Sixth graders Austin Hinkley and Zach Mitchell write “In the Good Old Days” poems during their afternoon workshop with Fletcher. (Paula Roy photo) PHILLIPS — Ralph Fletcher, author of numerous books for young readers, spent a day recently with the young readers, authors and poets in grades K through 8 at the Phillips Elementary School. Fletcher met with classes throughout the day, finishing with a combined session of sixth, seventh and eighth graders and their teachers in the afternoon.

Students in all the grades, as well as most of the teachers, had been reading Fletcher’s books for weeks prior to his visit and were well-versed in his work. His picture books, such as “Twilight Comes Twice” and “Hello, Harvest Moon,” were favorites in the youngest groups. “Flying Solo” and “Fig Pudding,” chapter books for older readers, were popular with the upstairs population, grades 5 to 8. Everyone was very excited to have the “real author” to themselves for an entire day.

Fletcher answered loads of questions and shared all kinds of tips on his craft. He encouraged the writers of all ages to be creative and not afraid to play with their words. For the 6th through 8th graders, the day ended with some poetry writing. Fletcher gave them a poem about “the good old days” that he had written and invited them to “borrow” the first and last lines and put their own memories in between. After fives minutes of quiet writing, several were eager to share their creations.

Here are just two of the many outstanding pieces.

Sol Fast, eighth grader, wrote about his little sister: “Sometimes I remember the good old days. Being the baby of the family, getting the last pork chop. Getting what I want when I want. But then ten years later there were no more good old days for me. No more last pork chop. She got what I used to get when she wants it. I wish I still had the good old days.”

And from 7th grader, Shaine White, “Sometimes remember the good old days — going outside to play some baseball with my family. They all stand on a base ready to run. One run, two runs, come in. I say ‘Yippee!’ I still can’t imagine anything better than that.”

Phillips Girls Talk/Teen Voices members and their mentors, along with B.E.L.C.H. (Boys Engaged in Literary Conversation Heartily) had the additional treat of dinner with Ralph Fletcher that evening. Besides sharing a meal, participants also talked with the author and joined in more writing activities. Many brought their own copies of his books for autographs. After dinner, the public was invited to visit as well.

Still not the end of Fletcher’s visit to MSAD #58, Friday, the district’s teacher workshop day, Fletcher was the keynote speaker. His remarks focused on his book, “Boy Writers —Reclaiming Their Voices,” and included many strategies for creating more “boy friendly” writing classrooms.

While Fletcher’s book “does not advocate promoting the interests of boys at the expense of girls’ interests,” he does hope that teachers will “develop sensitivity to the unique facets of boy writers” and by doing so help them to better meet the needs of all their students. Once again, he stressed the importance of teachers letting writers of both genders, but especially boys, play with language without getting nervous about what they might write that will be “inappropriate.”

“If you want to reach boy writers, you will have to be willing to understand where they live,” Fletcher believes. “War, violence, hunting, blood, guts and gore are real things and boys are interested in them... Embrace boy writers (and their zany boy energy) in all their glory... Don’t let choice become an endangered species in your classroom... When you give boys more leeway, you’ll get good stuff out of them.”

Fletcher’s visit was engineered by MSAD 58’s Literacy Coach Andrea Ferrari. Ferrari has been the coach for a federal Reading First five-year grant awarded to the K to 3 teachers at the Phillips School in 2004. She has been trained in the administration of the Reading First program and, in turn, has trained the elementary teachers at Phillips. All were also required to take graduate level reading and writing courses, including a Maine Reading First course. They have participated in and led professional in-service workshops designed to improve reading and writing across the curriculum.

Though implementing the program has been “a tremendous amount of work,” Margaret Huff, veteran kindergarten teacher at Phillips, states enthusiastically, “Reading First with Andrea as coach has been the best thing that has happened to me in my whole teaching career. She is truly dedicated... leads by example... The results have been worth all the extra time and effort.”