Area School students celebrate writing progress with CMU speech-language pathology department

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.