Garden of Literacy Poetry Workshop

Nature and Nurture:

How Nature Nurtures Our Creativity and Inspires Poetry

Please join poet, spoken word artist, and educator Versatile Poetiq on April 20th from 1:00 pm – 2:30/3:00 pm in a fun natural poetry workshop to celebrate. In the Nurture and Nature workshop, participants will explore Nature and Poetry. What is Nature? What is Poetry? Why are they significant? How do they coexist? We will have a discussion and then explore various writing prompts. We will then write for 25 minutes and then those who would like to can share their work in a supportive setting. Together, the group will offer positive feedback to those who share. Participants are welcome choose more than one writing prompt to brainstorm or focus on one piece to develop.

Poetry is Art and Expression. This is a space to create art and express yourself. In the evening, we will have an “Open Mic” and participants who attend can share their poetry there.

This workshop is designed for all ages.

Limit of 12 people, registration is required

Cost: $35 per person | 1:00 pm – 2:30/3:00 pm

Writing Prompts:

Ekphrastic Poetry – We will examine a few of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Nature Paintings and then write a Poem about them.

Harriet Beecher Stowe Poems – “Lines” and “Consolation” we will read Harriet’s Nature Poems and then write response poems to them.

Word Bank Poetry – We will use a Nature word bank to create two word, three word, and eleven word poems.

Sensory Poetry – We will close our eyes and smell and touch different elements of Nature and then write poems about them

Nature Prompts – Nature is… Seasons are… Flowers Empower…. Trees Feel… Grass is Greener on the other side… If I could live in one season for the rest of my life…

Acronym Poems – We will create Acronym name Poems out of Nature words.

Free Verse – We will write free verse poems about Nature.

About Versatile Poetiq

Brittana VersatilePoetiq Tatum was born at Hartford Hospital. She was raised for nine years in Simsbury, CT and ten years in Avon, CT. She played basketball throughout high school with aspirations of playing in college. She graduated from Avon High School in 2005. In the fall of 2005, she attended University of Hartford as a marketing major. She put away her basketball sneakers and picked up a pen to become a Poet. She graduated from UHART with a Business Administration degree in May of 2009.

She has been performing Spoken Word for 15 years and teaching Spoken Word for 12 years. She works for Charter Oak Cultural Center and Arts for Learning Connecticut. She was the Spoken Word Teacher at The Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts (Colt Campus) 2014-2015. She performed in front of 20,000 people at The Greater Hartford Jazz Festival in 2019 and 2021. She hosted the Trinity International Hip Hop Festival in 2019. She was the Key Note Speaker at the Connecticut Association of Schools High School Outstanding Arts Award Ceremony in April 2023 and Hosted the Hartford Creative Arts Ceremony for 4th-12th Grade in June of 2023. Her stage name is Vesatile Poetiq due to her universal appeal and unique mix of Spoken Word and Rap. She has all her students call her Miss Versatile.

School Group Interest Form

School Group Interest Form 2023

Thank you so much for your interest in a group tour at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center! Please help us schedule your visit by answering the questions below.

School name:

Please suggest three dates and times when your group would like to visit. (Note: the Stowe Center is closed on Sunday and Tuesday.)

Contact Teacher Name:

Contact Teacher Email:(Required)

Contact Teacher Phone Number:(Required)

Number of students expected to attend:(Required)

Please enter a number from 8 to 40.

Please identify the grade level(s) of attending students:(Required)

Likely number of chaperones (including other teachers):

The Stowe Center requires one adult per every 10 students.

Are there special student, teacher, or chaperone accommodations that can help us serve you best?

Do you plan to have lunch on site?

Yes, please.

No, thank you.

Are you interested in scheduling a joint visit with our neighbor, The Mark Twain House and Museum?

Yes, please

No, thank you.

If yes, have you already contacted The Mark Twain House?

Yes

Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.