RUMFORD — Revise, revise, revise is the mantra gifted and talented (GT) students learn at Rumford Elementary School, Mountain Valley Middle School and Mountain Valley High School.
MVHS Sophomore Brooke Sweetser explained the process. “At the beginning of the year, we spend most of the time writing poems. Around Christmas, we choose our favorite poems and we revise them four or five times. Then we choose three to four that we like the most and illustrate them. Those are the ones we read on stage in the spring.”
Freshman Travis Palmer added, “First, we find something that greatly inspires us — from nature to love. Then we make a first draft. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it’s only a draft. Then we revise over and over again until it’s absolutely perfect and no further revision can be done.”
Lia Paliocha, teacher of gifted and talented students for the Mountain Valley region of RSU 10, teaches language arts to students in grades three through twelve and introduces them to some of the best writers, past and contemporary, as well as, the art of critiquing literary works.
She is a strong proponent of the art of editing. She recalled a quote from Stephen Dunn, former U.S. poet laureate, whom she worked with at the Stonecoast Writing Conference, “Editing your work is never finished until you’re dead.”
Her students work diligently with numerous drafts to create works in publishable form and deserve considerable praise for these efforts that are above and beyond the required course load.
That praise flows in two directions: praise for the students who work so hard and for their teacher who is right there with them.
Palmer said, “The class is honestly one of my favorites. Paliocha is surely an amazing teacher. The way it works is we schedule an appointment with each other. We bring in some work we’ve done or ideas we have and we work through the process of making it into the best poem possible.”
Fellow freshman Abby LaBrash added, “GT gives me the chance to take a topic that I choose and run with it. This class lets me share my opinions. The most feedback I’ve ever gotten about my writing came from this class. That really helps me improve in all of my classes and helps me push myself.”
As the students grow, they develop their style and where they gain inspiration. Sweetser said, “Usually I read poems and get inspiration from them. If I read about nature, then I write about nature. If I read a metaphor, I write using a metaphor. That’s what she taught us in middle school. In high school, we have our freedom to write whatever we want.”
Asked about his inspiration, senior Nathan Fitzpatrick explained, “Anything in my life may make me feel like writing. I write a lot outside of the class. I go off of those thoughts.”
“I am inspired by things I see, things people say, and by my feelings,” LaBrash added. “If I am frustrated when I write, my writing is going to take on a different mood than if I was excited when I was writing it.”
Finally, Palmer draws his inspiration from music. He explained, “I get a lot of my inspiration from past events and music. Past events such as love and memories of good times. Music is a huge inspiration. It’s a major passion of mine. I’ve loved it all my life. It’s basically a part of me.”
While students gather inspiration from the world around them to write their poems, one wonders what attracts them to the hard work that Paliocha offers.
LaBrash explained, “GT is about expressing yourself, not about meeting standards like in other classes. It’s about pushing yourself to improve your writing and to be creative.”
Sweetser said, “It’s an elective credit. I started writing poems in middle school and I like it now.”
“Because I’ve been taking it since sixth grade, it looks good on a transcript and I earn a half credit each year,” Fitzpatrick added.
At the end of their writing and revising, Paliocha publishes The Young Writer’s Anthology and offers a public reading. In May, award-winning poet Henry Braun, as well as Jim Mello, Bitsy Ionta and Glen Gordon, read to students before the student program began.
Ever gets bored when it’s stored
If it’s able to breathe in a tightly packed sleeve?
Or if it feels pain when it’s placed slice by slice
In sizzling hot grease?
Or magically shrinks from six inches to two
Nicely fried up for its crispy debut?
And when finally side-plated with scrambled eggs,
I wonder if it wishes it still had legs?
— Hunter Blauvelt
Rumford Elementary School, Grade 4 (as of May 2013)
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- Travis Palmer practices his stage presence for a future in music and read “My First Guitar.”
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