Children’s writing program promotes creativity at Claremont

“I’m an author!,” shouted fourth grade student John Coro upon receiving his newly published book in the mail from Amazon.

John’s book, titled Max Vs. Dogcat, is the product of Written Out Loud—an innovative children’s writing program that was implemented at Ossining Union Free School District’s Claremont School.

“For John, joining this program was lifechanging. He’s now a published author and so proud of his story,” said Literacy Coach Cori Jackson.

Written Out Loud, founded by Josh Shelov, an Emmy-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, gets children to fall in love with writing by focusing on storytelling and creativity through familiarity. From Harry Potter to Star Wars to the Marvel Universe, the overall story structures in these bestselling series utilize the same tools and techniques that appear across generations. With that in mind, kids collaborate to write their own novels inspired by their favorite shows, movies, books, and video games.

“It fills the gap in creative writing and provides students with the opportunity to let their creativity shine. This program could be the way we get students to become writers later in life,” Ms. Jackson said.

In 2020, Claremont piloted the program with a small group of fourth graders. Teachers were asked to recommend specific students, but not necessarily their strongest writers, because one of the goals of the program is to motivate children to improve their writing skills. Once selected, they were divided into three groups consisting of four to six students.

“We knew John was a perfect candidate for the program given his passion for writing, which was evident due to the many stapled pages of handwritten texts he would always give to our school library media specialist,” said Claremont Principal Ferzeen Shamsi.

Each group was assigned a story director, including Josh, who guided the budding authors throughout the entire process. They began by asking students to think about their favorite stories and discuss what they like about the settings, characters, dialogue, etc. The children then brainstormed original story ideas together and were given a story mission to complete in between sessions.

When COVID-19 arrived in March, the program went virtual, disrupting the in-person, collaborative model. At first, the constraints of meeting virtually seemed like a setback, however, over the course of 20 weeks and 25 sessions, the program became an excellent way to combat COVID isolation, and teachers noticed the students had further developed their teamwork and listening skills.

“All the children were so excited after every session. They would say to us, ‘We can’t tell you what we’re writing yet but you’re not going to believe the chapter we wrote this week!’ They really kept us in suspense right up until the end,” Ms. Shamsi said.

Through the power of storytelling, the student writers persevered and remained motivated to attend each session, creating their very own novel chapter by chapter. The result was three published books, which are now available in the Claremont library and for sale on Amazon.

“I think a unique part about this experience is that the children were given the opportunity to learn how to listen, collaborate, and work within a team setting at such an early age. They learned how to take a classmate’s idea and say, maybe we can go with that,” Ms. Shamsi continued.

Auni Rodriguez, who co-authored Max Vs. Dogcat with John and Royon Levy, was initially reluctant to join the group. But his teacher thought differently and felt it might be the thing he needed to get him to enjoy the writing process.

“I didn’t like writing. But after it ended, it changed me. That’s how I began writing my own books,” Auni reflected.

Zev Leventhal authored The Book of Life, Glorf and Death together with Baylee Salazar, Easton Leonowicz, Grayden Metz, Melanie Japa, Olivia Costabile. An excerpt from his part of the story, which uses timeless comedic tropes centered around aliens and gremlins, is featured on the Storyteller Spotlight section of the Written Out Loud website.

“I like every comment that my teacher made to make my writing better. It made me a better writer,” said Zev.

Andrea Naula, who penned The Adventures of a Werewolf alongside Ava Bruno, Daisy Rivas, Emma Rosales, Hailey Cerbone, Marcella Carter, appreciated the collaborative nature of the program.

“I like how the group helped to write and revise the chapters together,” Andrea noted.

To celebrate the literary achievement of her student writers, Ms. Jackson arranged a party in May for the children and their families with story director Josh in attendance. The young authors signed copies of their books and posed for pictures.

“Josh was so excited to meet the kids. He had only known them through Zoom meetings so for him to see their proud little faces was such an honor,” said Ms. Jackson.

“The beauty of this incredible program is that all our students were able to walk away with something, where the outcome was better than what you expected,” said Ms. Shamsi.