Writers in Schools program comes to Kent

Devin Stumpf does not look like your stereotypical poet.

But when the sixth-grader at Park Orchard reads his writing – reluctantly, at first – his work connects him better to his feelings and a way to express them.

“I just get my feelings cooped up all day,” said Stumpf, 11.

In the poetry he writes each week when the school’s writer-in-residence Storme Webber visits his classroom, Stumpf gets to express his feelings in a way in which he won’t be judged and it will be appreciated, with a round of Beat generation-style snaps, like a ‘50s coffee house.

Classmate Martrel Wagner said he feels the same way.

“I get to express my feelings,” Wagner, 11, said. “It’s good. It’s fun.”

Wagner and Stumpf are among the kids at Park Orchard participating in the Writers in Schools program, which brings professional poets and writers to a school once a week to work with the students on their writing skills and introduce them to writing as a profession.

At Park Orchard, Seattle poet and author Storme Webber visits every Tuesday and works with several classes. The idea is to not only teach the kids about writing, but also how to better understand themselves.

“Writing is such an amazing tool for children to build confidence and come to know themselves better,” said Webber.

This week, Webber read “I, too, Sing America,” by Langston Hughes to each class.

The poem, which begins with Hughes having to eat in the kitchen when company comes because he is the “darker brother,” ends with the author’s assertion that tomorrow will be different because the company will see he is beautiful and they will be ashamed.

“I, too, am America,” it finishes.

After reading it to the kids, Webber gave each class time to write their own version and each student delved into their own background to talk about their culture, each poem ending with “I, too, am America.”

Many of the poems were personal, sharing backgrounds and home lives. By the end of the class, all but one student had read their poem out loud.

Principal Christine Castillo called the program “powerful.”

“It’s giving them a chance to create something … and to share it,” she said, adding that the kids are often proud of their work and eager to share.

“They feel like they have something important to say, someone wants to hear it.”

Park Orchard is the first school in the Kent School District to participate in the Writers in the Schools program, according to Program Manager Jeanine Walker.

“It’s been great,” Walker said. “They’re really excited. I think it’s creating a community of writers.

“Bringing a professional writer into the room allows kids to open up,” she added.

Castillo said it is also a good opportunity for the kids to not only think about their writing, but to get feedback from another adult they can connect to.

“You don’t really get to hear adults talk about themselves,” she said.

Castillo said the school selected Webber for their school because the school’s diverse make-up demanded an author that could cross ethnic boundaries to reach as many students as possible.

Walker said the professional writer also meets with the principal and the teachers involved before the weekly sessions begin in order to better meet the teachers’ needs and goals, but ultimately, the writer creates the program’s curriculum.

Walker and Webber also said the program helps create life-long writers and gives the students a tool they can use well into the future as well as gets them thinking in different directions.

“I think it energizes creative thought,” Webber said.

“Kids love their teachers, but it’s great to have visitors,” said Walker.

Webber said the program also teaches the kids about persistence and revision, by having them go back over their work and revise it before the next session. Webber also collects each of the students’ writing journals and offers individualized feedback to each young author, whom she said only get more imaginative and/or honest with each visit.

“They’re writing about their lives, their world, about their culture,” she said. “I feel blessed to be a part of it.”

Information: www.lectures.org/wits.html