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October 20, 2009
National Day on Writing
Central Park Writing Workshops were Fly
Instead of going to their regular English classes today, “The
National Day on Writing,” seventh and eighth graders at Central
Park International Magnet School attended one of three special
writing workshops. All day long, the English classrooms at
Central Park over flowed with creative storytelling, wild
imaginations and writing excitement. Every workshop had a
purpose and every student had a story to write.
The National Council of Teachers of English established the
National Day on Writing to draw attention to the remarkable
variety of writing that people engage in and to help make
writers from all walks of life aware of their craft. On October
8, the Senate passed a resolution declaring October 20 the
National Day on Writing.
The writing workshops at Central Park - Rap Poetry, Science
Fiction Fantasy and Journalism - were held by the English
teachers all day Tuesday in lieu of regular English class. In
order for every seventh and eighth grader to participate in a
workshop and to make the program work, the teachers gave up
their planning and other non-instructional time to collaborate.
“They usually teach five classes a day and today they are
teaching eight out of nine periods, said Tonya Federico,
principal of Central Park. “I think it shows how dedicated they
are to this.”
The rap poetry workshop was “fly.” That’s slang for
outstanding.
“I’ve heard raps today about boyfriends, the New York Giants,
even chocolate,” said Lori Lebel, an English teacher conducting
the rap poetry workshop. “Anything works,” she explained to a
student who was brainstorming ideas to write about.
Two small groups of four or five students sat on different
ends of the room talking about their ideas and creative lines.
Lebel moved from one group to the next. “You have your simile
right here,” she pointed out as she read from a student’s
paper. “Try to use a simile or metaphor,” she said aloud to
the students. Simile is comparing two things using “like” or
“as” and metaphor is comparing two things without using “like”
or “as.” Lebel provided the students with a list of the five
best metaphors and similes in rap.
Creative juices were flowing rampant as some students were
sharing their thoughts aloud. Others were writing their
thoughts on paper. Another was tapping his pencil against his
head assumingly to the beat of the rap he was composing at the
moment.
Lebel noticed that another one of the students was having
trouble coming up with an idea. “The hardest part is actually
starting,” she said. “Just try to get something written. Once
you get started you can go from there.” She turned to face both
groups and said “ideas are good no matter where they come from.
What makes you happy? What makes you sad? Think about it,” she
encouraged the young writers.
The students referenced a handout from Lebel that distinguished
Hip Hop language from slang and best uses of big vocabulary in
rap. Flava is style. Jocking means copying. Fly is slang for
outstanding. Phat is attractive. Blow up means to achieve
success in slang. The list goes on and on.
The paper outlined the five steps to follow which included
stating a main message, using poetic devices (such as smile or
metaphor), using both vocabulary terms and slanguage terms,
finding the beat and rhythm of the rap poem and writing it down.
A few of the students were tapping pencils as they read their
lines out loud quietly. Others were still stuck on finding an
idea. “Think about something you have a strong feeling about,”
said Lebel. “It can be anything,” she reminded the students who
were frozen or experiencing a block.
“If you don’t know what to write, you can write a poem about the
fact that you don’t know what to write,” added Lebel. Within
minutes, all of the students were focused and writing. Every
now and then, the silence would was interrupted by a chuckle.
The room was filled with creative energy. The young minds were
consumed by what they were writing.
In the classroom next door to the rap poetry workshop, English
teacher Lynette Freeman was guiding students through the process
of writing science-fiction and fantasy. Freeman spoke briefly
to the students about the components of science-fiction. “You
need an idea, setting and a problem,” she explained.
She gave the students a handout to help guide them through the
process. “If you have trouble coming up with something, reach
into the ‘bag of tricks,” said Freeman. The teacher set three
brown paper bags on the table. Each bag was labeled with
setting, idea or problem. The students could reach in one or
all of the bags and pull out a tag that would help jumpstart the
creative process. For example, one tag read, “an ancient city
behind the moon where Earth has been lost and forgotten
altogether.” Another read, “What would it be like to fall in
love with an alien?” “What if your computer could let you hear
other people’s thoughts,” was another idea.
Most of the students came up with their own ideas. Some shared
their thoughts with Freeman. Others immediately focused and
simply began writing almost as if they had the story hidden in
their minds and were waiting for the moment to share it. Music
from the Star Wars soundtrack played in the background.
“Don’t wait too long to get into the action,” Freeman said to
the writers. “Use dialogue, thoughts and vivid description,”
she instructed.
Freeman moved from student to student, reading samples of their
stories and offering help to others. “I notice a lot of you are
using first person point of view,” she noted.
She leaned over the shoulder of another student and smiled as
she read the beginning of the story. “You need some background
as to why this conversation is going on,” suggested Freeman to
the writer. “Wow, this is excellent,” she said to another
student who had already filled a page. “There is a lot of
intrigue in that beginning,” she told another.
The students continued to write. Some of the students shared
bits and pieces of their stories and ideas. One was titled “My
Tragic Encounter of Another Kind.” Another identified the
problem in her story as “a friend in deadly peril.”
“If you know what the problem or conflict is,” said Freeman,
“start right there.” “One of the best ways to get into the
story is to get right into the action,” she added. “Hook your
reader.”
As the students moved through the process of writing their
stories, they became more anxious to share their thoughts and
drafts. While most of them did not finish their stories before
the workshop ended, they were still buzzing and showed no signs
of stopping.
At days end, not only did all of the seventh and eighth graders
learn about various styles of writing but it’s evident that
quite of few of them walked away with an awareness of their own
creative talent. One thing is for sure. These young writers
have FLAVA.
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