U of A writers help West students refine literary skills

U of A writers help West students refine literary skills

English classes learn self- expression, problem- solving techniques

West Memphis School District Once again, the University of Arkansas sent two grad students to West Junior High as part of a program to refine the writing skills of its students.

Molly Rector, of Little Rock, and Scott Ray, of Southaven, Miss., visited pre-AP English/Language Arts classes, in order to open the doors to selfexpression, awareness, articulation and creative problem-solving all through the writing and sharing of poetry.

'This is my third or fourth time coming to West Memphis and I love it, it's great,' said Rector.

'Almost everybody in this room has done this program before, so it's all about driving past fundamentals.'

Since its inception in 1973, Writers In The Schools has conducted 1,880 two-day work shops, visiting 739 unique schools and institutions.

Rector said the goal for the students is to gain confidence with written and verbal communication skills and to take risks in invention and to experiment with creative problem- solving.

'I think with poetry you have to combine fundamentals with digging deeper in creativity,' Rector added. 'Fundamentals always go deep anyway.

We try to teach them five basic rules to live by when writing poetry.'

The rules Rector and Ray wrote on the board in Allison Covington's second period pre-AP class were: 1. Be concrete 2. Be specific 3. Use the five senses; taste, touch, smell, sight and sound 4. No rhyming 5. Be weird 'We want them to get past what they think a poem has to be,' Rector added.

WITS is made possible through a partnership with the UA's Graduate School and also in part by the schools and institutions they visit and by the support of private donors.

By Billy Woods