The write stuff
Sharon Blazer/courtesy photo District literacy coach Lynn Frey reads to students at the Midway Elementary All-School Writers’ Conference Monday.
MOSES LAKE — Every kid struggling with schoolwork has at times wondered what all those writing, reading and arithmetic lessons have to do with the real world.
Teachers and school personnel work to show kids how all the things they’re learning now will come in handy on that far-off day when they graduate from high school. But by the end of the school year kids aren’t always hearing what their teachers are saying, said Peggy McNutt, a teacher at Midway Elementary.
That’s why Midway teachers invited writers from throughout the community to come to school Monday for the 2017 All-School Writers’ Conference.
The school has sponsored its own writing conference for a while, McNutt said, but had dropped the practice of inviting people from outside school to participate. McNutt said she wanted to change that.
“(The students) get tired of hearing the same voices over and over,” she said. The writers’ conference gave them the chance to hear from, and talk to, adults who spend time writing, for work of course, but also for enjoyment.
The kids talked to business owners, the reigning Mrs. America Natalie Luttmer, Moses Lake School District superintendent Michelle Price and Columbia Basin Herald editor Lynne Lynch among others. College students, school employees, authors – adults in all walks of life came to school and explained the role writing plays in the real world.
“Again, it goes back to real life,” McNutt said. It was a big deal for kids to see people who aren’t normally at school, and for them to talk about the role writing plays in their lives. “I heard so many kids go, ‘whoa,’” when they heard what the adults had to say, McNutt said.
“I think (the students) really heard, over and over, the love of writing. People love writing.” They write for many reasons, she said, because it’s part of the job, for entertainment or because they have something to say.
Teachers liked the visits from the community too, she said. “Even they came away with some ideas.”
McNutt said she wants to ask adults from the community to participate next year, and expand it if possible.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.