Portland YAC - Session 4, Day 3

July 27th, 2011 was a blast at The Telling Room’s Young Authors Camp. We had opportunities to play games, take pictures, meet new people, and of course, to write.

Molly and Kelly kicked the day off with a tricky game of two truths and a lie. As an entire camp, we managed to guess most of the lies, but we did have a select group of especially good, sneaky liars in there.

Our second activity was interviewing another camper that you did not know very well. You might not even have known their name! After spending a few minutes questioning our partners about things from their favorite color to the most enjoyable food to eat, in their opinion, we went around the large circle introducing each other.

When the previous activity was completed, we quickly shoveled in a snack, and before we knew it, we were onto the next unique thing planned for the day. All of the campers counted off by six. The six different groups hit the streets carrying only strips of paper with phrases that were written by previous Telling Room Students and a camera. Our assignment was to simply place the selected phrase and place it with a person, place, or thing you thought had some sort of connection to it. When you had done that, you snapped a picture and were off to the next location. Our goal was to conjure up some ideas for new and original stories that had not yet been told. This activity worked, and many different stories came from it. It was truly amazing how much inspiration one person can get from an ordinary photo with a few words within it.

Lunch was spent all over the city. Some people chose to go to the faithful Lobsterman’s Statue, others to the wharfs, and some to Tommy’s Park. Each group got a different experience with different memories and inspiration just from a plain lunch break.

After lunch we regrouped at The Telling Room and were lead in some writing exercises by Gibson that included six word memoirs and writing stories based off of reaching into a hat, picking out peoples real and made up secrets, and writing what ever story waltzed into their head.

In all, it was a terrific day at The Telling Room. All of the campers were able to find new inspiration in the activities we were introduced to. I, for one, cannot wait until tomorrow’s day of camp.

~Julia

Portland YAC: Session 4, Day 2

The Young Author's Camp today was very thought-provoking and fun. It started with a couple pieces of inspiring poetry, and then a special guest, a man who plays the cornet! I loved listening to the different mutes and their effect on the brassy sound. The music inspired some great pieces of writing. After snack, we did a fantastic activity involving poems for multiple voices. I helped create a three-voice-poem about weather. When lunch was over, some kids did an activity about the senses while others stayed in the Telling Room and wrote. After an awesome piece of original poetry, it was time to go home. The day seemed to end much too quickly, but I'm already looking forward to another day of camp.

Welcome John

First days of work are always pretty weird, even when you're starting a dream job. There's no routine to follow, your work space isn't set up, you don't have keys to get in and you're just never really sure of what you should do. And so it was that I launched myself into my new position as the Creative Director at the Telling Room on Monday July 25, 2011. Lucky for me, when I walked in the door a new Young Authors Camp was just getting under way and I immediately found myself participating in several classic "name games" with 22 young authors. Instantly I was on familiar territory--I'm not really a sit around the office kind of guy-- and all my minor fears of day one slipped away.

As I tended to the much less interesting but necessary tasks of filling out tax forms and setting up my new email account I kept my ears on the young authors in the studio next door to the office. What I heard, and what I didn't hear, was the sound of young authors hard at work practicing the craft of writing. The ebbs and flows of the energy and volume in the studio spoke of engaged young artists brimming with the need and desire to write and to share what had been written. There were moments when the density of discourse became quite dense as multiple voices filled the room with conversations about writing and about the things that young people talk about when they're getting to know each other. There were also moments when every writer in the room was focused on the one person brave enough to share what she had just written followed by a focus on a fellow writer who had listened hard enough to be able to offer some intelligent and supportive feedback to her peer. And there were moments when there was hardly a sound at all except for the sound of pens and pencils scratching across pages as fast as the hands that held them could move. All of these densities speak volumes and all are equally important evidence of students engaged in creative learning that results from creative teaching.

So it was that day one came and went. To be a fly on the wall at a Young Authors Camp is to be a lucky fly. To begin a new job at the Telling Room is to be a lucky professional. And to begin a new job on the same day a camp kicks off is about as good as it gets. Here's to you Young Authors, keep on bringing what you bring and always remember that your stories are important!

Portland YAC: Session 4, Day 1

One cool sunny morning, 22 young writers gathered in a place called the Telling Room. Some had been there, some hadn’t. Some were friends, some strangers. They wandered around the room, tasting jelly beans and popcorn, molding play-doh, and smelling cinnamon. They drew maps and wrote stories, stories about neighborhood bullies, about touching stop signs, about lawyers and lizards and about the haunting orange stripe in the middle of a piece of candy corn. They scattered in groups to find benches and green spaces around the bustling Old Port, then they returned and wrote about full bookshelves, falling out of trees, and playing lacrosse by the ocean. Thus began the Young Authors’ Camp.

Portland YAC: Session 3, Day 5

Today was a great farewell day. We played writing games, enjoyed each other's humor and laughed a lot. We took a hot walk through the city and played telephone along the way. We wrote six word memoirs and shared our anthology pieces. Today was a great farewell day.
- Ezra

Topsham YAC Day 3

Camp

Here at writers camp we
Write in many ways
We write
Learning Autobiography poems and more
We wouldn’t be able to do it if it wasn’t for
Mrs.Aronson and Kaili
So thank-you for making this possible for us to do
Writers Camp

Student Writing

The Ocean By Saoirse

Ocean water glistens with beauty

Seagulls circle around the ocean buildings

lobster traps stacked columns of five

Small fish swim peacefully in circles

boats parked along the wharf

and here I sit peacefully watching

all of this beauty fitting together like

puzzle pieces

Student Writing

A poem in two voices

By Abby .M. and Abbie .A.

Tennis racket Tennis ball

I am round and bouncy

I am oddly shaped

Together you can play tennis

I am green and fuzzy

I am made of wood

Together we are a really fun game

I have tape on my handle so I don’t slip

I have white lines around me

When I hit the ball it makes a thwack

I go zooming through the air

The crowd roars

I’ve done it I won

I deserve a round of applause for flying all around

BFF

A soul sister
Almost like a sister
A secret keeper
A BFF
A best
Friend
Forever
Is all of the above

Portland YAC: Session 3, Day 4

We had another great day at the Telling Room today. We started out by playing a sticky note game. We each got a sticky note and wrote down one sentence to start a story. Then, we stuck them onto the wall and Sarah read them all. We had to pick someone else's and we used it for a great beginning to a story later on. Then, we made a writer's toolbox for ideas for writing. We got a list of characters, problems and settings and we can mix them up to use later. Then, we had some time to write our author's blurb to go with our individual writing in the anthology. We spent a lot of time working on the story for the Chamber Music Festival and Asher Applecrest and his friends search for his missing nuts. It will be awesome. We look forward to our last day of camp tomorrow...not because it is the last, because we are having so much fun!
- Caroline

Portland YAC: Session 3, Day 3

Our day was exciting, fantastic, phenomenal! Those are some of the adjectives that were used in our wrap up after our Writing Marathon. All of the things you could want in a day. First, of course, we arrived at the Telling Room. We talked about what would happen during the day and how the Writing Marathon worked. Then, we set off to hit the streets! We split in different locations and found comfortable, shady, or sunny spots to write. We shared a bit and set off for a different place to observe. We wrote a whole bunch. Funny, we heard musicians playing at each location. Later we found out that they were arranged and there to spark any ideas and give a nice sound to our writing. At the end of the day, we shared how the experience was for us and shared part of what we wrote about. It was a great day in the city, a warm sun and cool breeze was great.
- Fiona

Portland YAC: Session 3, Day 2

Our second day at the Young Author's Camp was GREAT! We started the morning by playing a few games called Tell Me About the Time and Fortunately and Unfortunately. After, we got our writing brains all warmed up, we began to write our story for the concert. We came up with some different plots and story ideas. We even got the character names down. We worked right up until snack! After snack, we worked on our own personal writing until we went to explore Portland. Those trips included a fire, a bride, a commercial and a interesting man that tried to teach us how to ring a bell. RANDOM! Who knew Portland could be so pretty, bizarre, and fan? After that, we ate lunch, yum! Then, we came back to the Telling Room and worked on our story a little bit more. We talked about what we did in Portland and worked on out group story. Before we knew it, it was time to go. What a fun, funny and exciting day! - Violet

Topsham YAC Day 2

We all met in the front of the school ready for a new day of writing. But before we got in side they had a surprise for all the campers. Because it was so hot upstairs, we got to work in the library. But we could only be in there as long as we kept it clean. When we got inside, we started off with word a minute we all love word a minute a good way to start the day. And then after sharing a work with a partner. And then we headed to a quiet place to start on autobiography, all the campers say that it was good, and they enjoyed it. after a while of that we headed outside for snack break. people were in little groups with friends talking and telling jokes. when we got ready to go inside there was yet another surprise, because of the most important poems we did before we left for snack, we get to go to D.Q. on thursday! the idea came from one of the poems people did on ice cream and because its going to be hot why not do a writing marathon all the way to D.Q.! that really made people smile. once we got inside we did art that talks about the work we are doing for the anthology.
Abby and Miranda