CREATIVE WRITERS CAFE

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November 21, 2025

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Students in sixth-grade writing class finish up their latest unit creating stories in a fully imagined writers cafe complete with real-world ambience and creative fellowship.

Notre Dame Prep sixth graders stepped into a whole new kind of classroom this week when writing teacher Deirdre Schiefer NDP’19 transformed the St. Peter Chanel Library into a full “Creative Writers Cafe,” replete with suitable beverages and candle centerpieces. With support from librarian Julia Weilant and technology integration specialist Melissa York, the cafe served as the grand finale to the students’ descriptive writing unit.

Schiefer said she originated the Creative Writers Cafe to celebrate the hard work her students have poured into their writing. 

“I started holding the Writers Cafe last year to celebrate my writers' accomplishments at the end of our units,” she said. “These students worked for a month and a half to create unique and interesting stories that ranged from spooky Halloween mysteries to alien adventures to detailed trips on the high seas."

She added the the Creative Cafe is a way for her writers to feel that their work is valued, seen and appreciated, not only by their teacher, but by their peers as well.

The cafe concept also reinforces something Schiefer hopes all young writers come to understand. 

“Writing is more than simply a task for school,” she said. “Writing is a source of entertainment and media that can be enjoyed by all and their ability to do it well has incredible value," she said. "Plus, the students purely enjoy being in a location outside of our classroom and playing along with the bit that we're in a cafe and they're being ‘served’ delicious stories to enjoy. After all, sixth graders are still just kids and I love providing them with a bit of magic at school!”

The event also reflects the thoughtful and creative approach to learning that defines NDP’s middle school program. In sixth-grade writing, students build foundational skills in grammar, mechanics, vocabulary and spelling while strengthening their oral communication through discussions and presentations. They learn to analyze media, practice MLA format and work cited, and demonstrate their growing abilities through a variety of written and spoken projects.

This week’s Creative Writers Cafe showcased not only the students’ hard-earned writing skills, but also the joyful, imaginative learning experiences that make Notre Dame Prep such a special place to grow as a learner. 

Photos from the cafe capture the sixth graders sharing their stories, encouraging one another, and savoring the "magic" of being such young creators.

For information on admission to Notre Dame Prep, please click here.

Comments or questions? mkelly@ndpma.org

About Notre Dame Preparatory School
"At Notre Dame Prep, we inspire our students to become the best versions of themselves. We challenge them through an experience of academic excellence, focused on active, project-based learning. We invite them to explore a world of opportunities beyond the classroom. We guide them as they grow in spirituality within a community strong in its Catholic and Marist identity."

Notre Dame Preparatory School is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. Notre Dame Preparatory School's upper school enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame Prep's middle and lower schools enroll students in pre-kindergarten through grade eight. All three schools are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDP is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the National Association of Independent Schools. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School, visit the school’s home page at www.ndpma.org.