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Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Boston Herald reporter and New York Times best-selling author Dave Wedge recently visited seventh graders at Thurston Middle School.
Thanks to Darcie Fisher and Westwood Public Schools for contributing this news to Westwood Minute.
Reading and writing are at the heart of a good education, but becoming a writer or book author has many facets. How do you come up with ideas for a book or story? What kind of research is necessary? What is the central theme? How do you develop a character? Westwood’s Thurston Middle School recently held its annual TMS Writers Conference. The day-long event brings together the entire seventh grade class with 10 local authors, and is designed to help facilitate better writing as well as to spark a love for reading.
Perhaps the most well-known of the authors is former Boston Herald reporter and New York Times best-selling author Dave Wedge. Wedge has written several books, including “Boston Strong: A City’s Triumph Over Tragedy,” which inspired the movie “Patriots Day” about the Boston Marathon Bombing.
“I tell the kids about my journey and how I became a writer and reporter,” said Wedge. “I talk to them about the news and how that’s changed and how different it is from when I started, as well as how I became an author. It’s about sharing these stories and telling them about people like Pete Frates and Tom Brady.”
Wedge’s storytelling had students on the edge of their seats and prompted many questions.
“I liked learning about all the different people he’s met and all the different stories he’s written about,” said seventh-grader Zaid Plotkin. “I found how he got all the information most interesting.”
Students started the day as a group listening to a panel discussion where they could pose questions to the 10 authors. They then broke up and each student was able to choose two hour-long sessions to attend. The workshop ended with a reflection session and students had the opportunity to have a copy of one of the visiting authors’ books signed thanks to a partnership with Porter Square Books.
Photo courtesy of Westwood Public Schools. Young Adult Fiction writer, Desmond Hall, shared his expertise on story structure with seventh graders at Thurston Middle School's Writers Conference.As a librarian, I appreciate that students are interacting with authors and learning about the writing process through exposure to a wide range of genres and writing styles,” said Thurston Middle School Librarian Canice Thynne. “Perhaps this makes them see [writing] as something that’s doable. They also get some great writing ideas, because writing can be daunting.”
Desmond Hall is a Young Adult Action Fiction writer who originally hails from Jamaica. His session focused on the inciting incident of the story. “When the kids really take whatever the lesson plan is – and my thing is story structure – and when they get that and they apply it, and you see it in their eyes that they get it. That’s the best.”
“We are grateful to these talented authors for sharing their time and expertise with our students,” said TMS Principal Michael Redmon. “Writing is a critical component of learning and I’m proud that our team here at TMS recognizes that and provides opportunities like this workshop to ensure our students are exposed to writing outside the normal classroom setting.”
