Class: Storytelling (English Elective)
Grades: 11th and 12th
Teacher: Debra Ellman
On Tuesday, May 3, the Storytelling class went on a field trip to Pine Manor PreSchool to read their stories aloud to the children. The project was to write and illustrate a children’s picture book by either working independently or with a partner.
Alongside English teacher Debra Ellman, three additional faculty members joined the class. Danielle da Silva (who brought her younger daughter Louisa), Tina Farrell, and Cynthia Monasterios, who brought an anthology of stories her son Dante had written using solely illustrations.
“I also created a book because I wanted to be sure in the time allotted they’d be able to accomplish the task. Although I self-illustrated one copy of my book, I “hired” (via a lego set) Cynthia’s son Danté to illustrate another copy of it, and his drawings are amazing.” – Debra Ellman, US English Teacher
The panelists read aloud their favorite books and shared what criteria they consider in selecting books for the kids. They also responded to students’ questions. The preschool students at Pine Manor enjoyed the reading.
- Ella Leighton ’22
- Grace King ’22
- Peter Coughlin ’22
- Will Cohen ’22
- Rose Levine ’23
- Maddy Sclar ’22
- Olivia Larsen ’22
- Lucy Carlson-Pietraszek ’22
- Juliana Barbosa ’22
- Moses Gordon ’22
- Lindsey Wolk ’22
More about this course: Each of us has an inner world of images, memories, and dreams. This internal landscape holds unlimited possibilities for storytelling. This course will help you explore your personal mythology, discover your own voices, and polish your writing skills. Through a variety of exercises, you will shape memory and imagination into elements of the short story: character, setting, dramatic structure, point of view, and theme. You will workshop your work both in class and by making use of Buzzword, a web-based program that offers a comprehensive editing platform.