About 826michigan

About the Program

This book contains writing from 826michigan’s New Monuments virtual field trip program. During this program, students explore what a monument is and can be, dreaming up new possibilities for local ways to honor heroes and specialties, from the playful (coney dogs and magical creatures) to the serious (activists and abolitionists). In collaboration with 826michigan volunteers, students envision and draw these new possibilities, and then write about why they think their new monuments should be built. This project is based on the work by student writers at our sister chapter 826 New Orleans and their publication Courageous, Eccentric, Diverse: New Monuments for New Orleans.

A monument to Lawton Elementary

Group 1

At Lawton Elementary, we have kind teachers and friends. It is a good school because you get to learn a lot of things and spend time with friends, and sometimes there are special days like parties. Our friends are nice, they help us, and they play with us. At Lawton, we learn division, multiplication, subtraction, addition, and decimals. We also learn about how worms dry out in the sun and how they help eat the plants. We learn about historic people like Rosa Parks who was brave. Ms. Pike, a third grade teacher at Lawton, is special because she never gives up on you. She also has lots of friends. The monument to Lawton will be a little building with an open book on top. The book will have big words in it. The words will say, “Learning for all, leaders for life.” The monument will be made of the same bricks as the school and will be the same height as the school. There will be a blue leopard on top of the book, and the entire monument will have leopard spots and colors.

A monument to Sports

Group 2

Sports are worldwide. They are inspiring and challenge people to do things. There are sports heroes like Jackie Robinson, who was a great player who was an advocate for black players. He helped make worlds of change so black and white players could play together. Sports can be fun and help people be active and outside. They get you moving. Being outside helps your eyes see better and gives you vitamin D! For the monument, you could use sports equipment/objects and combine them all together to make a statue - you could even make them fly like in Harry Potter. Maybe you could use a team logo like the Lawton Leopards and include a jersey. You could include basketball, soccer, and baseball, and tennis as well as volleyball. A leopard could be holding the equipment. The monument could be made out of gold, concrete, stone, titanium, and metal. It should be made of a heavy material which will make it sturdy and hard to move. It should be a pretty material.

The monument should be at Lawton Elementary School, on top of the building next to the doors, near the bench at the front, or in the back by the gaga pit. It could also be placed in Japan, where some sports were created.

Group 3

Do you love playing games on a Nintendo Switch? Without inventors there wouldn’t be a Nintendo Switch! Or computers, light bulbs, iPads, shoes, or TVs?! Our houses wouldn’t have electricity, lights, or basically everything. Our idea is to make a monument to celebrate inventors.

Inventors come up with ideas! And figure out ways to make their ideas. Without inventors, we wouldn’t have anything made. The person who invented Nintendo Switch also came up with lots of games, and this invention makes our lives more fun. People who create ideas make our world better and our lives more interesting! They used creativity to invent cool things! We want to give them credit for their ideas. Our monument would be a series of statues made out of metal and painted. They would have plaques explaining the invention and the person who invented it. These would be downtown Ann Arbor. The inventions would be tilted to the side. They would have a dark gold base and light gold on top. They will have a small gate around for safety. Please consider making our monuments of inventors. These people are very important. We hope our monuments about inventors and inventions will inspire people to make their own new invention!

Design Your Own Monument

WHO or WHAT would you like to memorialize?

_______________________________________________________________ Opening sentence to hook the reader’s attention:

_______________________________________________________________ What are some facts to support your proposal?

_______________________________________________________________ Share your feelings about why the proposed monument is important.

_______________________________________________________________ Describe your vision of the monument. Where would it be located? What does it look like? What is it made of?

_______________________________________________________________ Conclusion to support your proposal:

Design Your Own Monument

WHO or WHAT would you like to memorialize?

_______________________________________________________________ Opening sentence to hook the reader’s attention:

_______________________________________________________________ What are some facts to support your proposal?

_______________________________________________________________ Share your feelings about why the proposed monument is important.

_______________________________________________________________ Describe your vision of the monument. Where would it be located? What does it look like? What is it made of?

_______________________________________________________________ Conclusion to support your proposal:

inspires school-aged students to write with skill and confidence in collaboration with adult volunteers in their communities. Our writing and tutoring programs uphold a culture of creativity and imagination and support students in establishing strong habits of mind. Through publication and community engagement, we provide students with an authentic and enthusiastic audience for their writing. Our programs provide an energizing creative outlet for students and meaningful volunteer opportunities for community members.

ONLINE LEARNING LAB

For the 2021–22 school year, our programs will remain virtual. When is it safe to return to our in-person programs, we plan to continue to offer virtual program opportunities as well!

SCHOOLWORK SUPPORT

The program formerly-known as tutoring has been given an updated name, but the same great foundations remain. We organize trained volunteer tutors to work with students one-on-one with their homework after school. Schoolwork Support is available for all subjects, for students ages 8–18.

WORKSHOPS

We offer a number of free workshops taught by professional artists, writers, and our talented volunteers. From comic books to screenplays, bookmaking to radio, our wide variety of workshops are perfect for writers of all ages and interests. One of the most popular workshops we offer is our weekly Wee-bots program for elementaryaged writers.

IN-SCHOOL PROJECTS

Our trained volunteers go into local public schools every day to support teachers with their classroom writing assignments. Based on the teacher’s curriculum, assignments range from writing tales to crafting college essays to exploring poetry.

FIELD TRIPS

Students come as a class to our writing lab to join a group of volunteers, interns, and staff in order to help solve a problem through writing—whether that is our editor Dr. Blotch’s insomnia, our looming story deadline, a mystery in need of solving, or one of the many others we encounter. Our field trips always end in a finished publication of original writing that students take home.

OUR STORES

Our Robot Supply Co. stores are one-stop shops for robots, robot owners, and enthusiasts alike. They are designed to inspire creativity and bring awareness of our programs to the community. Please visit us online at onwardrobots.com. All proceeds from our stores directly fund our free student programming. Onward robots!

WRITING IS

A way to figure things out by ourselves

A way to help us connect to our world

A way to help us learn who we are and who we will become

A way for us to use our power to make changes and build a better world We create a safe place to be ourselves and try new things We support the ways that writers work (like thinking, sketching, talking) We study the writing we want to do so we can try it We learn how to change our writing for genre, audience, and purpose We work with a group of writers who help and support each other

www.826michigan.org

826 National was inspired to take a stand on issues of inclusion and diversity in light of the many events that spotlighted social and racial injustices throughout the country. We as educators, volunteers, and caring adults need to be aware of the wide range of issues our students face on a day-to-day basis. We need to support these young people as they navigate through and try to make sense of the world and their own identities.

We need the support and the feedback from our community to ensure 826 is living up to these standards. Through our inclusion statement, our internal diversity and inclusion group, cultural competency resources provided to staff and volunteers, and partnerships with other organizations, we are always working towards being a more inclusive and supportive organization.

We at 826 have the privilege of working with the next generation of scholars, teachers, doctors, artists, lawyers, and writers. It's our job to make sure they are able to take their own stands.

As an organization committed to encouraging youth in their creative expression, personal growth, and academic success, 826 National and its chapters recognize the importance of diversity at all levels and in all aspects of our work. In order to build and maintain the safe, supportive 826 environment in which great leaps in learning happen, we commit ourselves to inclusion: we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, nationality, marital status, English fluency, parental status, military service, or disability.

The 826 National network is committed to encouraging youth to express themselves and to use the written word to effectively do so. We encourage our students to write, take chances, make decisions, and finish what they start. And 826 strives to do this in an environment free from discrimination and exclusion.

by Gerald Richards, CEO