning educator, has taught poetry workshops to students in over 25 K-12 schools, incarcerated youth, and Re-Entry programs throughout California.

Claire Blotter has taught poetry writing and performance at S.F. State University, John F. Kennedy University, Dominican University and the College of Marin. Currently, she teaches poetry to children and high school students in the CalPoets and Poetry Out Loud Programs, and has worked with hundreds of Marin students, helping them prepare poems for recitation.   Claire performs poetry with movement and body percussion. She has published three poetry chapbooks, and her work has appeared or is forthcoming in Rattle, Spillway, the Plant-Human Quarterly, CALIFORNIA FIRE AND WATER: A CLIMATE CRISIS ANTHOLOGY, Lilith and the San Francisco Chronicle, among other magazines and anthologies.   She represented San Francisco in National Performance Poetry Slams in Boston and Chicago.

Angelina Leaños is a student at California Lutheran University with the hopes to become a published author, as well as an English teacher.  She is the current Youth Poet Laureate of Ventura County.  In high school, she won the Poetry Out Loud competition both at the school and county level and has since returned as a coach to other participants.  She is a trained Poet-Teacher with California Poets in the Schools.  Leaños has had several poems published and organizes a monthly poetry open mic with the Ventura County Arts Council in partnership with the Oxnard public library.  She serves as a board member with California Poets in the Schools.

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About Poetry Out Loud

An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, administered statewide by the California Arts Council, Poetry Out Loud encourages high school students to learn about poetry through memorization, performance, and competition. Participants master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about literary history and contemporary life. California's Poetry Out Loud is the largest event of its kind in the U.S., and has grown steadily since its inception.Learn more here:  https://www.capoetryoutloud.org/