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Basketball Poets ™ is the brainchild of Marty Mentzer. She combined her love (and her student's love) of basketball with her love of poetry in an effort to introduce her "more difficult" grade school students to literature. She hoped that they would learn, at minimum, a love of reading. Also see overview on the teacher page.
Absolutely. She began the program four years ago and her first group was comprised of just a couple of students. Now in its fourth year, students as young as second grade are asking how long it will be until they can become members of the Poet's club. They insist they want to be on the waiting list (and as per the rules of Basketball Poets ™) routinely hand her poems that they have written.
A student "applies" to become a member by writing a poem. The one criteria of the poetry is that it cannot be plagiarized. (Yes, all Poet's understand what it means to plagiarize). Only fourth and fifth graders are formally accepted although kids as young as second grade express interest in becoming a Basketball Poet. Many of these younger kids have, or had, brothers or sisters who belonged to the club.
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