O, Miami in the Classroom Chapbooks
The O, Miami Education program embeds local poets in classrooms to provide writing instruction to 3rd–8th-grade students in schools across Miami-Dade County. The goal is for students to develop a love for writing, reading, and an individual creative voice at an age where learning facility with language is a crucial skill. Lessons take place once a week for ten sessions, culminating with a community poetry reading and the publication of a limited edition chapbook featuring a selected poem from each participating student.
Community poetry reading photographs by Chantal Lawrie and Liliana Mora
For each chapbook cover design, we take inspiration from one student poem for that school’s semester session block. Our design tools are made from elements students use to read and write and are limited to the character set of O, Miami’s brand font family, Helvetica Now; we use them to create designs like parrots, ice cream cones, pizza slices, or nail polish. Creating images from language is a core tenet of our design approach to O, Miami.
Read here about our rebranding of O, Miami.
“The celebration and publication aspect of the program is absolutely vital—it demonstrates to students that their creative expression matters and has value. I love seeing students’ expressions when they receive their chapbooks and see their poem in print; there’s always at least one kid where you can see the pride on their face when it clicks to them that they are a published poet.”
Caroline Cabrera, O, Miami Education Director
