Old Leaves: Y’all did bring your imaginations?

Here's a re-run of my post from this date in 2019 which is a copy of an article from the Rome City School's Facebook page:

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I had a great time telling stories and talking about storytelling with students at Rome Middle School. Here's the report from the ROME City Schools Facebook account ....

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Rome Middle School Visited by Storyteller, Terrell Shaw

“Y’all did bring your imaginations with you today, didn’t you?!”

The enthusiastic sounds of seventh grade student’s laughter echoed throughout the halls of Rome Middle School on Wednesday, October 30, as storyteller, Terrell Shaw, prepared the students for an imaginative lesson on creating and telling stories.

Students in Ms. Chapman and Ms. Smith’s classes are currently studying writing, and what better way to find inspiration than to hear from someone who is accustomed to telling stories every single day?

Shaw’s story, “The First Lieutenant’s Jacket,” is a fictional story about his great-grandfather Nathan Wood.

After coming across a girl on the side of the road during a storm, Wood offers her his jacket and a ride home. The couple shares a kiss at her door, and Wood rides off into the night remembering that she still had his First Lieutenant’s jacket. Using that as an excuse to see her again, Wood takes off to her house only to learn that the girl he met last night was a ghost, and he finds his First Lieutenant’s jacket lying over her tombstone.

Shaw then introduced the students to ways they can find inspiration for stories as they move along their journey to become writers themselves. In fact, he wrote “The First Lieutenant’s Jacket” story from a book about scary stories, changing the main character and location to things he was familiar with.

“I am always thrilled to tell a story anywhere, but I especially love Rome Middle! My kids went to Rome Middle and it was great to have an opportunity to come back here and speak with these kids,” said Shaw. “This was a great group of kids—they were really involved and were super into the story, which is always great. I thoroughly enjoyed it!”

“Everybody enjoys a good story,” smiled Shaw, “and the purpose of coming to schools like RMS is simply to encourage storytelling in Northwest Georgia.”

Go Wolves!