For Earth Day, use newspapers to encourage the study of issues relevant to students’ lives; help them self-select topics.

Directions in the following lesson on writing persuasive or evaluative essays encourage teachers to gather newspapers to supplement students’ research on environmental issues. After identifying stories about environmental issues in the print version of their local or regional newspaper, students should search for additional information in the archives of Web or electronic editions of their newspapers.

<http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=268>

Students may also evaluate opinions about the environmental issues offered in editorials, letters to the editor, columns and cartoons. Students should use the news and commentary to form their own opinions and craft effective persuasive or evaluative essays.

North Carolina’s Standard Course of Study includes argumentation (problem-solution and evaluation) as a goal in the English/Language Arts curriculum.

A good story makes readers wonder what happens next, after the story ends. Students in Greenville wrote about what happened after Big Jens and his crew rescued Taffy.

Of Taffy’s continuing stories, one judge wrote, “These were all very interesting endings. The students did a good job!” Reprinted below are four of the chapters, chosen for their overall high quality. Three of the stories take place just after Taffy is released from the hospital, and the other describes Taffy’s future family. Also published below are excerpts and ideas from other chapters written by students. Thanks to students from Greenville’s Eastern Elementary and Hope Middle School and their teachers, Ms. Broyles and Ms. Roth for sharing their work and encouraging other readers to think beyond the story.

Recovery

Taffy had never been so happy to see the little old shack in her entire life. After two long days in the DF’s sick house, Taffy was anxious to get home. As Big Jen’s jeep pulled closer, Gramp started up. “Now Taffy, just because it’s late and you’re in recovery, doesn’t mean that we shall not honor the Sabbath day and listen to the sermon.�

Taffy smiled in spite of herself. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to listen to the radio sermon. She was so tired that all she wanted to do was sleep.

After what seemed like an eternity, Big Jens pulled up into the sand surrounding Gramp’s and Taffy’s home. Big Jens shot Gramp a look, and Gramp said, “Taffy, why don’t you head on inside and start up a pot of coffee. Me and Big Jen here are just going to discuss your condition.â€? Taffy nodded obediently and slid down from the jeep, with Brandy on her tail. The way Gramp and Big Jen waited for her to go before they started to talk, Taffy suspected that it wasn’t just her health they were talking about, but she was just too tired to do any snooping today, so she opened the door to the shack and walked in. Read the rest of this entry »

Starting in January, newspapers across North Carolina will be publishing a condensed, serialized, 16-chapter version of the book Taffy of Torpedo Junction, thanks to the author’s daughter, Marcia Wechter Kass and the University of North Carolina Press. In classrooms and homes, through this statewide reading initiative, readers will become acquainted or reacquainted with Taffy who lived on the Outer Banks during World War II and witnessed the torpedo attacks along North Carolina’s coast.

To better understand any book, readers will often learn about the author. The NC NIE Web site links to sites with information about the author, Nell Wise Wechter. Marcia Wechter Kass, the author’s daughter, adds to that information in the following interview. Teachers (and parents), if you or your students have additional questions for Marcia Wechter Kass, pass those along.

AN INTERVIEW with MARCIA WECHTER KASS

1. What motivated your mom, Nell Wise Wechter, to write Taffy of Torpedo Junction?

Thank you very much for the opportunity to reminisce about my mom and her writing.

Nell Wise was a born storyteller, and, as soon as she could put pen to paper, her imagination appeared in print. She observed and absorbed everything around her in the early days of the 20th century. She saw her father, Enoch Wise, go out in his shad boat everyday to make a living and her mother, Edith Best Wise, work the garden and tend the chickens (and kill snakes!) to turn that “living” into meals.

Read the rest of this entry »