Creative mystery writing inspires area students

The Young Writers' Clubhouse on Saturday, Oct. 31, was a hauntingly, howling, hilarious, hair-raising Halloween Writing-palooza! Third- through eighth-grade students from Dyersburg, Halls, Ripley and Covington joined Dyersburg Middle School teacher and Teacher Consultant for the West Tennessee Writing Project Becky Hasselle, far right, and fellow consultant Jenny Brandon of the Lauderdale County School System, far left, at the University of Tennessee at Martin's Ripley Center. Here, the young writers take a break from their word play to pose with Brandon and Hasselle.

Creating monsters, writing epitaphs, developing spooky stories - all this and more took place for local students at the University of Tennessee at Martin's Ripley Center during the Young Writers Clubhouse on Saturday, Oct. 31.

Third- through eighth-grade students from area schools in Dyersburg, Halls, Ripley and Covington met in Ripley to participate in the unique writing experience sponsored by the West Tennessee Writing Project.

The "ghostesses" were Jenny Brandon and Becky Hasselle, both teacher consultants from the West Tennessee Writing Project.

Brandon has been a second-grade teacher at Ripley Primary School for 13 years and serves as Project L.E.A.D. technology and writing teacher at Lauderdale Middle School. She is also the West Tennessee Writing Project technology liaison.

"The Young Writers Clubhouse provides an avenue for creative children who enjoy writing and developing their skills," said Brandon. "The students thrive in this environment, where they can share ideas and have an authentic audience. Time flies during our session. The students develop vocabulary, learn writing strategies, and write creatively using best-practices writing methods."

The clubhouse experience includes writing workshops, writing response groups, mini-lessons on content and editing strategies and one-to-one conferences with West Tennessee Writing Project teachers.

Armani Harris, a fifth-grader from Halls Elementary, enjoyed her first Young Writers Clubhouse experience so much she can't wait to return.

"This is really fun," said Harris. "I wish we could come back next week!"

Becky Hasselle has taught for 18 years, nine of those at Dyersburg Middle School. She is a gifted-education enrichment teacher and enjoys providing additional opportunities for children to learn outside of school.

"The Young Writers Clubhouse experience develops a joy for writing in a fun, non-threatening atmosphere," said Hasselle. "The students I bring from Dyersburg often continue to write all during our ride back home. They don't want to stop. It's fabulous to see their excitement!"

Erin Rausch, a sixth-grade student from Dyersburg Middle School also was a first-timer to the Young Writers Clubhouse experience.

"I liked all the activities but my favorite was writing stories from the Halloween people, places and things, and finishing the scary story starter," said Rausch. "I will come again. It's really fun!

"I am so excited to have the opportunity to offer the Young Writers Clubhouse at the UT Martin Ripley Center," said UTM Ripley Center Director Yolanda Jones. "It is so amazing to see such talented young writers express themselves through a series of writing experiences and activities. This is a wonderful program and I encourage young writers from the surrounding areas to join us for a day of creative writing at the next session in January."

The next Ripley Young Writers Clubhouse will be on Jan. 23. The theme is "Food for Thought (and Writing)." There will also be a Young Writers Clubhouse on December 5th in Jackson at the UT Martin Jackson Center with the theme of Holly Jolly Writing. To register online, visit http://www.utm.edu/departments/ecce/yout... More information may be found on the WTWP website: www.utm.edu/wtwp or by e-mailing program directors Becky Hasselle bhasselle@k12tn.net, Andi Neihoff andi.neihoff@ stmarys.tn.org or Brittan Sutherland sutherlandb@ k12tn.net