Class Date:
Tuesdays, Jan. 27, Feb. 3, 10, 24, March 3, 10, 17, and 7th
Class Time:
4:30-5:30 P.M. ET
Class Size:
8-10 students
Age Group:
4th-6th Graders
Location:
PoWeR! Book Bags studio, 13606 S W Bay Shore Dr, Traverse City.
Sometimes when we write, we write to be heard! Whether it’s for an audience of one or for a crowd, the ideas we put into words on a page give shape to voices that come alive when we say them out loud. If you’re a quiet person looking for a place to say the things you want to say, join us to get started! Maybe you already love to use your voice, and you’re looking for more ways to stand up and express yourself. This would be a good place to do that, too! Maybe you just love to write, and are curious about what it would be like to perform your work out loud.
In this class, we will explore ways people use writing to make their voices heard and we will listen to the voices of other people, places, things, and times. While the primary focus will be poetry, we will also experiment with other forms of writing such as journaling, letter writing, and character dialogue, and with strategies to spark our imaginations in ways that help us explore creative perspectives and ideas that matter. Things might get noisy at times as we play around with ways to share our creations with each other and different audiences! The goal is to create spoken word art that is as much fun to perform as it is to read and write.
All students will have the opportunity to publish their writing in the 2026 NWS Literary Journal.
Derek Miller writes poetry and has taught and written about teaching. He spent 29 years teaching language arts to students grades 7-12. Having retired as a full-time classroom teacher, he enjoys sharing his passion for writing with other writers and with writing teachers in his role as a teacher-consultant. He has presented on several occasions at both Michigan Council of Teachers of English and National Council of Teachers of English annual conventions, and he has authored chapters and articles published in Growing Writers, part of the the NCTE Principles to Practice series, the Language Arts Journal of Michigan, and various other online publications. His poetry has appeared in a number of small press periodicals. Derek enjoys helping students reflect on how far they’ve come, how much they’ve grown, learned, and accomplished. For hobbies, he enjoys birdwatching, bicycling, hiking, reading, and – of course – writing, especially when shared with friends and family.
