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Literacy duo stresses importance of writing
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .J.J. Brothers' Jim Hixson (back left) and John performed a motivational literacy assembly Oct. 7 at Dobbins Elementary to promote reading and writing. First-grader Ethan Mckenzie (front left), kindergartner Keeley Snek, second-grader Milly Malmer; (back) and third-graders Brooke Dinopoulos, Abbie Shoemaker, Chase Wern and Jacob Kountz enjoyed the assembly.
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .John Hixson, of J.J. Brothers, picked volunteers from the audience Oct. 7 during a literacy assembly at Dobbins Elementary. The volunteers participated in an interactive story.
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .J.J. Brothers' John Hixson (standing left) and Jim chose audience members to participate in a character improv writing exercise. Dobbins' teachers Elaine Morlan (left), Marlene Booher with students Olivia Barrett, Zack Simon and Carson Magni pretended to be animals and made-up their own dialogue.
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .Jim Hixson (left) encouraged Dobbins Elementary students to use their imagination while reading books during the J.J. Brothers assembly Oct. 7. He read from the classic novel "A Christmas Carol" as brother, John, pretended to be a ghost from the story appearing from the audience's imagination.
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Neighbors | Shaiyla Hakeem .J.J. Brothers' Jim Hixson (left) and John called on volunteers from the audience to help in a writing exercise. Dobbins' Vince Carnery and Cole Kosco pointed out the nouns and verbs in the brothers' sentences.
Students at Dobbins Elementary explored the world of literature through a motivational literacy assembly from J.J. Brothers Oct. 7. The brothers, Jim Hixson and John, have been advocating reading and writing through performances for 10 years.
“Reading is probably the most important thing you’ll learn at school,” Jim said. “If you learn to read, you can learn anything.”
The purpose of the assembly was to show students that reading and writing can be fun. Jim admitted that sometimes, depending on the book, the reading can get dry and become rather boring. When this happens, he encouraged students to use their imagination instead of pushing the book aside.
“Picture the characters,” Jim said. “What if what was happening in the story was happening to you?”
Reading wasn’t the only focus. Writing was given equal importance. The brothers discussed how important nouns and verbs are in a sentence and used volunteers from the audience to dissect sentences.
Jim said he wasn’t born a writer; it was something he practiced. He said words are the building blocks of sentences and sentences make up a story.
Rather than trying to write a chapter or book, start with simple things, like with poetry. Jim also told students to keep a journal and write down all their ideas for characters, plots or even themes for poems.
The J.J. Brothers are celebrating the 10th year anniversary of their first novel, “Caterpillar Jones and the Adventure of Nut E. Squirrel,” and the publication of their new book, “Dog Collars.”