Wednesday, July 29, 2009

I am shy. I am shy to express my own writing but I come to the Telling Room every morning because I love to write. I see my friend Rachel and I listen to her blog entries. I hear her dramatic voice echo through the room. The room that used to be an old warehouse refrigerator. I see my friend Muntaha and wonder what she is writing.

After writing we had a visitor. Sarah Corbett took a visit to the Telling Room. She told the class about her writing career. She told us about the stories she has written about in glossy magazines. They have appeared in magazines like Elle, Runners World, and New York Times Magazine.

Later in the day we walked around Portland for the Writer's Marathon. Many things inspired me to stop and think. Under the dark bridge, people on the benches, conversations on the street. It was a good day at camp.

Mady

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

I can say that I walked into The Telling Room a little easier today. The first day I was scared. The second day? No sweat. As soon as I sat down they told us that we were going into town to take pictures. Wooohoo! I ended up in Tim's group and found a really creepy alley way. There were tons of graffiti everywhere. Even the pigeons posed for us. After taking about 60 or 70 pictures I had to delete all but two, which is easier said than done.

We also had a guest speaker. Justin Ellis from the Portland Press Herald came in. He told us all about his job and shared some funny stories that he had to write about. Justin writes for the paper and the paper's blog. He even went to the inauguration! I just watched at school instead of having art class but he was there! I can olnly imagine how cool that must have been! Justin wrote about his visit to Southern Maine Writing Project's YAC.

After he was done I went with Emily to eat lunch at the Ferry Terminal. We got to see a ferry boat unload, reload, and we waved as the passengers left. Unfortunately the person in the lobster suit wasn't there. Once we got back to The Telling Room we saw the pictures we took earlier in the day and wrote the stories that were behind them. Mine was about an orphan named Sinnet. She was kind of creepy but fun to write. Then Misha gave the Closing Moment and we left.

Well, there's Tuesday! Straight from the writer's pen!

Rachel

Monday, July 27, 2009

Mom woke me up and I didn't know what to expect. "I won't know anyone," I thought, as I ate my cereal. "What if everyone was mean?" I thought as I dried my hair. "What if I can't find the bathroom!?"

Okay, so I really didn't need to worry about all that. My worrying really didn't help me at first. My worries didn't turn out to be true. I did know someone. I knew Elizabeth from school. Everyone else was super nice, and yes, I could find the bathroom.

After what seemed like forever we started to write. Never in a million years did I think I would ever write about how much I hate mushrooms. I'm sorry if you like mushrooms but I think they are disgusting! When Gibson and Tim told us we would have a wandering lunch I didn't know what they meant. I ended up going down to the wharf with a small group. The view was beautiful. Claire and I found some mussel shells and I can now write a murder mystery that goes with the shells.

After lunch we came up with "Top 10" lists of favorite words, interesting characters, settings, and dilemmas. I ended up writing a story about an epic racing snail named Melvin who was stuck in Portland because of a hurricane in Texas and his luggage was lost in Vancouver. Poor Melvin.

After that it was time to go home and write this blog entry. Well, there you go! My day, straight from the writer's pen.
Rachel

Thursday, July 16, 2009

The light came on and kids started coming in for the day. They chatted as they sat down and started working on the morning challenge. They did that for a little bit then Tori read the Opening Moment. They all listened, leaning in. When Tori had finished Tim and Gibson introduced some volunteers and they explained Blurbs. Blurbs are a piece of writing that introduces the author. It can be written any way and it can be creative. Questions were asked and answered and then everyone started in. Kids talked to one another and laughed as they brainstormed. Kids that were stuck gazed around the room until they started writing. After that the kids left for lunch. They didn’t return for 45 minutes. The kids stormed in carrying lunch boxes and laughing. The rest of the day was spent working on independent writing. Looking down from the ceiling I could see a girl writing about a desert. I saw a boy writing about super-sonic snails. I also saw a girl writing about falling into a pond at a mini golf course. I could feel all the good writing floating around the room as I watched the children leave waving good-bye. That was the end of Thursday.

Sierra C.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Today we had so much fun. For Opening Moment Gracie read a page from the book Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli. We then did a fun assignment. We brainstormed together and came up with a visual (outward) characterization and personal (inward) characterization. Then we brainstormed emotions and wrote a little story or poem about them. Example: What would be some things that would happen if Love walked into an ice cream store? How would Love sound and move? What kind of ice cream would Love order?

Then for three hours we walked around Portland for the Writing Marathon. We stopped at different places to write. The Closing Moment at the end of the day was done by Molly. She read a poem from Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein called Captain Blackbeard Did What? That’s the day. Thanks for reading Wednesday’s blog.

Maddie

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Today, Tuesday, was the second day of writing camp. Today was really fun. First, for Opening Moment Maya read something that she wrote in her journal. Then Gibson talked with us about memoirs. He helped us think of past moments by leading us through some quick-writes. After writing we had snack. After snack Tim told us to put our journals away because we were going to do something different. I am not sure what to call it but it was fun. Tim asked us to think about our writing of a favorite place from Monday. We then picked parts we liked and using real maps we made some cool projects. Some were 3-D. At lunch we got to pick where we ate. 5 of us picked Monument Square and go to see a boat building festival. When we got back to the Telling Room we looked at the pictures we took on Monday. We used those pictures to inspire some new writing. I can’t wait to see what we will do tomorrow.

Cassidy

Monday, July 13, 2009

Today was the first day of Portland’s Young Authors’ Camp. We met new people, thought about writing in new ways, and mined our pasts for writing ideas. We spent a great deal of time talking about words and the power that they have. We spent so much time on words that we may have forgotten about numbers. As Norton Juster writes in The Phantom Tollbooth, “words and number are of equal value, for, in the cloak of knowledge, one is warp and the other woof. It is no more important to count the sands than it is to name the stars.” So here is our Monday by the numbers!

26
The number of writers participating in the first week of Portland’s Young Authors’ Camp.

330
The length, in minutes, of Monday’s session of Young Authors’ Camp.

4,5,6
The grades the writers will be entering in the fall of 2009.

5
Boys attending the first week of Young Authors’ Camp.

21
Girls attending the first week of Young Authors’ Camp.

27
The number of chairs in the Telling Room.

20
The number of stairs it takes to get to the Telling Room.

5
The number of instructors that spent the day with the student writers. A Young Authors’ Camp Director, an Executive Director of the Telling Room, an AmeriCorps Volunteer, a Telling Room Intern, and a Southern Maine Writing Project Volunteer.

1
The grade of Naomi Shihab Nye when she visited Chicago and wrote a poem, which became the subject of Tim’s Opening Moment.

3:49
Minutes spent listening to the CD Our Maine: The Way Life Is, which let us hear writing in which students focus on place. We used these pieces to spark our own writing of place.

128
Number of ounces of apple juice and iced tea guzzled during snack time.

5
The number of sounds Gibson asked us to remember from our dinners at home or lunches at school. We also brainstormed food we ate with our fingers, food we liked, and food we disliked (Brain Soup?!). You are what you eat!

2
The number of oranges the character in Gary Soto’s poem had in his pocket.

12
The number of Opening Moments, closing moments, and blog entries that students volunteered to be responsible for throughout the week.

2
Locations to choose from for our “field trip” lunch: Widgery Wharf and Tommy Park.

130 +
The total number of pictures all 26 writers were allowed to take during our walk around Portland with digital cameras.

52
The number of pictures that were kept to be used for Tuesday’s writing and possibly the cover of the summer anthology.

1,277
The number of miles between the two countries which the poems Gibson shared at Closing Moment were written.

347,832
The estimated number of tourists we bumped into during our walks around Portland on a beautiful Monday.

Today was a great start to what will be a terrific week of writing. I hope you all enjoyed it and look forward to the other four days.

What is YAC?

A YAC is a Young Authors' Camp. There are seven sites across the state of Maine and hundreds across the country. All sites strive to instill a passion for writing through creative exploration. Teacher Consultants work with students in week-long sessions. Young writers celebrate their work and share their creative pieces in a relaxed summer atmosphere with peers and Teacher Consultant mentors. Summer YACs are one of many offerings provided by the Maine Writing Project through the University of Maine and the Southern Maine Writing Project through the University of Southern Maine. Along with YACs both sites provide Summer Teacher Institutes, Effective Practices Conference, and technology initiatives.

Portland's Young Authors’ Camp is a unique sit in Maine in that it is a collaborative effort between the Southern Maine Writing Project and The Telling Room. The Telling Room: Greater Portland’s Community Writing Center, is a nonprofit writing program in Portland, Maine, dedicated to young writers and storytellers. The goal is simple: To meet each student’s passion for writing with enthusiasm, to provide role models for those looking to further their writing, and to privilege the act of storytelling as a vital means of expression and community building.

To become more familiar with the Southern Maine Writing Project, the Maine Writing Project, National Writing Project, and the Telling Room, visit:

http://usm.maine.edu/cehd/SMWP/index.htm

http://www.umaine.edu/edhd/mwp/
www.nwp.org/
www.tellingroom.org

The entries that follow are from this summer's writers. Each day a student volunteered to reflect on their YAC experience. It will give you snapshot into Portland's Young Authors' Camp 2009.