7th & 8th Grade at RedBird-RedOak: Time Flies When You’re Having Fun!
The Marion Center in Bay View, Wisconsin hosted the highly anticipated, week-long Red Oak Writers Creative Writing Camp. The weather could not have been more perfect to welcome the 21 writers, from 7th and 8th grade; an instant rapport was established as the group all brainstormed “The Title of my Memoir…”
After sharing some ideas with the full group, we assembled a huge poster with all of the witty titles, among them: “Reaching for the Stars: Author, Animator, Man” and “Years of Snow.” Some other creative group exercises we participated in were the Shoe and Hat exercise, Sensory Storyboarding, and Prose to Poetry.
Each day also offered outdoor spaces on the Marion Center campus for “sacred” writing time: uninterrupted, fantastic, a huge dose of what any writer loves more than anything!
We held daily writers’ circles in which our participants could share fresh work, get feedback and ideas, and create writing camaraderie.
Our visiting author, Ann Angel, shared her enthusiasm and ideas, the creative process behind her latest book, Such a Pretty Face, an anthology of essays about beauty. Ann’s insights about writing were fantastic, as well as her examples of how to brainstorm a short story based upon a theme, which we did as a group.
Suddenly, Friday was upon us!
We prepared for our Writers Showcase, an opportunity for each young author to read an amazing story, or fantastic poems, and celebrate their week with family and friends.
Then, all too soon, it was time to part ways. But we look forward to seeing all of this talented group in 2010. Write on…
(contributed by Writing Coach, Robert Vaughan)
