After the last bell of the day rings, students pack their items and head out the door, returning home; however, for twelve middle school students, it is routine to head back to class. For them, sitting down in Jill Burket’s classroom every Tuesday afternoon, having a prompt displayed on the smart television and picking up their black ballpoint pens to write is normal.
Power of the Pen, a creative writing competition, allows seventh and eighth graders to demonstrate their skills to a panel of judges. For forty straight minutes, students create a piece of literature based on a prompt, which two judges then assess.
Revere, however, had not participated in the Power of the Pen tournament for a few years. Revere Middle School’s principal, Bill Conley, asked the teaching staff if anyone wished to coach the team. Connie Tartara took on the role in the 2021-2022 school year.
“We didn’t have a Power of the Pen team for a few years, and Mr. Conley, the principal, asked somebody to step up and coach this team. . . . I love creative writing. I love telling a story and I [was] kind of interested to know a little bit more about Power the Pen. So, I started coaching that year,” Tartara said.
Making time for weekly meetings and tournaments, however, proved difficult. Tartara found that balancing her schedule and ensuring that her students got as much practice in as possible came with difficulties, and after a year of coaching, she stepped down from her position. Then, Tartara discovered the perfect candidate to take her place: new seventh-grade English Language Arts teacher Jill Burket.
“I stepped away because I have four children, and after school got a little bit busy and crazy, but I made sure that I passed off the baton to somebody who was willing to coach it and knew a little bit about it. . . . Mrs. Burket was awesome,” Tartara said.
Burket had not always been a seventh-grade English teacher, however. Over the course of 28 years, she worked as a librarian and a third, fifth, sixth and seventh grade teacher in various subjects. Her wide range of experience in education makes her, as Tartara suggests, a perfect fit for the role.
“She has so much knowledge . . . [from] the reading, the writing, the analysing; anywhere from poetry to informational text to novels. She is so well-read and well-spoken and well-written, that it is totally a bonus to have her in that position [as coach],” Tartara said.
Coming from Bath Elementary School to Revere Middle School came with lots of options for Burket, one being the position of coach for the Power of the Pen team. As Burket had moved up to become a seventh-grade English teacher, a creative writing coach was the perfect position for her.
“When I came . . . to [the] middle school last year from teaching the lower grades, they were looking for a coach. And since I teach language arts it just seemed like a natural fit. . . . I love writing. I love encouraging kids to write. So I decided to give it a try,” Burket said.
Now, this is Burket’s second year coaching Power of the Pen. With a year of experience under her belt, Burket better understands her role as a coach. During last year’s competition, she had the opportunity to become a judge, an experience that assisted her in her coaching career.
“The biggest thing that helped me was judging at the competitions. . . . I could see what other kids were doing and other judges keeping score. So that helped me better prepare [my students] for the judges,” Burket said.
Coaching comes with difficulties too. After collecting the most skilled and passionate creative writers, Burket found it difficult to find issues to critique in their works.
“The hardest part for me is giving constructive criticism because . . . It’s hard for me to come up with something that they need to improve on. . . . I have to try to think about what I saw in judging that they wanted [me] to focus on,” Burket said.
Constructive criticism and feedback are not the only aspects of coaching that are difficult. Burket said she faces other challenges as a Power of the Pen coach, such as watching students as they “didn’t score what they thought they should score” and not “having to take everybody” when it was time to pick and choose who entered the competition. Despite this, Burket continued to encourage students “to keep going” and to not let bad scores “define what their writing is.”
Power of the Pen’s goal is to encourage students to be original and inventive in their writing, meaning coaches must promote creativity during practices. Burket is one of many who acknowledge this fact, finding ways to foster these elements in students’ work.
“I show them the actual rubric that [judges] use . . . and how much weight is given to creativity, originality, and then I try to read their stories; just keep encouraging. Anything that I see that’s creative and different and original, [I] just tell them how wonderful that is,” Burket said.
As this is the club’s third year coming back to Revere, the future of the district’s Power of the Pen team is not yet certain. Despite this, Burket can envision how the team will evolve and what her plans are for it.
“I’d love to see it grow. . . . I would love to have it beyond the competition. That’s just one little part of it. There’s a lot of people who come just without having to have to go to a competition. . . . Then maybe my best, strongest writers go to competition,” Burket said.
Lylah Wilson, former Power of the Pen participant and two-time state competitor, got to experience Burket’s teaching in her eighth grade year. She described Burket’s coaching style.
“Burket actually left some more space for creativity. . . . [Her style] was a lot more like ‘let’s go with the flow and see what happens’ . . . and ‘go a little bit outside of your comfort zone’,” Wilson said.
No coach is the same. For instance, one may stress constructive criticism while another may fixate on compliments and encouragement.
“[Burket] would compliment our writing rather than criticising it, but it was still useful to hear what was good about your writing,” Wilson said.
Fostering confidence in one’s writing capabilities is important, too. Coaches must find a balance between uplifting and ensuring students grow in their respective fields. Wilson found that Burket “really encourage[d] confidence” and students would “gain some confidence” from her in their writing.
Whether as a competitor or as a hobbyist, coaches and teachers alike continue to encourage writers to engage in their creative habits. Burket is no exception.
“Keep writing in any format. Whether it’s personally, whether it’s through a creative writing club; it doesn’t have to be a competitive thing. . . . Just keep going,” Burket said.
Creative writers from all over the state get together and compete, and behind every team, there is a coach. For Revere, that coach is Burket, who will influence the competition for years to come.
