Last week, 15 Mid-Prairie 4th-6th graders met at Parkside YMCA for the 8th annual (1st virtual) Grant Wood AEA's Young Writers' Conference. The event started with a presentation by guest author, Kenneth Oppel. Kenneth Oppel and is an award-winning author from Canada who published his first novel in 1985 as a teenager. Kenneth's latest award-winning books include, The Nest and Inkling (a 2021 Iowa Children's Choice Award Nominee). Kenneth shared about his journey into writing as a career, followed by a question and answer session. Students were then broken up into two workshop rotations, led by Coe College Education majors. Rotations included "Blast Off!" where students learned to use creative skills to draw and describe their perfect planet, "Moral Dilemma: Beyond the Words" where students learned how to convince their audience of what they want them to read...beyond the words, and "Lights, Camera, Action!" where students explored what it means to be a director by organizing the sequence of events to create an engaging storyline that is film-ready. The day concluded with a sharing rotation. Each student read a prepared piece of original writing to the Mid-Prairie group and group members offered positive feedback.
