The Student Day experience has been invaluable in overcoming any concerns that students might have on the approachability of poetry and poets. The Festival also highlights young poets from diverse backgrounds whose work we might not know because their poetry has not yet made it into the anthologies we use.
–Patricia Chapman, St. John Vianney High School
Each time I attend the Festival, I am exposed to some new poets as well as ideas and concepts I can utilize in the classroom. And most importantly, I come back exhilarated by and infused with poetry.
–Marilyn Cotter, Long Pond School
I work with adults, many of whom come to me with little or no experience with poetry. The Festival, the materials, and the other opportunities during the year have helped me to present poetry in a way that helps students to enjoy it and to become more comfortable with poetry as an important form of expression.
–Carol Graham, Morris County School of Technology
My students have never experienced such an event. They were blown away…As a teacher this pushes me to challenge them further, to introduce them to new and different voices now that their intellectual pump has been primed.
–Dean Johnson, Camden Academy Charter High School
The point of view of diverse poets gives me insight as to the potential points of view of my diverse students.
–Marie Nylund, North Plainfield High School
I work with special education students in the Middle School, and I actually returned with some poems that my students would not only understand but find of high interest. I am excited to read some of Brian Turner’s poems about war with them.
–Christina Lopez, Central Middle School
The Festival has helped me to convey that poetry is a living, active art, not a relic from the past.
–Mary Beth Mueller, Chester School District.
My exposure to known and new poets and their works through the Dodge Festival has had a profound effect on what poets I use in my classroom. The Festival has exposed me to poets I might never have discovered if it weren’t for the Dodge Festival.
–Jean Traver, Kearsarge Regional High School