24 minute read
Hockaday’s writing program aims to help girls find joy in the power of expression
FINDING YOUR VOICE
Hockaday’s writing program aims to help girls find joy in the power of expression
When Lisa Fisher began as Director of the Writing Center in Fall 2019, it was located on the second floor of the Liza Lee Academic Research Center. “I was immediately overrun with students who were passionate about writing,” she laughed.
In the spring of 2020, she added 20 student interns who helped their peers with everything from brainstorming and thesis statements to following citation guidelines and clarifying syntax. In 2021–22, approximately 70% of Upper School students used the Writing Center at least once, and students made more than 1,000 appointments. Ms. Fisher and Dr. Claire Cothren, English faculty and Writing Center Instructor, also work with teachers upon request when they are holding writing workshops in their classes.
The genesis of the Writing Center dates back to 2008. Retired English Department Chair Janet Bilhartz saw that an increased number of students in the Upper School meant less one-on-one time with their teachers to discuss writing. When she became Department Chair in 2015, she started laying the foundation for what would become the Writing Center. “I traveled to Cleveland and visited three schools who were doing this,” she said. “I was able to take the parts I liked and envision a program.”
The importance of writing at Hockaday has always been at the forefront, however. Melissa Thomas Allan ’90, English Department Chair, said the goal in all divisions is to help each girl develop her voice. “We teach the girls that communication is a power,” she said. “It’s the power of expression, the power to share your ideas. We want to prepare the girls to exchange their ideas with the world, and to do so thoughtfully and responsibly.”
“Our graduates must be strong writers,” said Dr. Laura Leathers, Interim Eugene McDermott Head of School. “Writing well allows us to develop our thoughts and express our ideas clearly. Through writing, we often begin to create logical relationships that build our ideas into something that someone else may read and perhaps find interesting. Putting thoughts into words and arranging them for a reader helps us see, create, and explore new connections within our world.”
Hockaday’s faculty members believe that learning to write is crucial to forming girls who will succeed in college and beyond. “This writing program is a crown jewel at Hockaday,” said Ms. Allan. “There is such attention to the writing process. Our girls go to college and hit the ground running.”
Ms. Bilhartz agrees. “I began in the English Department in 1994, and girls were always coming back from college to say how well-prepared they were in terms of writing,” she said. “I knew from our alumnae that we were teaching the girls to write in a way that would help them in any field. What teaching looks like has changed, because students have changed. We had a technological revolution, and people read in different ways now. I think those things have affected what students need in terms of instruction. What is consistent is that students improve their writing when they have a good relationship with their teacher, and when they get clear feedback on their writing. Learning to respond to feedback hasn’t changed!”
crown jewel
hit the ground
running.”
— MELISSA THOMAS ALLAN ’90, English Department Chair
LOWER SCHOOL
“I became a novelist in part because at Hockaday, particularly in the Lower School, I developed a passion for reading,” said Amy Mitchell Poeppel ’83, who has written four novels: Musical Chairs, Limelight, Small Admissions, and The Sweet Spot. “The books we read with Mr. Cargile, Mrs. Lakatos, and Mr. Dumaine, such as Johnny Tremain, The Call of the Wild, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Rebecca have stuck with me all these years. As I remember it, we were already being taught to analyze literature at a very advanced level!”
“Beginning in Lower School, Hockaday nurtured my passion for writing through numerous opportunities both inside and outside the classroom,” said Maddie Stout ’22, currently a student at Georgetown University. “All of my classes, even those like Science or Math, incorporated some form of writing, which really honed my skills and led me to realize that the activity of writing was what I loved most.”
Writing begins at a young age, in tandem with reading. Pre-K starts the year with picture books and creates a story using only pictures. The girls then compose a three-part story integrating the story elements of characters, setting, problem, and solution. “We teach them to change the facial expressions and move their characters across the page to show progression of the story,” said Lower School teacher Allison Perani. They also collaborate with Lower School librarians for a book tasting. “Each table features the story elements
they have been studying: charming characters, spectacular settings, puzzling problems, and smart solutions,” said Ms. Perani. “Each girl browses every table and then selects a book to check out to take home.”
Good writing begins with reading, and as Daisies enter Kindergarten and beyond, teachers focus on exposing students to many different types of books and writing styles. “We start with the physical act of writing, and we practice fine motor skills to help them develop the strength to do lots of writing,” said Randal Rauscher Rhodus ’97, Head of Lower School. “We always say that you become a better writer by writing more!”
Lower School welcomes authors to campus to encourage girls to both read and learn the process of creative writing. Author Alda P. Dodds visited with Lower and Middle School students this fall to discuss her novels, Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna and The Other Side
helps us see, create, and explore new connections
within our world.”
— DR. LAURA LEATHERS, Interim Eugene McDermott Head of School
of the River, and described how she was inspired by her greatgrandmother’s experience during the Mexican Revolution in 1913. Alda studied physics and worked as an engineer before pursuing her love of storytelling. “No matter what your career is, you have to be able to communicate,” she told the girls. “You always need to tell your story. In science, often you can’t see things and you have to imagine them – just like in creative writing!”
By First Grade, students focus more on genre writing. They create a how-to book, write about research and facts, and learn narrative fiction writing. In Third Grade, girls take the skills they have learned as writers during the year and write and illustrate their own story, which is bound together as a class book. “We start talking about leads to stories, dialogue, voice and developing characters, elaboration, word choice, conclusions, and
Author Alda P. Dodds visited with Lower and Middle School students this fall to discuss writing her novels, Barefoot Dreams of Petra Luna and The Other Side of the River. paragraphing,” said Erin Oxford, Lower School teacher. “We talk a lot about a small moment story – then we have them rehearse with a partner and tell their story out loud before they draft it.”
Students work through the writing process by revising and editing their story before finalizing it, and then come up with illustrations that match the theme. “The girls are always so excited to see their work published,” said Ms. Oxford.
Throughout Lower School, students learn about poetry and write their own. This process culminates in The Hockadaisy, a poetry anthology with contributions from each Lower School Daisy. The publication began in 1964 by Marion Crume, Head of Lower School, and is a way to celebrate Lower School writing and art. The publication is printed at the end of the year, and the cover art and interior art is a surprise for the artists.
In Pre-K and Kindergarten, girls will write a class poem together to submit, and in First through Fourth Grades, each student picks their favorite poem from the year for publication. One Lower School girl is honored with the Catherine Patrizi Award for
SCIENCE AND WRITING IN SECOND GRADE
Lower School faculty members Amy Banks and Valencia Mack Yarborough ’77 are collaborating to enhance a project that has deep roots at Hockaday – a Second Grade research paper. “The girls have always learned about research and nonfiction writing in Second Grade,” said Mrs. Banks, who teaches science. “One year, we decided to combine Science with writing, and have them write on a topic they are learning about in another class.”
The Social Impact theme in Second Grade is water, so it was a perfect combination. “We spend a lot of time talking about conservation and pollution of water,” said Ms. Banks. “We engineer water filters and gather data to evaluate the health of the pond. We’re constantly talking about water!”
In Language Arts, homeroom teacher Ms. Yarborough starts the writing portion with exploration. “We bring in a lot of books to whet their appetite,” she said. “Then, they decide on a topic, and I encourage them to ask questions to figure out what they want to learn.”
Poetry, given to the girl who displays a passion and love for the craft. “Poetry is so important because it teaches our girls to be concise and thoughtful in their words,” said Ms. Oxford. “It helps them figure out how to express themselves. We teach things like metaphors, figurative language, and line breaks, which helps them see where the end of their thought should be.”
By the time Fourth Grade students move to Middle School, they understand the process of writing. “They definitely have a good sense of writing about themselves, and about the collaborative nature of writing,” said Ms. Rhodus. “We want them to love all different styles of writing.”
MIDDLE SCHOOL
“Something unique to Hockaday is how much our program is writing-forward,” said Beth Dies, Assistant Head of Middle School and English faculty. “Many English curricula are project or test based, but we teach with the recognition of how important the personal voice is. We aren’t writing to a specific standard.
SUSANNA FLANAGAN (CLASS OF 2030) RECEIVES THE 2022 CATHERINE PATRIZI AWARD FOR POETRY FROM BOB PATRIZI.
The Patrizi Award is given every year to a Lower School student who has found joy and beauty in the reading and writing of poetry. This award is given in honor of former Hockaday student Catherine Patrizi ’97.
The girls work with their teachers and librarians to form a cohesive topic, and then they begin writing. “We talk a lot about the writing process,” said Ms. Yarborough. “We brainstorm, draft, write, edit, and revise. We focus on reading the books and forming your own ideas, not just copying.”
The girls learn to write paragraphs with a topic sentence, main idea, and conclusion. By the end of the project, they have completed a five-paragraph paper. Then, the teachers create a museum, complete with individual trifold posters for the girls to use their creativity to explain their chosen topic. The girls practice their presentations in front of their class, and then present them to the Lower School and teachers.
“This type of cross-curricular learning is so important,” said Ms. Banks. “It makes it real and authentic to the girls. You learn more deeply when things are connected, and it also uses various modalities – listening, talking, writing, looking, seeing, doing. There is evidence that if you can show girls that science and engineering are about making the world a better place, they are more interested in it. This is real, authentic, project-based learning.”
Personal communication is so important, and when we talk about our writing or read it out loud, all of that helps students process ideas, share their thoughts, work through challenges. Working within a process – a challenging process like writing – is something students must get used to in Middle School.”
As students make the transition to Middle School, they work on descriptive and creative expository writing. Fifth Grade focuses on reading comprehension as a building block to writing, and Sixth Grade is a bridge between reading and writing. Girls start writing more complex paragraphs and learn how to organize their thoughts.
By Seventh and Eighth Grade, girls are preparing for the rigor of Upper School writing through analysis and interpretation, in both English and History. “We make sure students are using words to do the job they need them to do,” said Ms. Dies. “At this age, encouraging them to participate in the process is the most important thing we can do to prepare them. Writing means taking the time to plan out what you want to write, doing the research, writing, and then receiving continual feedback. We encourage a lot of sharing from both peer and teacher feedback.” Last year, the Writing Center piloted a program in Eighth Grade, and this year, Middle School students will have access to the Writing Center resources. “The priority is to have older students be able to work with younger students,” said Ms. Dies. “Students can get one-on-one feedback and gain a perspective from someone other than their teacher. It also helps them think about their writing outside the context of their classrooms and prepares them to get more comfortable sharing their writing with others.”
In Eighth Grade, English and The Institute for Social Impact collaborate on a graphic novel project. All Eighth Graders will interview students from McShan Elementary School to discover details about their lives, ambitions, and talents. “The goal is to help students uncover their superpowers,” said Dr. Lauren Miskin, English faculty.
Students then work in groups to design graphic novel pages celebrating each McShan student, and the Institute for Social Impact prints and binds the books to present to McShan. “This project challenges Hockaday students to think further about the craft of storytelling,” said Dr. Miskin. “In class, we study a graphic novel, Robin Ha’s Almost American Girl, and we spend a great deal of time analyzing Ha’s use of graphic novel techniques and
FOURTH GRADE PEN PALS
At the 2022 Alumnae Weekend, Fourth Graders finally got to meet their Alumnae pen pals in person! Each Fourth Grade Daisy writes a letter to a member of the Hockaday class celebrating their milestone 50th Reunion. Last year, the Class of 1972 and Fourth Grade students corresponded throughout the year. In the letters, they wrote about themselves, asked questions about Hockaday 50 years ago, and included some ideas about how Hockaday has changed. On Alumnae Day, the girls met their pen pals if they attended. This special tradition began more than 25 years ago with retired faculty member Pat Coggan and introduces girls to letter writing conventions.
literary elements. Through this project, students learned to apply the same sorts of visual and literary strategies that they study in Ha’s work. Additionally, this project advances the Social Impact Institute’s goals of empathy and community. Many of the subjects are recent immigrants, some are refugees. By hearing these young people’s stories in an open dialogue, our students achieve a new level of understanding for the challenges they face. As we also read several works about the refugee experience (including Ruta Sepetys’ Salt to the Sea and Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home), students are familiar with some of these issues, but hearing young peoples’ lived experiences firsthand offers a completely different vantage point.”
UPPER SCHOOL
“At Hockaday, we prepare girls for lifetime success,” said Ms. Allan, “To realize this, they must be critical, imaginative thinkers and forceful writers.”
FIFTH GRADE YOUNG AUTHORS
FIRST-TIME AUTHOR NAISHA RANDHAR (CLASS OF 2027) PUBLISHED ROSES OF ARMA LAST YEAR.
This young-adult fiction, with two unlikely heroes on the planet of Arma, is available for purchase on Amazon.
The Young Author Picture Book Project has become a tradition for Hockaday’s newest Middle School students. For the past 29 years, English students have culminated their learning by writing their own narrative. Pre-K, Kindergarten/Primer, and First Grade students and teachers are gracious audience members for these budding authors. The writing of an original story and illustrating it in a picture book format allows each girl to demonstrate their growth as an author and illustrator. With the opportunity to let their creativity and artistic flair shine through illustrations, the students can prove their understanding of story elements and character development, and apply their knowledge of grammar and mechanics. “This writing project is always a favorite for my students,” said Lisa Waugh, Middle School English teacher. “The interaction with the Lower School students and their former teachers is always a special one.”
By reading ancient epics, girls in Form I explore the role of oral storytelling in human history to derive an understanding of the ways that individuals, communities, and cultures have made sense of their existence. Then they write an essay about a frequently told story from their own family histories by analyzing the role of storyteller, identifying what prompts the telling of the story and, ultimately, what makes the story worth retelling.
“Reading the literature spurs the writing which then taps the imagination when the girls create a podcast to accompany their essays,” said Mrs. Allan. “We want to give students many opportunities to practice various—and relevant—modes of communication.”
Hockaday’s writing program has always focused on blending analytical writing, academic writing, and creative writing. “We want them to develop their own voice,” said Ms. Bilhartz. “That is more easily developed through creative writing, but we want to hear it in their academic writing as well.”
“One goal for our girls is that they explolre effective writing across disciplines, even in subjects such as math and science,” said Ms. Allan. “and for them to understand that empathy is always the cornerstone to any successful story.”
MAKING AN IMPACT
Grace Emanuelson (Class of 2023) used persuasive writing skills to submit an editorial that was published by the Dallas Morning News last fall. In an English class assignement, Grace wrote about the low recycling rate in Dallas and what city leaders and schools can do to help educate people on the importance of recycling. She spoke with city leaders to research her article and worked with the Hockaday Writing Center before submitting it for publication.
Beyond the standard English courses, Form IV students can take semester courses such as Creative Writing, Before #MeToo: Literature As Protest, Introduction to Russian Literature, and a new course this year, The Write Stuff: Rhetoric and Composition Across the Curriculum. The Write Stuff is designed for Writing Center interns and combines the pedagogy of Writing Centers and the study of rhetorical situations. This new course will prepare students to write adeptly across disciplines and equip them with skills for teaching writing to peers. In addition to writing reviews, proposals, and other genres of writing, students research and write about a topic of their interest..
JUNIOR RESEARCH PAPER
A rite of passage for all Upper School students, the Junior Research Paper aims to give girls a sense of college-level research, thesis development, writing, and revising. The 10-page paper begins in the fall with topic development through the Form III U.S. History courses, and can cover any area, as long as it relates to U.S. history. “We give the students a chance to research something that interests them,” said Upper School History teacher Lucio Benedetto. “We want them to come away with the notion of thinking for themselves. They won’t always get a prompt in college, so this helps them develop that skill.”
The 2022 Linda Hankinson Research Paper Award recipients (left to right): Addison London (Class of 2023), Madeline Chun (Class of 2023), Sydney Hoyl (Class of 2023), Elle Chavis (Class of 2023), Isabel Bhasin (Class of 2023)
Recent topics included “Come One, Come All: How Female Circus Performers Redefined Womanhood;” “On Thin Ice: The Evolution of the United States’ Antarctic Policy during the Cold War;” and “Building the World of Tomorrow: How the 1939 New York World’s Fair Defined Hope for a Modern America.” Award-winning papers, which are selected by the History department at the end of the year, are available to read as a bound book in the library.
Once their topic is approved, the girls form a research question and thesis and begin using primary sources if available. They create an annotated bibliography with at least five sources, three of which must be books. After that, girls turn in a mini draft, which includes the first four pages of their paper. “This gives us a sense of where they are with their research, and we can give them notes on formatting also,” said Mr. Benedetto.
Finally, the full paper with bibliography is due right before winter break. Before turning in the paper, students can meet with teachers, do peer review, or work with the Writing Center. “The Writing Center has been exceptional,” said Mr. Benedetto. “As a history teacher, I can deal more with content; if students have grammatical questions or writing questions they can go there.”
Sydney Hoyl (Class of 2023) won an award last year for her paper, “Don’t You Forget About Me: How Teen Movies in the 80s Created American Adolescent Authenticity.” She truly enjoyed the process of writing and researching. “I could really play around with the format of the paper, which you can’t always do,” she said. “Sometimes I would make an argument by writing in the voice of a protagonist in a movie. I was able to have my voice and write playfully, because it fit the topic.”
One of the main takeaways the History department hopes to impart is the sense of building confidence during the process of writing a research paper. “We hear from girls all the time after they are in college about the Junior Research Paper,” said Kathryn Hodgkinson, History Department Chair. “Going to college having already done a paper like this gives them a huge leg up. While writing, you make mistakes, or you realize your thesis won’t work because the evidence isn’t there. This helps build resilience, because you have to pivot in order to make the deadline.”
Students can also learn a completely different type of writing through their Fine Arts courses. In Daisy Company and Hockaday Theater Company classes, students learn monologue and dialogue writing for theater. “We begin with journaling questions,” said Emily Gray, Fine Arts Department Chair. “I ask them all sorts of questions about who their character is. Writing teaches our students how to act, direct, design, and how to be a storyteller.”
From their initial prompts, students write a five-to-10-minute story for their character. They learn to write stage directions,
Fourcast editors Jane Clark (Class of 2023) and Melody Hu (Class of 2023) work on finalizing an issue of the student newspaper
HOCKADAY PUBLICATIONS
“From my time on the Fourcast and especially as editor, I perfected the skills of working on deadlines, delegating work, and writing concisely and clearly,” said Maddie Stout ’22, the 2021-22 Co-Editor of Fourcast and currently a student at Georgetown University. “Being co-editor of the Fourcast was the perfect stepping stone to studying writing in college and taking on leadership positions in a university environment.”
Hockaday’s Upper School publications include: Fourcast, the student-run newspaper published three times each semester, along with Jade, a companion magazine about a single topic; Vibrato, a student-curated literary and fine arts publication, and Cornerstones, the School’s yearbook. communicate a theme, and how to connect to an audience. “They learn to find their own voice in writing – whether it’s a character who has an emotional moment, or a tirade,” said Ms. Gray. “They step out of themselves. To write someone else’s voice empathetically is difficult!”
Students often go on to submit their plays to different theaters in the area that hold high school contests. Last year, Elle Chavis (Class of 2023) was honored by Circle Theater in Fort Worth as one of four finalists in their annual High School Playwriting Project. All four finalists’ plays were read aloud by five professional actors. Elle was a semifinalist in the contest in 2021 and told the audience she will write a third short play and submit again next year “in the hopes of a threepeat!”
Julia Copeland oversees all Upper School publications and understands the benefit of learning journalistic writing beyond the newspaper or yearbook. “I think no matter what career our girls choose, the ability to write cleanly, to be comfortable interviewing people, and to be able to see the viewpoints of a variety of people will benefit them,” she said.
This year, there are 57 Upper School students in Journalism classes, along with guest writers for Fourcast and Cornerstones. Jane Clark (Class of 2023) and Melody Hu (Class of 2023) are this year’s Fourcast editors and have honed their skills to be able to produce each issue. “We both edit each story,” said Jane. “Editing other people’s writing has really helped my own writing, because I’m able to look at it from an outsider’s perspective.”
Alexandra Crosnoe (Class of 2023) is one of the Cornerstones editors along with Ava Tribolet (Class of 2023) and has learned time management while editing the yearbook. “You have to hit deadlines,” she said. “Once the pages are sent, you can’t revise them.”
Sonali Konda (Class of 2023) and Lillian Rubarts (Class of 2023), editors of Vibrato, curate student submissions including poetry, art, and photography, and said the discussion-based editing process has been illuminating. “You learn how to have an open mind and how to approach any piece with consideration to everything that it offers,” said Sonali.
Ms. Copeland also stresses media literacy and critical thinking skills across all her classes and publications. “We try to get them to develop their voice and be more conversational in their writing,” she said. “Every word counts! We teach them not to write to a word count but to write to get their point across.”
Writing didn’t always come easily to Elle, however. “When I came to Hockaday in Form I, the writing process was a lot different than my old school,” she said. “I really struggled. The senior interns in the Writing Center really saved my life! I wanted to be able to help freshmen the way I was helped.”
Beyond student interns, Hockaday is working to ease the transition between Eighth Grade and Upper School by offering a two-week writing intensive course for incoming Form I students. Elle and Jordan Hanna (Class of 2023) both assisted in their capacity as Writing Center interns. This year, more than 30 students took the optional course, which was two hours a day. “I would have loved that as a freshman,” said Jordan.
Libby Warren (Class of 2023) is also a Writing Center intern and has developed a passion for writing through her Hockaday experience. “I’ve fallen in love with the process,” she said. “I think if people believe that writing is just the final product, that can be frustrating. If you learn to enjoy brainstorming, editing, and revising, it helps you maintain your passion.”
Last year, Libby took her love for personal narrative writing and submitted a personal essay to the New York Times Student Narrative Contest, where her work “El Xbox” was named as a runner-up. She attended the Kenyon College Young Writers Residency program last summer. “Writing seems solitary, but I feel like you do your best work when you make it collaborative and surround yourself with like-minded writers,” she said.
“I’m so excited about the future of writing at Hockaday,” said Ms. Allan. “The Writing Center allows us to enhance Hockaday’s decades-long tradition of shaping articulate communicators, and it helps the girls advocate for their own learning which will extend beyond Hockaday’s halls. While the writing process often requires patience and practice, we hope the girls remember the inherent joy in language and expression.”
“I firmly believe that one of Hockaday’s greatest gifts to me was the ability to write,” said Maddie Stout ’22. “There’s nothing more important than the skill of communication!”
— MADDIE STOUT ’22
