CHAGRIN FALLS - More than 100 middle school students from Chagrin Valley Conference Schools attended the first-ever writers’ forum hosted recently by Chagrin Falls Middle School.
Students from Aurora, Beachwood, Chagrin Falls, Independence, Kirtland, Newbury, Brady (Orange) and Wickliffe schools spent the day immersed in writing activities.
Designed to be a day of enrichment for students who love to write, the idea was initiated by Chagrin Falls Middle School Principal, Rebecca Holthaus.
Planning began last fall by Lori Guerrini, school librarian, Jean Kanzinger, a National Writing Project Teacher Consultant and Amy Withrow, library assistant.
The day featured workshops with authors and a keynote address by Shelley Pearsall, award-winning author of Trouble Don’t Last and Crooked River. Students rotated through three author workshops to work on their craft.
Pearsall conducted a workshop in which students wrote pieces incorporating food and recipes to draw readers into a story. Lisa and Laura Roecker, sibling authors of the Liar’s Club books, talked about the process of getting a book published and taught students to write query letters.
Katherine Batchelor, a National Writing Project Teacher Consultant, writer and PhD student at Kent State University, conducted a workshop on writing flash fiction.
Twice during the day, students gathered in the auditorium and participated in a large group activity.
Most of the students in attendance are members of their school’s Power of the Pen team. Students brought short pieces of finished writing which were shared on a Writer’s Wall that students could browse during lunch.
The students were also entertained by a poetry slam performed by high school students.
"The small writing pieces that the students completed during their time with us were amazing," Holthaus said, "We hope the excitement will carry over into their home schools as we prepare all our students to tackle the new literacy standards."