English Students Write About Friendship

Following the winter break, sixth-grade English teacher Emily Stettler asked her students to reflect on what it means to be a true friend. “We had a discussion on why every person needs a true friend in life and the challenges of, not only judging others, but looking inside ourselves to make sure our actions and words are representative of demonstrating the characteristics we desire in a friend,” Stettler said. “Our discussion included the dangers people face when they feel excluded and disenfranchised from society with no one to support them.” Students were then asked to complete a writing assignment, either a poem or a narrative, expressing their views about friendship or a personal experience with friendship. Students also had the option to compare a true friend to a false friend in their work. Stettler asked the students to keep the examples anonymous and she redistributed the writings to the class. “Each student read this new writing sample and chose a line or two that resonated with them,” she said. “The class then worked together to compile these statements into a poem. We read and rearranged until everyone was happy with the progression and flow and then we shared the poem at assembly.”