Since the inaugural Writing In The Schools course is wrapping up, here are some more brief reflections from Butler University tutors culled from our discussions on Facebook the past few weeks:

Julie Bickel: Today, I worked with a girl named I–. She said she was done with her work, but I asked if she wanted to talk, so we did. We talked about college, what her plans were, what her interests were, and then she showed me some music videos and we talked about our mutual like for certain bands. Then the teacher printed out her work and asked if she was going to revise it. She said she was done, and he said, “I know you think you are, but you’re not.” We looked at her resume and cover letter and revised a few things.

What struck me, though, was how sure she was that she had nothing further to revise/learn about her work. I guess it’s just interesting how sure of ourselves we cn be, and those are the times when we most need to learn and be aware of how much we don’t know and have yet to learn.

Krysten Plahm: I had a session that I won’t soon forget. Working through the assignment (creating 10 new sentences with the given vocabulary words), the student was able to understand what the word meant in his own words once he read the definition out loud. We would talk about the word for a few seconds, and he would go, “Wait, I think I got it, is it kind of like…?”, and he would relate the word’s definition to experiences in his own life. He actually made a personal connection with each of the sentences we created, which I thought was remarkable. At the end of the session, we talked for about 10 minutes after finishing the assignment, and he told me about his love for music and how he wants to play for the rest of his life. The one thing that really struck me was when he said, “You know, Krysten, because of your help today, you have really made me think about possibly going somewhere to study music.” I never had thought my help would influence a student’s career path.

Carol Taylor: I was blown away Thursday by the level of writing we’re starting to see from our lit group. One student shared a story with lots of potential that moves in a much different direction than the previous stories we’ve seen from her. Another shared several poems that were well above the level at which I could write one. I think it’s more important than ever to keep this momentum going. If they keep progressing at this pace, the magazine they produce will be outstanding.

Nicole Simon: Yesterday during the lit group, one of the girls was taking exception to the exercise we were doing. I brought her out in the hallway, so that we could just talk and I could see what was going on. When we first left the classroom, the student and I were practically racing around the hallways because she was so riled up. We eventually talked about things ranging from the writing exercise to a steak-eating contest she had with her grandmother over break. Eventually, I was able to figure out that this student was really scared to step out of her comfort zone. This is why she had become so irritated and upset. By the end of the walk we were actually walking at a slow, calm pace, and it was clear she felt much better. This walk was extremely helpful for the student. I think sometimes kids really just need that one-on-one “safe space” where they can just talk or vent without feeling threatened or judged. And I think it is important to notice when they really need that personal time away from writing and academia.

This past Thursday was one of the best sessions I’ve ever had with a student. We accomplished very little homework, but that was not the point of this session. The student came in with watery eyes and a lot of stress. It was clear she had something on her mind and needed to talk. I became a mentor, but I was surprised at the depth of her struggles. All at once, she was worrying about not being able to financially contribute to her family, getting into a prestigious college, paying for that university, and finding work. It was a lot to unpack, but as we talked about life and future, she regained her composure. In the end, we may not have completed too many PowerPoint slides, but she walked out of our session, no longer overwhelmed, with avenues to explore many of the more important areas in life.

Contributed by Dustin Jones

Last week I worked with a student after he took a test for his English class. He had two prompts to choose from to write an essay about Julius Caesar. He quickly chose the prompt that required him to write an essay describing why the characters of Julius Caesar were easy to relate to or not. I asked him his opinion and he replied, “They’re easy to relate to because Caesar was conceited…like Kanye.” I was so impressed with this response, his ability to connect the text to the world, that I immediately knew where we were going with the essay. Throughout the class period, we created an outline for his essay, in which he related the three major characters to examples in popular culture and examples in his own life. It was remarkable to see a high school student so readily relate to Shakespeare. We ran with the essay and by the end of the class period, he had written half of his essay already!

Contributed by Kristina Albarello

A quick feel-good anecdote. When we went to Mr. Adams’ AVID class this week, I got a chance to work one-on-one with a student who regularly comes to our Thursday writing group. We spent the class talking about all the good things she does and her plans for the future (a fringe benefit of the résumé assignment from our end, no doubt). It was a productive session that I really enjoyed. But what’s most interesting and uplifting happened at the end of our time when the bell rang and Mr. Adams passed out flyers to all of his student for an upcoming Shortridge Bingo Night event. At first, she talked about how she wanted to go, until she noticed the fine print stating that the activity is designed to promote literacy. “It’s supposed to be educational – I don’t want to go,” she said. To which I replied, “Does that mean you feel the same way about our group?” Without hesitation, she responded, “No, your group’s not like that at all. Your group is freedom.”

On Thursday, I met with a Shortridge sophomore who was working on a line-by-line interpretation of Mark Antony’s speech in Julius Caesar. He tried to hem and haw his way out of it, claiming he “didn’t get Shakespeare.” But we dove into it anyway. I took every approach. Nothing could get him engaged.

In spite of the student’s reservations, I was getting pumped – who can’t get excited about Antony undermining the conspirators? I was getting into it and busted out my Charlton Heston voice (evoking Heston in Planet of the Apes, moreso than his turn in the Hollywood version of Julius Caesar). And the student thought I was being a dork, but he could dig it. He finally understood all the underlying sarcasm and got excited about it, too. At the end of the session, he even admitted that he could understand Shakespeare.

At which point, I said to him “Charlton Heston can bring anything to life.” And he looked at me and said “Who’s Charleton Heston?”

Contributed by Brian “I Feel Old” Gross

Yesterday was probably our most impressive and important day at Shortridge yet. With about 15 volunteers, we helped a seventh-grade science class of upwards of 30 students with an expository assignment, tutored a dozen 10th and 11th graders before and after-school in an effort to keep them on track with their English curriculum, and hosted a lit mag/creative writing club callout meeting that drew 18 emerging writers.

Although we’re at Shortridge to make a positive impact on the school and not to celebrate our own accomplishments, I think everyone who has contributed to our cause deserves a pat on the back for days like yesterday. It was the embodiment of what we dreamed up when this program was nothing more than a paragraph-long course description.

Let’s keep the excitement going and see just how far we can take this. Much gratitude all around.

Although it’s been anything but easy, we’ve had a highly productive first few weeks at Shortridge because of our talented and dedicated volunteers. Our Shortridge literary magazine/creative writing group meets for the first time this Thursday (Sept. 29), which is rather exciting. With signs like the one above coloring the hallways, we’re hoping for a nice turnout.

Shout out to Jenna, Nicole, and the rest of the team for being so crafty.