Western Hills writing camp wraps up successful week

Jen Cowart
Posted 7/30/14

After its first year in Cranston, the Rhode Island Writing Project Writing Camp has gotten a thumbs up from the many students, parents and instructors who were involved in the week-long event.

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Western Hills writing camp wraps up successful week

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After its first year in Cranston, the Rhode Island Writing Project Writing Camp has gotten a thumbs up from the many students, parents and instructors who were involved in the week-long event.

The camp, which took place from July 7-11 at Western Hills Middle School, was designed to help student writers entering grades six through nine, and was open to both proficient writers and those who were more reluctant, looking to hone their writing skills in a no-pressure, summer-fun type of setting.

Several Cranston educators were involved as instructors at the camp, including Cranston East’s Andrea DiCiccio and Western Hills teachers Stephanie Kaffenberger, Henry Maine and Matthew Blackburn. The camp was part of a larger Writing Camp program sponsored by the Rhode Island Writing Project in partnership with Cranston Public Schools, and this year was the first year using a Cranston school as a satellite location for the camp normally held at Rhode Island College.

Though the camp was a single week in duration, the instructors and students managed to pack a lot of punch into the five half-day sessions, covering many different types of writing styles and genres, such as “Six-Word Memoirs,” “Procedural Writing,” “Poetry,” “Argumentative Writing” and “Narrative Writing,” filling binders and journals with their work as well as with sheets of helpful information to assist them with their writing in the future. In addition to the writing styles, the students also learned about a variety of literary devices such as personification, metaphors, similes and alliteration.

The writing techniques were covered in a fun, laid-back, low-risk manner, but according to Maine, one of the most important secrets to the week’s success was the fact that everyone present was writing that week.

“For that week we operated as a community of writers, sharing, teaching and learning from one another. When the kids wrote, we wrote, we all shared our writing as well and I must say, I was blown away with what was shared, it was fantastic,” Maine said.

Another secret to the camp’s success, in Maine’s opinion, was the fact that the writers knew that the week was not being graded – that they could write and share and not worry about failing.

“There were no grades involved, failure was not an option, and when that’s the case, the kids are more at ease and their writing is more natural and not forced,” Maine said. “As a writing teacher, I can tell you from experience that there is such a thing as trying too hard and often the result is just the opposite of what was intended.”

One camp participant about to enter her freshman year of high school, Mackenzie Blake, agrees with Maine.

“I was able to express myself without feeling the pressure of being judged about what I was writing or how I felt about certain things,” she said.

Blake’s mother, Kristin, could tell that her daughter truly enjoyed the time she spent at Writing Camp, just by the excited anticipation that was evident at the start of each day.

“I know she really enjoyed it. She never gets up early and she got up every morning without complaint! She thoroughly enjoyed it,” she said.

Parent Stephanie Kaffenberger had a similar experience as Blake, but with a unique perspective as both a mother whose child was a student at the camp and as a teacher working there.

“My son, Domenic was literally dreading writing camp and felt like he was being punished. He said, ‘I got straight A’s all four quarters, and you’re making me go to summer school.’ I tried to explain to him that it wasn’t summer school, it was meant to be fun, and he said, ‘You have a warped sense of what fun is,’” Kaffenberger said. “That being said, I was amazed at the enthusiasm of many of the participants right from the beginning, and I could see the reluctance in some of the students whose parents made them go. The funny part is that by the end of the first day, both groups were excited about returning and all of them wrote in their feedback that they would definitely come back next year and that they would even recommend a friend.”

Domenic enjoyed so many parts of the camp that in the end, he couldn’t choose just one favorite thing about it.

“My favorite part was making the paper airplanes and writing a ‘how to’ about it. I liked the ‘Magic Notes’ because they made you feel good about your writing and I liked sharing my writing so I could show off my pieces,” he said.

Stephanie Kaffenberger also cited the “Magic Notes” as a favorite activity of hers, and described the activity in detail.

“We each created mailboxes out of brown paper bags, and we left messages for one another about our writing pieces, things that interested us and more. We weren’t allowed to open them until the last day when we were on our way home, so the students and the instructors were so excited to read them,” she said. “Writing is thoughtful and intimate, and when you share it with others it’s like sharing a tiny piece of your soul. There’s a vulnerability about it, so when you create a writing community that does this you become bonded in a way that’s indescribable.”

Fellow camper Libby Gately appreciated the opportunities that the camp gave her to do some creative writing, as well as the more academic writing that was taught.

“I liked writing camp because it was fun and helped me keep up with my creative writing skills,” she said. “My favorite things included the writing marathon and the journal writing in the morning. Also, it was fun hanging out with my friends and meeting new ones.”

According to Blackburn, the “writing marathons” were a favorite activity among both the instructors and students as the week went on.

“We took our notebooks on the go and found inspiration in various school rooms and out in nature,” Blackburn said.

Another favorite camp activity was “shopping” at the “poetry supermarket.”

“This was a cool activity where we placed song lyrics and poetry all around the room and students ‘shopped’ for words or phrases to mix together to create new and original poems,” he said.

The final day of camp on July 11 included visits from several guests and speakers, including Cranston Schools Superintendent Dr. Judith Lundsten, Dina DeCristofaro, co-director of the RI Writing Project, and Cranston Herald reporter Jen Cowart. On that day, the students were given the opportunity to provide the organizers and instructors with feedback about their writing camp experience.

“The feedback survey on the last day was 100-percent positive,” Maine said. “It was so successful that we are planning to put together a three year cycle so that students who enjoyed it and would like to do it again the next year can do so and have a brand new experience and learn different types of writing than they learned the summer before. We’re not just looking for new participants next year, repeat customers are welcome.”

With this year as the pilot year for the camp, all of the instructors agree that the RI Writing Project’s Writing Camp will have a bright future in Cranston.

“Working with Matt, Andrea and Stephanie was terrific,” Maine said. “They are all knowledgeable professionals who can relate to students in a way that makes learning fun. We all brought different ideas to the table and were able to construct a week-long curriculum that proved to be an overwhelming success. I believe [this program] will have a long and successful future in Cranston Schools.”

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