Category Archives: Writing

Delivering Letters to Gavin Grimm at the ACLU

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On Wednesday we went to visit the ACLU to hand-deliver our letters to Gavin Grimm. After hearing stories and more from several staff members, including Gavin’s lawyer, as well as a video that Gavin Grimm made just for us (watch it above!), we decided another round of letters were in order! Here are some thoughts of gratitude for our new heroes at the ACLU.     Dear Chris, Jake, and all the other ACLU members and staff, Thank you for letting us come in and talk to you about the Gavin Grimm case. I think that the ACLU is really cool. It helps people that need someone to talk to. It helps people that are having problems in their community based on their gender, identity, and who they are married to (and many many many many many more things but I’m pretty sure it would be too long to list). It’s great that you knew so much about the Gavin Grimm case. Our class has been studying it for quite a while by now, and we were REALLY interested. How did he pull through this sad (and probably pretty uncomfortable) experience? One of our teachers is transgender. I was the person who introduced the case in the first place. I watched a video on The Washington Post with my mom one morning and I got inspired and wanted to share this very interesting and tear-jerking video with my class. The video sparked a huge study about human rights (especially LGBTQ) and lots of dislike for Trump. I have one question: I know that you help people with their problems, but animals are Americans too! It is called the American Civil Liberties Union after all. Do you help animals as well as people? Sincerely, and happy helping, Ezra     Dear Jake and Chris (and whoever this letter gets sent to), Thank you for teaching us about the ACLU and what you guys do. Your explanations helped me (and others too, I’m sure) realize how the fight for LGBTQ rights is larger than just a few simple cases at court. Those cases and problems are serious! I think that there were some conversations that were interesting and made me think. One was when the lawyer said that the Supreme Court had denied Gavin Grimm’s case,  and they were being sent to the 4th Court or something like that. He also said that they were going in September and they had high hopes for this. It makes me think that in general, people should not give up. They should keep fighting for their rights. There was another person whose parents immigrated and his mom and a green card but his dad did not. He told us that his day would have to sneak out the back door of their house. I wondered why his dad did that. I realize he’s an illegal immigrant so if someone comes and checks him and they see he doesn’t have a green card, and they will send him back and split up the family. Thank you again for teaching us about the ACLU and what you do. We really learned a lot. Sincerely, Gia Garland     Dear Chris and Jake and everyone, Thank you for letting us come to the ACLU. I really enjoyed it. When you talked about Syrian refugees it reminded me of a student at my dad’s school who went home over the holidays and couldn’t come back. It also reminded me of how much we’ve learned about immigration. So many immigrants have done so many impacting things from our county. We are a nation of immigrants. It was really cool when that video came on that it basically addressed us. It makes me feel really good that Gavin is excited to get the letters we made. We support a bunch of causes, but very few causes know that one specific fourth grade class supports them, or sends a video to them saying thank you. Good luck in the case and I hope Gavin likes the letters. I’ve been saving money for charity or a good cause and I think I found my cause. I’ll be sending $100 or more bucks to you. Sincerely, Kieran     Dear Jake, Thank you so much for teaching us about ACLU and Gavin Grimm’s case. I really enjoyed it. It really made me think when you talked about Donald Trump and when he canceled the bathroom law. It made me really mad when he did that. It also made me think when we talked about how kids went up and spoke too. It really made me think I could change the world. My favorite part of the visit was when we saw the video of Gavin Grimm speaking to us. I liked this because it really showed that he is nice enough to take time out of his day to make it. Thanks again!                                From,                                         Alden  ]]>

Diana Son Visits: A Lesson in Screenwriting

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“You made writing sound easy but when I write in our script it is not as easy as you make it sound!”

May 11, 2017 Dear Ms Son, Thank you for coming in. I really enjoyed your story about being a writer and what advice you gave us. I think you helped our grade out on the play with what you said (or at least some of us) I really wanted you to stay after and look at our scripts and us acting them out I think you could give us some really good feedback. My favorite part of your visit was when you told the story of why you became a writer. I liked how you were known for your brother and all your teacher would say “You’re (Gasp!) Grant – Son’s sister!” But you wrote about your family instead of your toys and stuff and your teachers thought yours was the most thoughtful so you became a writer. I liked the scene you showed us from “Love is a Four Letter Word,” and when you talked about how much you can learn about a person in so little time. Your advice about how much you write over your script and find typos and places to add things for improvement was helpful.  I really thought it was good asking us questions about what was going on in our play and how the people changed. I liked when you told us about adding action in your words and how to do it. You made writing sound easy but when I write in our script it is not as easy as you make it sound! I think all of your advise will make it much easier to now write our script. We can make it sound better than it was before you came in. Again thank you so much for coming in. Love from your son NATE ______________________________________________________________________

“You made me think really deeply about that one minute scene, and I hadn’t really thought about TV that way before.”

May 11th, 2017 Dear Diana Son, Thank you for coming in to talk to our grade. I thoroughly enjoyed your visit. By the way, I have an older friend who watches “13 Reasons Why,” and she loves it! I was taking notes on your visit, and I was in the very back. I really enjoyed the clip that you played for us. You made me think really deeply about that one minute scene, and I hadn’t really thought about TV that way before. I normally watch TV with my parents, and in our everyday lives we will talk about the show. We will think about a character’s feelings or the relationships they have. We are in the seventh season of the show, and at this point they got a new creator/writer. It was fun to see how the show changed between writers. Have you ever watched a show where they changed creators and the show drastically changed? As you know, we are writing a play that will be performed in early June. My group was having a little (a lot) of trouble being a team and joining our ideas together. We are trying to make our lines very informative (but still sound like a conversation) while still making it appropriate for all ages. We have a tricky subject (the Great Migration, a very violent, upsetting period) and you helped me think of ways to portray characters feelings and personalities through dialogue, which is the most important thing at the moment as we are writing the script. You helped me get around the tricky stuff, and focus on what is important at the moment, just by talking to us. Thank you again. I think that your story is really cool, and just by watching that clip I can tell that you are a great writer!!!!!! I have a question for you. How long did it take to write the longest script you’ve ever written? Thanks again!! Margot Story _______________________________________________________________________

“How do you get a baby in the scene? Do you just pick a baby off of the street?”

Dear Diana, Thank you for coming to our classroom to tell us suggestions on the immigration play! I think it helped the fourth grade when you told us tips and modifications. My favorite part of the visit was when Zen asked you this question:  “How do you get a baby in the scene? Do you just pick a baby off of the street?” And then you explained the whole audition process. Thank you for coming!   Sincerely, Yves ______________________________________________________________________

“From that one minute scene I could get a sense of the character’s personalities and feelings.”

Dear Diana, Thank you for coming in to teach us more about writing a play. I think you gave us very good advice and had great answers to our questions. I also think you gave us great solutions to our problems. I think you did a really great job giving advice. The best piece of advice I thought you gave was how to turn a bunch of lines into a scene, my group was having some trouble with that. I am thinking hard about your advice and I think it will definitely make our script better.   My favorite part of what you said was how your teacher said she would hang your work up but never did. Even though it’s sort of sad she never hung it up, the way you said it while telling the story made me laugh. I think that you are a great writer. From that one minute scene I could get a sense of the character’s personalities and feelings. I enjoyed listening to you speak I hope you enjoyed speaking to us! Sincerely, Makeda  ]]>