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River of Words Contest is Praised Worldwide
International schools are choosing this winning program that combines art and poetry with explorations of nature
by Eleanor Leyden

Last February class advisors at the American International School/Dhaka were looking for ways to link field trips to the curriculum, to help students glean the most from those experiences. Specifically, they were looking for a project for the junior class, whose filed trip would take them cruising throught the Sunderbans, a maze of mangrove swamps and rivers that is both a tiger reserve and a World Heritage Area. The River of Words Contest turned out to be the perfect choice.

River of Words (ROW) is an international poetry and art porject that each year encourages tens of thousands of K-12 students to explore and interpret their local watersheds through the arts. The project was created in 1995 by University of California English professor Robert Hass (who was at the time serving a two-year stint as United States poet laureate) and writer Pamela Michael. It is co-sponsored by International Rivers Network and The Library of Congress Center for the Book. Each year eight national grand prize winners (four in poetry and four in art) and one international winner are chosen to go to Washington, D.C. with their parents, where they are honored at an award ceremony, luncheon, public reading and art show at The Library of Congress.

The project employs a variety of classroom and field activities, all explained in a curriculum guide that participating schoos receive. ROW also conducts teacher training workshops in various locations and assists teachers in leveraging existing community resources.

ROW also publishes an annual book of the winning poems, as well as postcards of the children’s art and other materials. Entries to the contest may be submitted all year round, but international entries must be received by March 1st. Every child who enters receives a personalized “Watershed Explorer” certificate and bookmark.

International school participation in ROW has been highly promoted by NESA in publications and at annual conferences. Robert Hass was invited to the 1999 NESA conference in Cairo to give a keynote speech, “Changing Minds, Changin Lives·The Trajectory of Poetry.” A two-time recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award as well as the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award and a MacArthur “genius” fellowship, he shared his love of life and language and extensive expertise in writing with teachers in two sessions on teaching poetry and how to implement the ROW project in the classroom.

River of Words came to the American International School/Dhaka in 1998 when Amy Shawver, a secondary English teacher, introduced the project to her eighth grade class. Shawver integrated ROW into the curriculum by asking the eighth grade advisor to discuss watersheds with his social studies class, including the Nepal Himalayas, where the class would trek.

With her students, she discussed a variety of watersheds and past winners’ poems. Since Bangladesh is essentially one big watershed (and incidentally the world’s largest river delta flood plain), there was plenty of inspiration. Students completed the assignment using a writing process to submit a “publish perfect” draft. The rewards of recognition, the possibility of winning the prize trip, and getting published were powerful motivations to keep students interested in creative writing.

For one student in particular, Ms. Shawver felt contest participation greatly impacted his academic and personal growth. When she received a midnight phone call notifying her that Jeff Hwang had won the grand prize for the international section, she was as excited as he was!

Attending the award ceremony and participating in a week of cultural, educational and recreational activities was, according to Jeff, “probably a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Meanwhile, in the Sunderbans, the writing began for the ROW poetry contest. Over five days students accosted teachers with, “I wrote a poem. Will you read it?”

Nightly journal writing sessions helped budding poets mold inspiration gleaned from a captivating wilderness area. Their amazing experiences were transformed into journal notes and poems.

Back in Dhaka more students decided they wanted to enter the contest in the week before the deadline.

They weren’t alone! Ms. Amina Shafiqullah’s seventh grade English class tapped into ROW in connection with their field trip to the Srimongal tea plantations and rain forest area.

Ms. Shafiqullah feels contest participation is particularly suited for an international school population. “The contest gives students impetus to strive harder since it is exciting to think of sending your writing out,” she said. “Students responded to the topic with enthusiasm and were thrilled at the idea of entering a contest (and missing a week of school if they won!). The subject matter was also one everyone could relate to, as they have lived all over the world and have lots of experience in different environments.

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