Making a connection through words

Connecting kids with the broader world is an important part of Sisters Middle School teacher Kit Stafford's mission. Through her Arts Discovery and Americana Project classes, students connect with the past, with other cultures - and, most importantly, with themselves.

Over the past couple of weeks, Stafford has been assisted in her mission by Bend spoken-word artist James Graham, better-known as Mosley Wotta. Through The Nature of Words Program, Graham spent time as a guest artist in Stafford's classroom, helping with projects and encouraging students to develop their own sense of self-expression.

"When they (The Nature of Words) gave me a list of people I could have, I jumped on James Graham - Mosley Wotta - just because I knew how much fun he is with kids," Stafford said.

Graham worked with students in the Americana Project class developing a persona to go along with an occupation that would have been common in the 1830s.

"Their first piece was from that character," Stafford said. "They wrote a rhyming piece (about their trade) and performed it."

Stafford extended Mosely Wotta's participation to working with a creative writing class and a couple of fifth-grade writing classes.

Stafford says that, through writing and performing, students not only hone important language skills, they come to recognize their own inner voice and that of their peers.

"Each student understands that we are so individual," Stafford said. "That kind of picture is really brought home."

According to Stafford, engaging with Mosley Wotta is exceptionally apt for this kind of experience, partly because of his own profound facility with words and largely because his message is a significant one for kids in their early adolescence.

"His messages are just beautiful - such beautiful words," Stafford said. "And he's using such a huge vocabulary."

Mosley Wotta's messages revolve around connections among people and the unique value of each individual for what they carry on the inside, not for what can be seen on the surface.

"All of these messages are really important for kids, especially at this age," Stafford said.

For more about Mosley Wotta, visit http://www.mosley

wotta.com. For information on The Nature of Words, visit http://www.thenatureofwords.org.