Desert Wind Sixth Graders Embrace Their Inner Authors for a Day

Desert Wind Middle School celebrated creativity and collaboration on December 13, 2024, with a book launch ceremony for five sixth-grade classes collectively known as Team Luigi. The event showcased essays crafted by the students, which were compiled and published for families to purchase.

Yricka Ursal, a sixth-grade English teacher who inspired the project’s inception, shared that the initiative began in her classroom the previous year. “I organized a small event in my classroom last year,” she explained. “The kids loved it. The principal then challenged me to expand it with a team this year.”

Ursal, who came to the United States from the Philippines on a J-1 visa, collaborated with math teacher James Jay Llerin, who helped bring the project to life in his classroom.

To ensure a robust interdisciplinary approach, the duo enlisted additional support from social studies teacher Mardel Amerkhan, science instructor Jee Ar Acosta, and English as a second language teacher Chrystal Ejim. Llerin noted that planning for the event began at the start of the school year, integrating the various subjects.

Each class focused on a specific topic related to their subject areas. English students explored cultural icons, math scholars examined real-world applications of arithmetic, social studies classes researched different countries, and ESL learners expressed their cultural narratives in a new language.

Ursal identified the math essay prompt as particularly challenging. The teachers devised a creative solution: students would conceptualize real-life math problems and convert them into narrative stories, presented in a graphic novel format. “Many students enjoy drawing,” Llerin added.

The published works were produced through Studentreasures Publishing, allowing students and their families to access the books. “They provide a draft for us, and then we send it back for final compilation,” Ursal explained. “Parents place their orders directly through the website, and we have no financial obligations.”

Ursal hopes that this initiative can grow beyond sixth grade, eventually spanning the entire school. “The project aims to empower students, showing them that they can achieve great things,” she emphasized. She expressed concern for students who doubt their abilities, stating, “I want to demonstrate that we celebrate their writing. Writing is an expressive outlet for emotions, not a chore.”