Clare-Gladwin Area School students in Melissa Kleiman’s class
recognized each other’s writing accomplishments from the school year during the
annual Writer’s Workshop Author Celebration on April 18 at the Area School gym.
The celebration was the culmination of a year’s worth of weekly workshops with
Dr. Janet Sturm and graduate students from Central Michigan University’s
speech-language pathology department.
Throughout the year, Dr. Sturm and her students offered
mini-lessons to the Area School children, such as how to select a topic to write
about, or how to critique the writing of their peers. The students would then
break into groups to brainstorm writing ideas and begin to compose their piece.
At the end of each workshop, every student was able to share their writing from
the “author’s chair” and receive feedback from their
classmates.
During the celebration, the students read aloud their best piece of
writing from the year to their peers. Their classmates then had the opportunity
to ask questions and make comments.
“The Writer’s Workshop is a great way for all of the students to
have an outlet to express their thoughts and ideas. The students exhibit various
levels of writing, and this program facilitates writing development on all of
their levels,” said Kleiman. “This celebration was a great avenue to
showcase each student's talents and accomplishments with regards to
writing.”
According to Kleiman, the partnership began four years ago. Each
semester, four new clinicians are assigned to work with the students, giving the
kids the chance to gain writing guidance from up to eight different people each
school year.
