Rosyln Stemmler - Teacher Librarian - Withcott State School

Marco's visit to our school was inspirational and helped put our school motto - "Real Learning through Real Experiences" into practice. He brought poetry to life with humour, empathy, family and pet stories, performing with passion and a little drama, everyday words that our students from prep to year 7 understood and related to. One of our most difficult children wrote a perfect poem, a child who is still grasping English wrote about an elephant with huge flapping ears, the preps created a poem, and three classes walked out of Marco's session and spent the rest of the day writing verse. They were really engaged by this consummate entertainer, who helped kick off several poetry units. It's safe to say many of the children will never forget him. They later quoted his comment that poetry is music without the notes, were extremely impressed with his ability to memorise so much, and asked if he'll be coming back. The teachers were just as effuse with their praise, and all considered it a most valuable experience. Thankyou Marco for showing our school that poetry is about writing, speaking, acting, and enjoying rather than something we kill through analysis, before we ever discover the power and the joy.