Get Lit - Words Ignite

These goals and intended outcomes guide all Get Lit programs and operations:
1. Foster youth creativity and expression
2. Ignite students’ love of learning and language
3. Involve young people in an examination of and national dialogue around the conditions of their community and the world
4. Build critical thinking, reading, writing, and public speaking skills
5. Cultivate social skills that are rooted in excellence, personal responsibility, empathy, and compassion
6. Increase teen literacy and graduation rates
7. Promote college readiness and enrollment
8. Expand the professional opportunities available to diverse youth
9. Offer students tools for empowerment and success in school and life
10. Deliver sustainable, scalable programs that serve as exemplary education models

Our curriculum takes into account all modes of literacy: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Our students not only cultivate a passion for reading, writing, and analyzing poetry, but also develop multiple related literacies: communicating and collaborating with others, performing and speaking publicly, and engaging deeply with their own and others’ poetry in a way that fosters social engagement and activism, as well as deep interpersonal and intrapersonal transformation. This social/emotional component is an unusual choice in education curricula.

With Get Lit acting as a vehicle for youth to discover, develop, and amplify their voice, our students gain confidence transferable to every other aspect of their lives. Participation improves school attendance, reduces disciplinary infractions, and supports achievement in English/Language Arts, all important predictors of on-time high school graduation. Get Lit youth develop communication, teamwork, and leadership abilities; learn and practice marketable skills; and gain insight into opportunities and career paths. Our students develop greater future orientation, increasing their drive toward setting and achieving long-term goals.

By deeply considering social causes of importance to them, our youth become more interested and confident in their ability to affect change in their communities. Get Lit provides our youth poets with a far-reaching platform to not only express their creativity, but to speak out regarding a variety of issues of importance to them, putting them on the front lines of systemic change. Our students are able to make their voices heard regarding forces and events affecting their lives, whether family and neighborhood dynamics, the pandemic, or Black Lives Matter. Get Lit cultivates a diverse network of mentors who encourage young participants by serving as role models and guiding our students toward positive life choices. Through poetry, and with the ongoing support of the Get Lit family, our students gain a self-knowledge and assurance that lays the groundwork for purposeful, fruitful lives.

Since 2006, Get Lit has offered its immersive curriculum to public, charter, and private high schools, throughout Los Angeles. Currently taught in over 100 high schools, often in multiple classrooms within the same school, this dynamic, immersive 12-week unit engages students in the reading, writing, memorization and performance of classic and spoken
word poetry. The Get Lit Curriculum is aligned to the California State Common Core Standards (Strand 9 and Strand 11: numbers 3,
4, 6, 7 and 10). It is the only curriculum of its kind in Los Angeles County schools that combines the learning of classic
literature with the creation of new, original poems. This process develops reading and writing skills, critical thinking
skills, and encourages students to find and use their voice. Literacy becomes a passion and language an outlet for their
deepest levels of humanity and creativity.
In 2014, over 5,000 teens (51% male; 49% female) completed the Get Lit Curriculum and over 50,000 students annually
attend and are inspired by Get Lit performances. The ethnic breakdown of Get Lit students and performance audience
is approximately 37.8% Latino, 27.6% African American, 21.9% Asian American, 7.2% Caucasian, and 5.5% other
ethnicities.

Schools that offer the Get Lit Curriculum hold a graduation ceremony each semester to celebrate and showcase the
work that the students have completed. Students who complete at least one 12-week unit perform in front of their peers,
teachers, administrators, and parents. Teens who want to go further, compete in a school wide slam for one of six spots
on the school team that will advance to the Classic Slam, which is held over three days at the Los Angeles
Theatre Center (downtown) and the Theatre at the Ace Hotel (downtown). Other school teams participate by attending the
Classic Slam as a popular field trip. Get Lit offers Classic Slam poets and teacher/coaches high quality coaching
throughout the school year. This high energy event brings teams from the most diverse communities in Los Angeles and beyond to
compete for scholarships with a spirit of camaraderie and joy.

Classic Slam poets are invited to audition for the Get Lit Players, the troupe of 12-15 young poets who perform for
packed school auditoriums throughout the County, at special events such as the Los Angeles Festival of Books, and at
the annual Brave New Voices Festival. In 2020, teams from around the world competed in BNV, and the
Players placed 2nd in the competition. In 2011, the Get Lit Players performed at the White House at the
invitation of First Lady Michelle Obama. They have performed at The Hollywood Bowl, The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, at fundraisers for the environment (2020... the Fundraiser .... Jane Fonda's Fire rill Fridays). They are Peace
Through all of these activities, Get Lit serves approximately 15,000 – 20,000 teens annually, 70% of whom are
considered 'at risk' and are enrolled in Title 1 schools.

In 2005, Diane Luby Lane wrote and performed a solo show about the poets and authors who most influenced her, touring it in the Southwest with poet and literacy advocate Jimmy Santiago Baca in venues ranging from high schools to prisons. In response to the enthusiasm of teachers and teens, she developed the modules that would transform classrooms into poetic laboratories, and founded Get Lit in 2006. Since then, the organization has grown from serving 3 schools to 145 schools annually, offering youth acceptance and hope, helping them focus on their education, and preparing them to succeed in life and work. In 2020, Get Lit was selected as a Library of Congress Literacy Awards Best Practice Honoree, one of only a few in the nation.

We are an innovative leader in education with a reputation for integrity in program implementation and effectiveness. As part of our ongoing work to dismantle systemic barriers to success for our students, in 2017, we expanded our In-School Program to offer an advanced, full year course option for grades 9-12, utilizing our textbook, "Words Ignite.” The University of California has approved this course as an "A-G" provider, satisfying the "G" General Elective credit and "B" English credit. This is a major development as students in under-resourced areas are often not able to get the credits they need to graduate and attend California universities because enough "A-G" courses are offered at their high schools. Furthermore, because of its track record of success in engaging students who are at risk of missing an on-time graduation, the L.A. Unified School District has approved our curriculum as a certified Intervention Course for 9th and 10th grade. Through our Teacher Professional Development Program, school partners receive customized mentor visits and individual coaching for teachers, as well as professional development workshops including our annual day long Poetic Convergence.

Our professional team members have extensive knowledge and experience in the fields of education, poetry, literature, media, performing arts, development, and arts administration. Our staff and teaching artists have a deep understanding of and sensitivity to our target demographic and the issues affecting them. Our pedagogy and mission are grounded in the belief that all people have important stories to tell. We place importance on presenting students with the voices of artists from marginalized communities, engaging our students in conversations about inequity and injustice, and validating and building the learning power of our youth. We offer a bridge to success between high school and young adulthood that many educational institutions lack. Our advanced programs support youth both in school and beyond graduation, cultivating 21st century career-building skills, including job training in high-demand sectors, and coaching in life skills needed to succeed in the workplace.

In the last three fiscal years, Get Lit's organizational budget has more than doubled, and our staff has expanded from 4 to 7 full-time members. Also, in August, the Get Lit curriculum received A-G status, signifying that it can satisfy the “G" elective requirement for college prep coursework in high school. Our education department has now begun work on a new textbook and the outline for a stand-alone Get Lit class that can be implemented in area high schools, rather than acting as a supplement to an English or Drama curriculum. Last, on October 18, Simon & Schuster released Get Lit Rising, a collection of personal narratives, classic and response poems, and classroom exercises by Get Lit Founder/Executive Director Diane Luby Lane and the Get Lit Players.