On Oct. 7, the climax of Chardon High School teacher Joanne DeShetler’s annual student story project arrived.
Annual Student Story Project
On Oct. 7, the climax of Chardon High School teacher Joanne DeShetler’s annual student story project arrived. The month-long project has become a tradition each year for DeShetler’s Chardon High School English I Honors students together with all kindergarten students at Park Elementary School.
Via the kickoff, which took place in September, the high school students were paired with the kindergartners to gather basic biographical information on the young students – taking notes on all their favorites, hobbies and more. After that first meet-up, each high school student began the creative work of writing, illustrating and binding a children’s fiction story that incorporates his/her kindergarten pal as the main character.
At the big unveiling on Oct. 7 in Park Auditorium, the high school students presented the finished stories to their respective kindergarten pals and read to them.
“It was a graded assignment but also gave us a chance to use our creativity and have fun with it,” said Brooke Misch, an eighth-grade student in DeShetler’s class. “My kindergarten partner, Bryanna, likes fall and having sleepovers with her best friend. She had smiled and mentioned she does not get along with her older brother, so I made her brother the antagonist when I wrote the story ‘The Fun Fall Sleepover.’”
Other stories crafted by DeShetler’s students included such titles as “The Christmas Tomatoes,” “Stormy Weather,” “A Fallen Kingdom of Melons,” “The Case of the Missing Crayons” and “The Dashing Flashing Lack of Flavor.”
“It was great because I got a story about my favorite animal,” said kindergartner Edward Yeomans.
Rachel Boehnlein, parent of kindergartner Christopher Boehnlein, said her son Christopher came home so proud of the story written for him, saying “He felt so special someone listened to him, made him into a special character, and loved the pictures used to illustrate the story. He has read it with everyone in our family at least twice. Such a special project for the kids, and I hope [for] the older kids who wrote the stories. They should know these little guys treasure the work they did and made them feel so special.”
Language Arts Live!
Chardon High School teachers Lynn Monaco and Heather Biernacki welcomed Allison Zeiger, Kevin Farina, Mary Beth Rus, Madelon Horvath and Regina Rosace into their senior English language arts courses on Oct. 4 for this year’s Language Arts Live! speaker panel. Originally conceived by CHS language arts teacher Dawn Weaver, Language Arts Live! is a speaker and resource program providing students with examples of how the knowledge they acquire in the classroom translates to the professional world and life beyond high school.
Each year, seniors, in preparation for college and career readiness, explore technical and career writing with the help of mentors employed in the very professions to which the seniors aspire. Via the Language Arts Live! program, parents and other community professionals visit the classrooms and participate in a panel discussion regarding the use of language and communication skills in various settings.
The program’s professionals discuss with the students the importance of effective communication skills, ideally motivating them to be effective communicators themselves. The objectives are for students to be able to better understand the various reading, writing and communication skills they are currently learning and to then be able to apply these skills meaningfully to their lives.
“The key to the success of the Language Arts Live! series is parental and community involvement which reinforces the school’s CHARDON core values,” said Monaco.
