As a team of fourth-grade newspaper reporters learn more about their craft, they’re drawing upon the knowledge of their older counterparts from the newly launched Nipmuc Writing Center.
The two groups met at Clough Elementary School earlier this month with a dozen Nipmuc writing fellows working in small groups with 11 Clough Newspaper Club members.
“This collaborative project shows what meaningful cross-district collaboration looks like,” Clough School Principal Liz Garden said. “To see our students in action was incredible as they worked to improve their writing and develop their skills, based on the feedback and insights they received from the older students.”
The collaboration was seeded in November, shortly after Clough Elementary launched its newspaper club and the Nipmuc Writing Fellows team formed at the newly established Nipmuc Writing Center. By December, Clough’s newspaper club published its first edition, allowing the high school students to review the younger students’ work before the first in-person session.
The two groups met for the first time Feb. 5 at Clough Elementary, kicking off the session with a brief icebreaker before focusing on crafting engaging headlines. Writing Fellows explained the difference between straightforward headlines and those designed to capture a reader’s attention. Conversations then centered on improving structure, clarity and impact of news writing.
Nipmuc Writing Center adviser Melissa Kinkela created a presentation outlining the latest student articles. Students formed into groups, sharing stories on their iPads through Google Classroom. The high schoolers provided feedback and editing suggestions
“All of the students were extremely engaged,” Clough teacher Esther Willinski said. “The conversations focused on the article that they were working on, and the high schoolers proved to be amazing mentors to my fourth graders, giving positive feedback and kindly moving them in the right direction, suggesting some changes to their articles with the goal of making them better.”
The collaboration lasted about an hour and ended with a pizza lunch. The Nipmuc students also brought small gifts, including Nipmuc t-shirts, for the Clough students.
“We’re glad to see our students make an impact on the younger generation from the community,” Nipmuc Co-Principal John Clements said. “Being able to share and explain their writing knowledge is a sign of learning that really sticks and it reflects the quality of education that they receive here.”
(This article was contributed by the Mendon-Upton Regional School District and edited for style and length.)
