The moral of the story is ...

(Photo by Kris Todd) Spencer High School senior Monica Harmon reads "The Stealing Hands," a book she wrote and illustrated about a boy whose hands became bigger after stealing but returned to normal size when he returned the items, to Fairview third grade students Monday morning. Fellow Creative Writing class enrollee and SHS senior Kyle Fitch is shown patiently waiting to read his children's story to the same youth. [Order this photo]

As the Spencer High School students enrolled in Michele Dirkx's Creative Writing class huddled in Fairview's hallway near the elementary school building's office Monday morning prior to reading the children's stories they'd written and illustrated, they were instructed by their teacher to do four things:

* To read with enthusiasm.

* To smile at those listening to their tales.

* To use voice inflection.

* To ask questions and receive answers from the students hearing their children's story.

The SHS seniors and juniors then entered their respective kindergarten, first, second and third grade classrooms, and stories ranging from baseball players to fictional creatures named orllos unfolded.

Several of the high school students wrote stories about things they'd encountered as a youth and overcome. SHS junior Samantha Blume, for example, wrote about Billy the Scaredy Bat, who routed his fear of the dark.

Megan Zenkovich told the tale of a little boy who lost his favorite marble and thought he'd have a really bad day at school, but ended up having a really good day. When Zenkovich's muse found his supposedly lost marble at home that afternoon, he realized he didn't need to depend on something special to make his day better.

The SHS senior recalled sleeping with a small dog following her father's death nearly four years ago, but forgetting about the comforting trinket as time passed. A smile then graced Zenkovich's face as she remembered SHS students reading to her as an elementary student and her thinking it was "the coolest thing ever."

Kori Haburn wrote about a caterpillar who couldn't wait to become a butterfly because he wanted to fly. She illustrated her finding-your-way story with watercolor painted drawings.

Fellow SHS senior Ashley Loerts based her children's story about a fledgling bird who had trouble flying, got glasses and then was made fun of by his peers, on the Chicken Little story she heard as a youth. The moral of Loerts' tale for Spencer elementary students was to have courage and to believe in themselves.

Jessica Howerton, who penned and then illustrated the "Lying Lola" story with colorful clip art pieces, told the tale of a young girl who started her first day at a new school and lied about what her mother's profession was. Howerton, who moved to Spencer herself as a third grader, readily acknowledged that she did not make lying a practice of habit. She also told the elementary boys and girls who heard her story Monday morning, "Don't be afraid to be who you are."

Mary Gustin wrote, "Do You Know What an Orllo Looks Like," which was comparable to what the late Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as the beloved Dr. Seuss, wrote in his famous make-believe children's tales.

SHS junior Mary Beth Quattlebaum's story detailed Penny Pingleton's not wanting to go to camp. But once she did and realized how much fun it was, Quattlebaum helped to instill the philosophy of trying new things with the elementary students.

Lessons learned

This marks the 15th year Dirkx has taught Creative Writing and the 30th time groups of SHS students have presented the stories they've crafted in the semester course to Spencer's elementary students.

(Photo by Kris Todd) Spencer High School senior Ashley Loerts worked with colored pencils Thursday to complete the illustrations for her children's story about a young bird who had trouble flying, got glasses and was made fun of by his peers, but eventually realized that flying was more important than what he looked like on the outside. Students in Michele Dirkx's Creative Writing class practiced reading their 10-page children's stories aloud in class Friday in preparation for reading them to kindergarten through third grade students at Fairview, Lincoln, Johnson and Sacred Heart this week. [Order this photo]

"When I started this unit, I wanted a way for students to have the appropriate audience -- where they're not just writing for their teacher or writing for their peers," Dirkx said. " ... The short story unit was really hard to have an appropriate audience, because it's just me and their classmates. That's why I thought the children's story would be great -- and a good way for elementary kids to see that you can write, draw and be creative all the way up through being a senior."

"My students enjoy listening to the high school students read their stories to them," Brenda Griffin, a Fairview second grade teacher who has heard the SHS fictional works of art delivered in her elementary classroom over the last 15 years, said following yesterday's readings. "Encouraging the high school students to read their creative stories to my students allows the younger students to observe former elementary students become great writers. I share with my students the idea that if they work very hard in elementary they can one day come back to my class to read their creative stories with younger students. It is always a pleasure to have former first graders visit my classroom to share their stories."

Over the last 15 years, the children's story unit this course covers has provided "a-ha" moments for several SHS students, helping them to better realize what careers they'd like to pursue following high school.

Meanwhile, the learning process for the secondary-level students to date has had them bringing favorite books from their childhood to class. Next, Dirkx checked out 40 children's books from the Spencer Public Library. The SHS students were required to read, research and analyze them.

"It's really about reading children's stories like a writer, rather than a reader," the Creative Writing instructor said. " ... That's been the real emphasis of this unit."

Following numerous rough drafts and two final drafts of their children's stories, the SHS students were required to create a mini lesson.

"I tell them they're playing teacher in this," Dirkx explained. "They go in and have some questions about their stories, so it's not just them sitting down and reading something to the elementary students; they're interacting with them and really getting the kids to think about their book and posing comprehensive questions at the end to link it to their own experiences when they finish."

* In addition to this children's story unit, SHS students taking Dirkx's Creative Writing course will also be responsible for writing and performing a one-act play for their classmates, as well as presenting poetry they've written in class. The class' efforts will be culminated at the end of the school year in a published booklet featuring each student's best works.