SPS Middle School Students Collectively Authoring the Next Horror Bestseller
21st Century enrichment program teaches the writing process, from ideas to print
SALEM (Nov. 4, 2024) – There may not be any Hollywood directors lining up to snatch the movie rights, but by the time the ‘Scary Stories’ group at the Collins Middle School submits its final draft, it will have quite a colorful tale to tell.
Scary Stories is a group of roughly 15 students from Collins and the Saltonstall School which meets Mondays and Wednesdays after school. They are currently hard at work authoring the next great horror story.
The program is made possible by the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21C) Grant, which covers materials, an instructor and other expenses to provide students a quality enrichment program. It is synonymous with the core principles of the 2023-26 Strategic Plan, particularly elevating learning and centering belonging. The program is also consistent with the SPS middle school model of project-based learning.
For inspiration, Scary Stories students are reading short stories from a book titled “Scary Short Stories for Teens, Book 1” by Bryce Nealham.
On this particular day, students are tasked with coming up with ideas for their own horror stories and documenting the details:
One student, Ana, is considering a horror-comedy full of mishaps with a central character who is both psychic and otherworldly flexible and spry.
Aeris talks about begin trapped in a haunted mansion with his classmates doing math, perhaps another horror/comedy.
Liam adds personal experience: he gathers ideas from having once toured Sheriff Hardwick’s Haunted Jail (the former St. John’s County Sheriff’s Office Jail Annex) in Jacksonville, Fla., with his family.
Other ideas include an ice cream truck that abducts people. and faeries pulling the strings of people.
Melani, without having written down any ideas, improvises a story about a young woman entering a remote, unfamiliar house and quickly realizing there are no windows, no light and no exit.
Her story captures the very purpose of the program: to let imaginations run, evoke ideas and think creatively, whether jotting notes on paper or verbalizing off the cuff.
Facilitating the Scary Story group is Danvers native Michael Scarfo, a former English teacher of 10 years turned music and podcasting studio owner. He is excited and impressed about the direction of the story.
“What has impressed me is that they’re all writing the same story from different perspectives, the victim, the detective and the killer,” Mr. Scarfo said. “It’s very advanced for their age to think of these perspectives.”
In the middle of the idea session, Mr. Scarfo quickly challenges the class to identify the descriptive words of the stories which they’ve just read. Being a good writer means being a good reader.
The class will debut its horror story at a showcase scheduled for the second week of December.
“I want them to have some type of joy in reading and writing,” he said. “It’s good to be a fluent writer. It’s a skill that translates into so many things.”
About Salem Public Schools
Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district in Salem, Massachusetts. Salem is a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Our leaders and our teachers are all passionate about education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement with equity and social-emotional needs as the lens we view all of our work through. We respect and value the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our students and their families, and have a strong commitment to the Salem community. Salem Public Schools staff serve all of our students, regardless of ability or language. Salem Public Schools enrolls approximately 4,000 students across its eleven schools.
