October 11, 2008

What professors have to say about Sarabande in Education

"My students and I found using the Sarabande site to be a really useful way of making poetry come alive for us. Initially, students read and responded to the author's questions to the book and we used the questions as the basis for the discussion of the book in class. After that, we did an on-line chat with the author, Aleida Rodríguez, all of us sitting at computers, and it was nearly as good as having the poet visit our class personally. Students were engaged in an active dialogue with the writer as the writer was with her readers. I look forward to scheduling more such sessions and to using the Website. On top of all of this, it was fun!"

—Julie Fay, Eastern Carolina University

"Our session with Baron Wormser was exciting and energizing; the hour-long class was one of continual engagement. One of the most valuable parts of the process was formulating the question because here students received real instruction from a professor on how to clarify their thoughts on poetry. But it was heightened by the presence of the author, live on chat. There was good-natured general discussion about what we should ask next, whether a follow-up question was in order, etc. It was an intense hour of learning, but fun."

—Jeffrey Skinner, University of Louisville

"The students in my Introduction to Poetry course benefitted immensely from their online interview with Belle Waring. . . . They were able to engage with the poet on a level which enabled them to think about both the composition process and their responses to the poems. . . . This has been a highlight of the semester!"

—Kathleen Nesbitt, Spalding University