Ortiz Middle School

This past June, I was able to teach 6th graders for Writers in the Schools at a middle school. I'll admit that I was frightened at the experience but the whole session turned out great.

I had eight different classes, which I had to spread out throughout the day. We had a professional artist and musician visit our classrooms. Each artist spoke regarding the elements of their craft and how it related to creative writing. Students spent one day out of their week in summer school to create their own self-portraits using acrylics, canvases, and paint brushes.

When the musician visited our classroom, she spoke concerning the musical elements of poetry and introduced students to poetic terms that included alliteration, rhyme, and sound. She played various pieces from Hayden and Beethoven and asked each student to write down the images elicited from each piano piece. Students were then asked to write a poem using the images they imagined while listening to each classical score.

If you're interested in having a writer visit your school, please contact Writers in the Schools.

Here are some great pics from this summer: