Ms Fortuna's students reflect on their meeting with Lisa Yee and their writing own writing process.
Heba A.
I felt special when I got to meet with Lisa Yee because she is one of my favorite authors. I read one of her stories and am looking forward to reading all her other stories. I thought it was a good surprise. On October 12 th , 2007 I met with Lisa Yee. Lisa Yee taught us a valuable lesson which was to keep trying and don't give up, never say never. I laughed when she said, "Try to read as many awful stories as you can because you can become a better author." I had so many questions because I recently started reading her books like, Stanford Wong Flunks Big-time.
Komal G.
On October 12, at Poe Middle School , in Mrs. Hood's room, the creative writing and English students met with Lisa Yee. Lisa Yee started off by introducing herself. She told the students that she was born and raised near Los Angeles , California . She always loved to read. Since, 5 th or 6 th grade Lisa Yee wanted to become an author. She didn't tell anyone that time; as she was embarrassed. Her career kind of started by writing TV and radio commercials; as well as menus that were read by millions. Her first book that got published was Millicent Min, Girl Genius. She got her first book published after writing and outline of 28 pages. During a normal day Lisa Yee writes around 11 or 12 o'clock. Until now Lisa Yee has had four of her books published. Currently she's planning on writing a new one. Being an author has been Lisa Yee's childhood dream and it's been her favorite job.
After the introduction, Lisa Yee signed autographs. Then the students and Lisa Yee headed to the Poe Middle School library. At the library they took pictures in front of some books. The pictures and the autographs were souvenirs for the students. The students who got a picture with Lisa Yee were Komal Gilani, CJ Paschall and, Heba Abu-Ghabrieh. All of the students who met Lisa Yee were really excited. It was a fantastic, October afternoon at Poe Middle School .
Rebecca M.
Mrs. Fortuna's seventh period creative writing class at Poe Middle School made and presented books for the beginning reader on the Cheetah team in room E11 on Monday and Tuesday. Making the books was a long process. First the students had to make a draft for their story books. Next, the students had to revise their drafts. Their books were about topics such as the first day of school, making mistakes, and how to deal with bullies. The next step was typing their stories on the computer. When they were done typing their stories they found pictures (from the internet) or drew pictures for each page of their books. Then the students printed their stories and gave them to the teacher to be laminated. The next class the students whose books were laminated were ready for binding. Finally, after the binding, they were ready to be present their books to the beginning readers in room E11.
Most of the students were ready with their books to present to the beginning readers at around the same time. Groups of four or five went to present at a time while the rest of the class either worked on the finishing touches of their books or worked on other class work. The students headed down the hallway to the back of the school to room E11, where the cheetah team was waiting. In the classroom the students from creative writing read aloud their story books while showing the pictures to the beginning readers. When the students were done reading their books to the class the beginning readers clapped. The students gave their colorful copies of their books to one of the teachers in the beginning reader's classroom. Mrs. Fortuna's seventh period creative writing class was delighted to make and present their books to the beginning reader on the cheetah team, in room E11, on Monday and Tuesday.
Qurun S.
In the Poe news, Ms. Fortuna's 7 th period class was assigned to write a book for the beginning reader. A local group of boys named Zulqarnain Cheema and Qurun Smith were a group. Their book was called "Play Ball". It is about a kind of heavy set kid who wanted to play sports. The only problem was he didn't know what to play. So he went around to his family members asking for help hoping that he would find a sport. When finally he went to his brother, his brother then gave him a ball to play with. When he gave him the basket ball max liked that sport.
This story was really motivating to some kids. It showed that no matter how you're shaped you can do anything you put your mind to.
Zerubabel G.
On Tuesday September 11, 2007, Zerubabel Gulilat (BIG-Z) and Jimmy Phom from Edgar Allen Poe Middle School were assigned to write a book. The writing took place in Creative Writing 7 th period room 103. They worked on it very hard and put together a great story. Soon their book was finished on October 2, 2007. Even though they didn't spend much time on their story it turned out to be a big hit.
They first started out writing a bunch of ideas for what they should write about. Then once they found out the perfect title and story BIG-Z typed it all on
A computer and Jimmy found the perfect pictures that went with the story on the Internet. Once they were finished with the story and getting their pictures together they needed two covers to go on each side of the book. So they asked their teacher and friend Ms. Fortuna for covers. Not only did she give them covers she laminated all their pages and their covers and binded their pages to make a book. Then when they were done they were ready to read their story to the Cheetah team. While they read to the Cheetah team the children in that class really listened and liked the story and enjoyed it very much. After finishing BIG-Z asked Jimmy how he thought about the whole experience and he said, "It was really fun and I was surprised at how the book turned out." So there it is, two intelligent 8 th grade students who really put time and effort into a great book.
