Each spring, I have the honor of working with seventh graders in NJ as part of a memoir-writing residency. Then, over the summer, I edit and publish an anthology of their life stories.
Touched to wake up this morning to student feedback about the impact of this incredible project. What a privilege to witness these young writers open up and be vulnerable on the page and with each other.
Here are some highlights!
Workshop feedback:
– The workshops and project overall helped me as a writer because it helped me experience and learn more about what it was like to write from first person. Ms. Fitzsimmons’ feedback was helpful because she helped me learn how to expand smaller moments and make them more meaningful. Looking back on my work, I like how descriptive I was in the key moments.
– The workshops gave me ideas on how to shape my memoir. All the feedback along the way helped my memoir not look choppy. I am proudest of my use of voice techniques.
– Ms. Fitz helped with her feedback and she allowed us to write stories with great pride. I am proud of the story I wrote about my life because it is one that I will look back at and laugh.
– The workshops helped me make my writing sound more creative and at a higher level. Her feedback helped me make my writing more detailed and showed me how to take out the unimportant parts. I’m the most proud of how I needed extra time on my writing, yet I was able to finish and still get a good grade.
Anthology feedback:
– I am planning on publishing. I like seeing that other people are going through the same things as me.
– I get to relate to my classmates and realize that all of us are human. By them sharing their experiences, I get to connect with them more.
– I feel publishing my work finalizes the whole writing process, and it is a very big accomplishment for a 13-year-old!
– I really loved reading the memoir books from past years. I even found my brother’s story and my next-door neighbor’s story too. It is fun to read all the different topics everyone wrote about.
