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Aspiring Wordsmiths

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 4, 2008

WESLEY CHAPEL - Lizzy Mapes pondered her options.

The 14-year-old Weightman Middle School student was writing a poem and needed three action words to describe a Jolly Rancher, a rather sedentary bit of hard candy available in multiple flavors.

Nothing came to mind so the teenager repeated the directions aloud to coax herself along: "Action words for Jolly Rancher."

Something clicked. She began to write.

All around her, nearly 30 other students were doing the same. They were part of Weightman's second-annual Writing Academy, where students with a passion for putting words on paper come together to improve their skills.

"We have some phenomenal writers who don't want to share," said Barbara Martin, a language arts teacher who helped oversee the academy.

Maybe they think it's nerdy. Maybe they're just bashful. The Writing Academy gives those writers a safe environment where they can let like-minded students hear the words they penned, Martin said.

"Standing up in front of everybody, that's probably the hardest," said Juan Crespo, 14, an eighth-grade student. "You always get that stage fright."

Last week, the school held the second of four workshops planned for the academy. The first was Jan. 18.

The school's language arts teachers recommended students for the academy. They weren't necessarily the top students in a class, but they were the ones who showed the most love for writing, Martin said.

Assisting with the academy is Pat Daniel, an associate professor of English education at the University of South Florida. She also is a director of the Tampa Bay Area Writing Project, which holds a summer writing institute for teachers.

Each day of Weightman's Writing Academy has two sessions, one for eighth-graders and one for sixth- and seventh-graders.

The students are divided into small groups at six tables, with an adult facilitator at each table to coax them along with words of encouragement.

Martin and Daniel served as facilitators. So did Freda Abercrombie, a language arts and gifted teacher; Greg Clapp, a language arts teacher; Ann Shanks, a reading coach; and Virginia Hinze, a reading specialist.

Creative Cues

On this particular day the focus was on using the senses, such as taste, smell and touch, to help improve writing. The students were given objects to sniff or things to taste to help spur memories or serve as a catalyst for creativity.

For Juan Crespo, the feel of velvet touched off the memory of his grandmother's death a year ago.

He wrote about learning she had died and about going to the funeral home. Then he wrote these words:

"I was crying in the middle of the room on the velvet carpet with my family and friends all around me."

Crespo said sometimes at home, when he's bored, he writes.

"I don't plan or anything," he said. "It just comes to me."

Nicole Diamantes read aloud her poem about a trip to a fair where she and a friend hopped on all the spinning rides until Nicole's motion sickness put an end to their revelry.

Jessica Jones recounted a tale of the Christmas when she was 10 and learned it was her turn to put the star atop the tree.

Teachers weren't just spectators and cheerleaders; they joined in. Abercrombie read a piece about spaghetti night at her house growing up when her stepmother prepared a sauce supposedly using an old family recipe.

Only later did Abercrombie learn the sauce everyone raved about was fresh from a jar.

For an exercise on the sense of taste, Martin decided to raise the bar. She asked the students to suggest adjectives that describe taste and they offered sour, tart, bitter, yucky, yummy, salty and gross.

Getting Past The Obvious

Martin told them to write down those words. She told them to draw a circle around the words. Then she told them to draw a line through the circle, creating the universal sign for "no."

The students would have to do better than the obvious.

"We aren't going to use these words," Martin said.

She gave the students Pop Rocks, a candy that makes a popping sound when it melts in your mouth and - in a writing bonus - provides an opportunity to use two senses, taste and hearing.

"Pop Rocks are awesome," said Katie Calkins, 14.

After sampling the Pop Rocks, the students offered these adjectives or descriptive phrases: "tingling," "mouth explosion," "fizzing," "exploding flavor" and "fireworks going off in your mouth."

Martin was pleased with the results.

"With these words, you really are giving these Pop Rocks a personality," Martin said.

Calkins said she likes to write, but usually her creative moments result in poems.

She said writing prose was one of her biggest challenges in the Writing Academy. Planning what she would do also ran contrary to her instincts.

"I usually don't plan," she said. "I just write as it comes."

Not today. Martin gave the students a plan.

She wanted them to write a cinquain, a five-line poem with a noun on the first line, two adjectives on the second line, three action words on the third line, four "feeling" words or a complete sentence that describes the noun on the fourth line, and one synonym, or other word that sums up the noun, on line five.

Those who strayed from the letter of the cinquain law didn't need to fear repercussions, though.

"The cinquain police will not come by and they won't arrest you; I swear," Martin assured one student.

Martin passed out a selection of candies that would serve as the students' inspiration.

That's when Lizzy Mapes began to mull the possibilities for her Jolly Rancher. She came up with this:

Jolly Rancher

Opaque, glossy

Solid, smokin', slippery

A bonfire in your mouth

Cinnamon

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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