The voices coming from Caledonia are so loud you can hear them from anywhere in the state. Assuming you have a radio.
Thirty three students from Gina Guess” fifth-grade class at Caledonia Elementary hopped a bus Thursday bound for a recording booth at Mississippi State University”s Bost Extension Center. The students were chosen by the Mississippi Writing and Thinking Institute to record 36 original writings to be broadcast on Mississippi Public Broadcasting as part of MPB”s daily Rural Voices Radio feature.
Guess, who works part time as a teacher consultant for the Writing and Thinking Institute, which partners with MPB to produce Rural Voices, says she anticipated four or five students would be selected to record their writings, not 33.
“It”s an overwhelming amount of students to be selected from one class,” said Guess.
It”s a testament to the quality of work coming out of Guess” class. She”s producing a flock of young writers by having them jot down fleeting thoughts to writing their own children”s books.
Beth Greene, a teacher at Caledonia and mother of Miller Greene, one of three students to have two selections chosen, said her son”s writing has improved immensely under Guess” direction.
“Before he could follow the rules, but it just kind of came to life,” said Greene of her son”s writing.
The writings-turned-recordings were the result of a writers” marathon organized by Guess just before Thanksgiving. She turned her students loose, with adult supervision, to choose any spot on campus where they could think freely and asked them to write about a memory or special experience.
Cameron Blair wrote about her first experience on a school basketball team.
“It”s about how I felt. How my expressions were. My coach putting pressure on us and our teammates working together. It”s really about teamwork,” said Blair.
Hunter Nenneau wrote about a trip his family took to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
“I wrote about from when we started the drive through Vegas to the Grand Canyon. So it”s what we saw on the way,” he said.
After the students returned with their first drafts, Guess walked them through three weeks of mini-lessons, each aimed at sharpening their works. One lesson focused on “vivid verbs,” another on word choice and so on.
Once the edits were complete, Guess submitted the works to the institute. When she received word which pieces had been selected to air, the students began practicing reading their work aloud.
“I”ve been practicing a lot. It”s about 40 seconds long,” said Parker Humber of his story about a fishing trip.
A quick survey of students revealed some understandable nerves about being recorded, but more excitement. Most are looking at the experience as a validation of their writing talents.
“It made me feel really special. Like my writing was important,” said Taylor Dodson of being selected to record.
Dodson, who wrote about church camp, wasn”t a big fan of writing before Guess” class.
“I had just written when I had to at school,” she said. But now, “I love it. It”s just like putting all my thoughts on paper. It”s really special.”
Abbey Windle agrees. She took the opportunity to tell the story of an incident from the third grade when she was sent to a coach”s office after getting in trouble.
“It”s a good feeling when you get to write about experiences in your life,” said Windle.
Rural voices radio broadcasts each day at 3:28 p.m. on MPB, 89.9 FM locally. The recordings from Guess” class will be broadcast one at a time over the next several months.
Guess will receive a schedule at the end of each month providing broadcast dates for the coming month.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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