Bryant Elementary Places Focus on Writing
By Kate Tesch
It has been a year of developing our authors and illustrators here at Bryant Elementary School! The focus at Bryant throughout the 2014-2015 school year has been on writing. After analyzing our student achievement data, we decided that Bryant will be a school in which writing is taught in a systematic, organized, whole-school fashion, with the work of one grade, building on the work of the preceding grade and with children receiving explicit instruction in the skills and strategies they need in order to write narratives (stories), non-fiction and opinion (argumentative) styles, really well.
The School District of Superior adopted a writing resource called The Units of Study. As a building we have made a commitment to a 45 minute writing block for each grade level with an assistant in each classroom to help support the students as they build their skill and become proficient communicators through writing.
After each unit, the students have a celebration of their writing and are able to publish a piece. To celebrate literacy as an entire building, Bryant had a building-wide Literacy Celebration on Friday, May 15th. We were lucky enough to have two published, local authors engage with our students about the writing process.
Deborah Cooper, Duluth’s past Poet Laureate, has been writing poetry for over twenty years and has worked collaboratively with visual artists, musicians and dancers. Her poems have been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies. Deborah has used poetry extensively in her work as a Hospice Chaplain and teaches writing classes for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one. Deborah worked with our students and had them actively creating poetry during the time with her.
Luke Moravec also came to Bryant to share his background as a writer and actor with our students. Luke has written a variety of books, including Christmas City Express. He is an actor who most recently performed in a Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Zeitgeist Theater in Duluth.
During his humorous and engaging presentation, he emphasized reading, writing and making mistakes with our student authors. He shared his edited work and helped them to see that the real world of being an author is very similar to the editing process that happens when you are a student author.
The third station in our celebration was a chance for students to share their writing with others from another grade level in a carousel format. Most students were able to share their selected piece with at least four other students.
Kate Tesch is the Principal of Bryant Elementary School in Superior