LOCAL KIDS HAVE THE "WRITE STUFF"

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - This morning, Shala Plumlee got to do something she’d never done in a classroom before. "I got to yell," the fifth-grader said proudly. Shala was just one of a group of 45 kids who got to act out scenes from plays they were working on as part of the KidsWrite summer camp at the University of Arkansas.

KidsWrite, part of the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project, is one of two enrichment programs planned at the University of Arkansas this summer under the direction of College of Education and Health Professions professor Dr. Samuel Totten.

KidsWrite was born out of the National Writing Project originally begun in 1973 at the University of California at Berkeley and is an exercise in pure learning and skill development, according to Dr. Totten. But don’t tell that to the kids.

"It’s so much fun," said Afryka Donnell, an 11-year-old from Elkins. Her friends nodded vigorously in agreement. "I like it because there are lots of neat people," said Martin Bember, a 10-year-old from Fayetteville. "People who like to write like I do."

Lacinda Files, the Gifted and Talented teacher at Smith Elementary in Springdale, says she’s having just as much fun as the kids.

"We want kids to get to do something they love to do," said Files. "But we want them to learn, too. Many of the students are excellent communicators who already have a good sense of what it means to write." With KidsWrite, says Files, children not only boost their skills and creativity, they promote the development of self-esteem and academic confidence.

Participating students, ranging in age from 10-13, are encouraged to let their imaginations run free as they work on original poems, short stories and scenes for their own play productions. An anthology filled with original student work is planned at the end of KidsWrite.

In Lynette Terrell’s poetry class, students were encouraged to write poems using words groups, word games and 5-minute impromptu writing sessions. "It’s hard to read something you’ve written unless you know someone’s listening," Terrell told her class as hands shot up around the room. "But with poetry, you can kind of go out on a limb."

With free reign, students were able to come up with poems that were amazingly poignant ("time is as quiet as the pines when they whiten"), touching ("while a far off galaxy might be full of superstars, this is the one for me"), to funny ("the lawnmower supper"). And that’s the point.

More than 46 students are enrolled in the 9-day summer course, more than double the number Files and her co-directors, Lynnette Terrell and Betsy Penix, expected.

"Our initial question was 'Are there kids out there who love to write as much as we do?’" Clearly, the answer is a resounding yes.

KidsWrite is sponsored by the University of Arkansas College of Education & Health Professions, the Northwest Arkansas Writing Project, Office Depot, Ozarks Electric, Moser Center, Just Us Printers, the NWA Times, StaffMark and the Fayetteville Kiwannis. For more information, please contact Sam Totten: 575-6677 or stotten@comp.uark.edu.