Magazine Makers
Joining us for our third year at PAGE in her new and expanded role as a Project Facilitator, Amy Stemman led our rising 6th-8th graders in a magazine makers extravaganza. Students learned a variety of book making and binding techniques they took with them into their genre-based small groups as they entered week two and three. Students selected an area of interest from the available genres of Oral History, Narrative Writing, Scientific Writing and Illustration, and Poetry. Over the course of our session, these students were able to explore in a small group setting.
Each of these genres came together to create an educational magazine written and created entirely by our students.
Girls in the narrative writing group, led by Boston College Intern Josephine Fields, wrote pieces themed under the title “Literally the Best Thing Ever” and told stories about their favorite person, place, or thing, and how it has impacted their lives. Girls made a digital collage to accompany their writing, which offered a visual component to their magazine piece.
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UNCA Intern Jo’el Longacre took over the The Oral Story Keepers. Using digital tools, they interviewed elders Fatimah’ Shabazz and Donna Ray Norton, highlighting the importance of oral history in digital magazine articles.
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Adrianna Souto, our Western College Intern, explored the world of poetry through forms like elegy and lyrical ode, weaving through topics of identity, ancestry, and community. Students created four poems they shared in a poetry slam. Each girl chose one of their poems to feature in the magazine as a digital poster, including an audio clip of their reading, a photo of their performance, and the text of the poem.​
The Scientific Writing and Illustration Group, or “The Bug Club”, dug deep into all things critters.The Bug Club worked with UNCA Graduate Jaq Reed and Naturalist Pete Dixon to create and contribute text that will be included in the research paper Pete is submitting to the Argia Magazine for publication. Additionally, students made field journals, detailing observed organisms in three different ecosystems - the garden, the stream, and the woods. These journal entries included illustrations, observations, and their role in the ecosystem. From these field journals, each student selected one organism of focus to research, illustrate more deeply, and create a scientific poster.
