Fourth-grade students at Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School participated in the annual Writing Workshop on June 19.
Spearheaded by fourth-grade teacher Ana Mara Strattner, the day included opportunities for students to work on their writing in small groups and receive feedback and advice from published authors, including two who presented to the entire grade.
Students had a chance to learn and ask questions when authors Lauren Tarshi and Tommy Greenwald discussed their own writing processes.
Greenwald said he has always enjoyed reading and writing and was discouraged when he discovered his three children were not interested in books.
“I spent 10 years trying to get my kids to read,” he said. “So, I decided to write the kind of book my kids would like to read.”
Appropriately, the title of his first book was “The Boy Who Hated Reading,” which featured a character named for his three sons, Charlie Joe Jackson.
Charlie Joe Jackson has gone on new adventures in Greenwald’s subsequent books, including a quest for extra credit and an eventful summer vacation.
Greenwald told students it’s fine if they don’t like to read yet and promised, “You will find a book, an article…something that you will love.”“For those who already like reading – keep reading, you are already ahead of the game,” Greenwald said.
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