Author Teaches Upper St. Clair Students the Pleasures of Writing

In celebration of National Library Week, the PTSO funded a visit from West Virginia author, poet and storyteller Marc Harshman for two student presentations at Upper St. Clair High School on April 28.

Harshman, a former elementary school teacher, is the other of eleven children's picture books.

His first presentation consisted of a creative writing workshop for students that addressed the need for detail in the creation of convincing writing. Harshman demonstrated to the students how to flesh out a word to make it "pop" in a story. He had the students describe a baseball glove encouraging them to use their senses. After some brainstorming, the word "glove" became much better described as a "leather, sweat-stained mitt."

Next, Harshman engaged the students in a pre-writing activity about a physical or emotional scar. The audience was asked to close their eyes as Harshman led them through a visualization process. Students took some time to write, before Harshman had them close their eyes again and see the scene using their senses. The students continued to write. Afterward, Harshman explained the revision process and stressed the importance of using connecting words, investigating paragraph breaks, fleshing out keywords and using different colored pens to highlight revisions.

"Students walked out of the workshop with at least one page of writing — and possibly a story in the making," said Debbie Rentschler, an Upper St. Clair High School librarian.

Following the creative writing session, Harshman held a large group presentation to help the students learn the pleasures of reading and writing. He presented slides of several of his picture books, retold the story in the vernacular and discussed the literal background of stories, as well as the "stories" of his creation. Harshman concluded by providing answers to questions about what it takes to become a published author.

"This in-person school visit by an esteemed local author provides students with an invaluable opportunity to learn how to apply critical creative writing techniques to their own writings," Rentschler said. "The students and staff greatly appreciate the generosity of the PTSO in sponsoring this worthwhile event."