April 14, 2023
Innovative, Transformative-BLACK DANDELION: CONVERGENT VOICE™Changes the Literacy Game
It was the Fall of 2022, and organizers of the Michigan Council of Teachers of English were anxiously awaiting their Centennial Conference in Lansing, Michigan. Their keynote speaker, Semaj Brown, Poet Laureate of Flint, Michigan and Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow, 2021, informed them of her special presentation, “PSL, Poetry as a Second Language: The Semajian Method”, and that she would be launching her multimedia youth platform, BLACK DANDELION: CONVERGENT VOICE™(BDCV)
According to research, the pandemic deepened inequities in literacy rates. Students at lower-achieving schools fell further behind, potentially widening the pre-existing achievement gap between rich and poor. The COVID pandemic with its isolation and virtual teaching, exacerbated the problem of children not reading on grade level. The problem of young people reading well below their grade level increases exponentially when they attend high-poverty schools.
Semaj Brown’s presentation did not disappoint. After receiving a rousing standing ovation, news about her new platform quickly spread across the state of Michigan, with multiple teachers asking to initiate BLACK DANDELION: CONVERGENT VOICE™ in their classrooms. Within a week, Brown was peppered with additional requests from Colorado, California, and Togo West Africa. It is official, the multimedia platform based upon a singular poem is now international.
“Semaj Brown’s keynote address was a vision. It was one of what education could be-and should be-in a just world that is equitable, diverse, and inclusive. She fused science, art, storytelling, and language into a tapestry for everyone in that room to discover. I think this is what led to her standing ovation: the perfectly articulated, intentional way that Semaj connected with every educator in the space in such a small-time frame.” Carrie Mattern, President-Elect of MCTE, Michigan Council of Teachers of English, Flint Courier News
When asked how she developed the multimedia platform, the award-winning educator and Poet Laureate explained, “Words are the building blocks of language, just as cells are the building blocks of the living. Each word is a world, teaming with synonyms, antonyms, histories, and mysteries, a universe of narratives to be explored. The BLACK DANDELION: CONVERGENT VOICE™ platform establishes a new way of thinking in education,” states Brown.
With the immediate success of BLACK DANDELION: CONVERGENT VOICE™, Brown is seeking corporate support, and funding for this innovative platform. To learn more about this new transformative educational tool, BLACK DANDELION: CONVERGENT VOICE™click this link: https://issuu.com/