Pomeroy, Mark

Mark will address all of the six writing traits and will integrate specific teacher requests for focus in content areas such as dialogue, metaphor, adjectives/adverbs, personification, and paragraphing.

Project #1: Short Stories, Brick by Brick
Students learn to create gripping, evocative short stories through activities that explore character, setting, plot, point of view, and editing. They build their stories brick by brick, and work towards a polished final draft with the following elements present: a compelling opening; realized characters and vivid settings; conflict & resolution; organized and understandable prose.

Project #2: The Writing Workout
This project focuses on day-to-day writing activities instead of a single finished product. Students build their skills by "working out" each day, writing several vignettes with a focus on detail, perspective, character development, and sensory description.

Mark Pomeroy’s poems, essays, and photographs have appeared in several publications, including Open Spaces, The Oregonian, the Waco Tribune-Herald, and Portland Magazine. He’s also the author of The Brightwood Stillness, a novel for which he won an Oregon Literary Fellowship. After receiving an MA in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, Mark taught middle school humanities for four years. For the past 18 years, he has worked with kids in various local programs: Portland Parks and Recreation, Friendly House, Saturday Academy, and, most recently, Literary Arts’ Writers in the Schools program. This is Mark's seventh year with COW.