BELLS BEYOND THE LAB
It has been three years now since I have been trying to write an anthology with the help of the University in which I work, although I am not an academic staff but I am a poet and has authored three books, and contributed to as many anthologies as I can remember
Being in a science university with no creative writing courses does not make it any easier for me; it was extremely difficult to move poetry and literature into the laboratory in any one of the science colleges
I have spent time in the chemistry lab getting familiar with the environment, in the physic lab knowing the properties, the technical and metal work lab and I have spoken and interacted with the students and officer personnel on my initiative of bringing creative writings such as poetry and stories into their wads, but the response as always is either slow or not forth coming
Being a sport enthusiast and a coach gives me some extra time I needed to discuss the idea with some students, these small groups of students who are willing to cooperate with me and with one another have helped form modules within the science classrooms and have been working together on my ideas
In the initial stage I wrote some poetry about each student in their respective sports, and showed it to them, the narratives in the poetry was written in such a way as to be descriptive with their personal experience here in the university, trying to instill in each of the students that lab implements such as thermometers and so forth , I believe that can be rhymed and also can be made into personal stories each semester
As the basketball coach I have also tried the initiative of assigning students in the same college to play against each other in the sport court, also I assign questions or group study projects to them to use in the lab, areas to research in the web and also give out some initiative to use in bringing the idea to paper.
The response I have gotten is okay, but most of these students seems to prefer writing their sporting experience in either poetry or story form than the lab centered creativity I sought
yet I could not help but acknowledge their efforts, There is a kind of beauty in what they write on sport, it rhymes with the idea I sought for the lab, take a look at this poem for example written by Salem Adejumo
my name is saleem
and I’m dribbling my way through the court
...five seconds and I position myself
and assume the winning stance
and as always I make the throw
and the ball hovers through the air,
spiraling and swirling, then it hits the rim,
and goes round and round
like Michael jackson dancing
until it finally sinks into the hoop.
Yes! My team wins
and there is a standing ovation
the crowd is cheering and Chanting
my name was the whistle
"lord of the rim!","lord of the rim!"
Saleem saleem saleem
Many talented students like saleem, those students with special talents in writing, spelling, calculator and computer literacy, mathematics, logical thinking, and organization if supported will share their expertise with other members of their team/lab colleagues in the process and from there... who knows if there will be a limit to what their writing will achieve for themselves and the university on which they wrote from
I have spoken with small groups of science students who are graduating next year, trying to stir up their interest in my initiative, I have invited them to the e-library so that together we can research topics of interest in the school library, on their computer, and on the Internet whose access is free in our university.
Many of them have presented their works, though it is not yet in the quality to get out right publication, but there is an observed growth in the number of participants and the language used. Here is a poem by a student in natural science department
I studied the ocean to it very dept
Observing by routine of learning and recording,
inquiring and investigating till I reach knowing
Swelling and bulging to bear in the tide
Until I am the ocean, leaping and wide
I have showed this poetry with the permission of the students to teams of other students in other colleges, and have also encouragement others to personally try and make up science unit to create their own poetry,
To the students who have attempted to create something out of the lab ti have seen how excited the become in reading their own work in print, this idea is animated with their new life style as well as productive with their area of interest because their input are controlled from within their own God given talent.
Being in a science university with no creative writing courses does not make it any easier for me; it was extremely difficult to move poetry and literature into the laboratory in any one of the science colleges
I have spent time in the chemistry lab getting familiar with the environment, in the physic lab knowing the properties, the technical and metal work lab and I have spoken and interacted with the students and officer personnel on my initiative of bringing creative writings such as poetry and stories into their wads, but the response as always is either slow or not forth coming
Being a sport enthusiast and a coach gives me some extra time I needed to discuss the idea with some students, these small groups of students who are willing to cooperate with me and with one another have helped form modules within the science classrooms and have been working together on my ideas
In the initial stage I wrote some poetry about each student in their respective sports, and showed it to them, the narratives in the poetry was written in such a way as to be descriptive with their personal experience here in the university, trying to instill in each of the students that lab implements such as thermometers and so forth , I believe that can be rhymed and also can be made into personal stories each semester
As the basketball coach I have also tried the initiative of assigning students in the same college to play against each other in the sport court, also I assign questions or group study projects to them to use in the lab, areas to research in the web and also give out some initiative to use in bringing the idea to paper.
The response I have gotten is okay, but most of these students seems to prefer writing their sporting experience in either poetry or story form than the lab centered creativity I sought
yet I could not help but acknowledge their efforts, There is a kind of beauty in what they write on sport, it rhymes with the idea I sought for the lab, take a look at this poem for example written by Salem Adejumo
my name is saleem
and I’m dribbling my way through the court
...five seconds and I position myself
and assume the winning stance
and as always I make the throw
and the ball hovers through the air,
spiraling and swirling, then it hits the rim,
and goes round and round
like Michael jackson dancing
until it finally sinks into the hoop.
Yes! My team wins
and there is a standing ovation
the crowd is cheering and Chanting
my name was the whistle
"lord of the rim!","lord of the rim!"
Saleem saleem saleem
Many talented students like saleem, those students with special talents in writing, spelling, calculator and computer literacy, mathematics, logical thinking, and organization if supported will share their expertise with other members of their team/lab colleagues in the process and from there... who knows if there will be a limit to what their writing will achieve for themselves and the university on which they wrote from
I have spoken with small groups of science students who are graduating next year, trying to stir up their interest in my initiative, I have invited them to the e-library so that together we can research topics of interest in the school library, on their computer, and on the Internet whose access is free in our university.
Many of them have presented their works, though it is not yet in the quality to get out right publication, but there is an observed growth in the number of participants and the language used. Here is a poem by a student in natural science department
I studied the ocean to it very dept
Observing by routine of learning and recording,
inquiring and investigating till I reach knowing
Swelling and bulging to bear in the tide
Until I am the ocean, leaping and wide
I have showed this poetry with the permission of the students to teams of other students in other colleges, and have also encouragement others to personally try and make up science unit to create their own poetry,
To the students who have attempted to create something out of the lab ti have seen how excited the become in reading their own work in print, this idea is animated with their new life style as well as productive with their area of interest because their input are controlled from within their own God given talent.
This initiative can prove to us that cooperative education is really working in a science classroom.
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