Kent schools’ Young Authors event: Putting the focus on writing

When she grows up, Andrea Alvarez wants to be a poet. Or an artist. Or an author.

“I mostly like to write poetry and stories,” she said, telling a little bit about her most recent story, a tale of a boy waiting in the principal’s office. “I like writing because you can write whatever you want.”

On Nov. 17, the 10-year-old Daniel Elementary School Student got encouragement from Eric Ode – an artist, poet and author – about how she can write better stories and poems.

“We learned how to express our feelings while we’re writing,” the budding author said. “It was fun.”

Like all students at Daniel, Alvarez took part in the school’s fourth-annual Young Author’s Day, designed to encourage students to do more writing. This year, Ode was on hand to help the kids get a better idea of what it is like to be a writer.

“It’s very beneficial,” instructional coach Lien Le said. “They gain insight into the writing life.”

During the event, each class took part in a workshop with Ode, who led them through brainstorming exercises and worked with the group to create a poem. Afterward, the classes were split into smaller groups to continue working on their writing skills, something fourth-grade teacher Angela Clinton said can sometimes get lost behind a focus on reading and math.

“In everything we do, we write just like we read,” Clinton said, adding that the kids often are told to practice their reading and math, but not writing.

“We have to do that with writing as well,” she said.

Throughout the school, community members and district officials joined the small groups to lead exercises on reading ad writing, encouraging the kids to be creative and to write their own endings to poems and stories, before finding out what the author had in mind.

“We’re hoping to inspire and build a lot of authors,” said media specialist Marie Moran. “They’re doing a lot of writing today.”

Moran said the day helped show the importance of being a good writer.

“Not only is it fun to have things to read, but it’s a great outlet,” she said. “The more we’re able to do it, the better off we are.”

She said it also gets the kids going creatively and thinking in different ways.

“No matter where you are you can be a success as a writer,” she said. “Everybody has ideas.”

Principal Janet Muldrow said the goal was also to create lifelong writers as a way to make a connection to what they are reading, as well as practice other skills.

“Writing is important,” she said. “When they are starting to write, we know they are assimilating skills for reading.”

Le, who helped organize the event, said the day was made possible in part from a grant from Target, as well as donations from the Daniel Community Association, the school’s parent-teacher group.

“We are very excited to do this and the kids love it,” she said. “This is a wonderful event and we are looking forward to doing it every year.”