I truly enjoy telling stories to a group. After all, I’ve had lots of practice telling stories – ask any of my brothers. They’ll say I’ve been telling stories since we all were growing up back on Flamingo Street.
So when the third-grade teachers at Oak Grove Elementary School asked me to speak about writing, I jumped at the chance. But first, I had a little homework for them.
I had the teachers instruct their students to write just one sentence but not explain why. The students wrote anything they wanted and then handed in their sentence to their teacher. When I arrived, the teachers gave them to Yours Truly.
Then I told the students, “You are now all writers!” To say they weren’t impressed would be an understatement. The library I was speaking in was so quiet you could actually hear the cricket singing in the corner. I named him, Jimmy.
The students argued they had only written a single sentence, not a complete story. I explained that they had indeed written a story, they just weren’t aware of it. My job was to put their sentences in the correct order.
I only added a few words to link their sentences together. I hope you enjoy the imagination of the amazingly creative kids as much as I did when assembling this, their story.
“He opened his research book, and immediately his mind started to drift. The boy looked down to the ground and got scared for a while. Finals were tomorrow, and it was time to put down his writing pen and put on his study hat. After all, he couldn’t spend all his time writing silly little stories no one would ever read anyway.
“But as much as he tried to study, the blank pages of an unfinished story called him. Closing the research book and taking off the study hat, he picked up his writing pen once more.
“Nickey always wished he had a pet tiger, and one was waiting for him in the meadow. One day far, far away in a jungle laid a tiger in an opening. ‘Oh, I love being a tiger,’ he said when a monkey went by.
“Chloe the tiger watched silently as the deer ate in the meadow, the cat ate the egg and then the bird ate the cat. There was a mother chicken, and she had a baby chick named Jordan, and a unicorn named Magic. She loved people and she wished she lived with people. The unicorn visited Sparkly Falls and there were rocks, flowers, and sparkly blue falls.
“A lion growled at them all, ‘I am a lion who wishes he had a tiger for a friend.’
“Frustrated with the story, Nickey ripped out the pages, crumpled them up before tossing them into the trashcan. Staring at the closed research book, he shook his head and started the story again.
“‘This is the day when Lord Megatron returns.’ Nickey smiled as he crumpled the paper, tossed it, and started again, ‘Once there was a girl named Mia.’ Another crumple, another toss, and another beginning. ‘Once upon a time in a faraway land, there was an enchanted classroom. And in that classroom lived a dog that had big black spots.’
“Rip, crumple, and toss. Then something strange and weird happened. Without warning, the story came to life and started to write itself in his head.
“Once upon a time there was a little girl named Addy. She sat on the grass and looked at the Northern lights. Looking up at the sky she saw the stars shining on her. She loved her stuffed animal and one day her stuffed animal came to life. ‘Hi, my name is Chicken Nugget; I’m a duck.’
“This was the start he was looking for. Smiling, Nickey laid down his writing pen, donned the study hat and opened his research book. He had always known he was a mess, but writing helped to organize the mess. Now, knowing where the story was going, it was finally time to study. He would have to finish the story later tonight.
“In the morning, the pounding on his bedroom door pulled him from the story. He had just finished reading through it one last time before placing it in his book bag. It had taken most of the night, but the story was finally finished. He couldn’t wait for Mrs. Holly, his English teacher, to read it. The pounding continued with shouting from his older sister. Sarah said, ‘I’m going to school. If you want a ride, let’s go!’
“The first class for Nickey that morning was Mrs. Holly’s English class. Walking past, he dropped the story on her desk. After handing out their final exam, she began to read the story. It had been and extra credit assignment, and Nickey was only one of three students to complete it on time. At the end of class, he was asked to stay after.
”She read the final sentence back to him, ‘The next day the little girl went to her mother and said, “Mother, can we go to the forest so I can see the wolf? I have a name for her – Rebecca.”’
“Mrs. Holly said, ‘If this could happen, I’ll see you soon.’ Nickey didn’t understand. He thought the story was good, but now he wasn’t so sure.
“She saw his reaction and added, ‘I’ll see you soon on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Nickey, this is a wonderful story and really good writing. I knew you could do it.’
“That afternoon, he was so excited he walked home from school. Mrs. Holly’s faith in him changed his life forever. No longer considering himself a mess and only in the third grade, he now knew what he wanted to be when he grew up. He wanted to be a writer.”
Words of encouragement like from the teacher in the story above can change the lives of their students forever. I know they did mine. One certain English teacher has given me constructive criticism and guidance to cut through the jungle of verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs, and the many confusing rules of the English language.
This English Teacher has been my editor for the last 18 years, and I will forever be thankful for her. Without her, I wouldn’t be able to call myself a writer today.
And I wouldn’t have been able to share the story of the third graders at Oak Grove Elementary School.
[Rick Ryckeley has been writing stories since 2001. To read more of Rick’s stories, visit his blog: storiesbyrick.wordpress.com.]
