Teachers and educators from across the region gathered at the Poetry By Heart professional training day – Off the Page: Building Confidence with Poetry Teaching – held here at the Faculty of Education on 15th January. After we had shared some of our current thinking on memorisation and recitation, Julie Blake and Al Powell from Poetry By Heart led us in some stimulating memorisation and recitation activities. Going by the feedback, everyone went home inspired and with an armful of strategies for integrating these practices into their teaching. The day was topped off with a wonderful poetry reading (much of it, as it turned out, recitation!) from Jackie Kay.