Isn't it great when we can broaden our writers' audience? If we want to nurture passionate writers, it's a good idea to send their writing outside of your classroom from time to time, with their permission. Owl magazine sponsors a variety of creative contests. If you are a Virginia high school teacher, check the Superintendent's Memos every Friday for occasional scholarship opportunities. The local newspaper may run seasonal contests with categories based on age. The public library may also do the same.
I am fortunate that the United Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula sponsors an annual Holocaust essay contest for school-age children. In addition to recognizing winners with a certificate and check, the winners are honored at the annual Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance) ceremony. The UJC even sends congratulatory letters to students who were picked as finalists. AND they send the teacher who submits at least a class set of entries free books. Yes, free books. Teachers choose from a list of titles. Those books then become part of your school's library. If you talk other teachers into participating, with a little patience you can build up a set of Holocaust-themed levelled books. If you don't see the title that you want, e-mail the sponsors. They will seriously consider your request. http://www.ujcvp.org/holocaust_ed.php
One year, after we watched the Paper Clips documentary about Whitwell, Tennessee's 8th graders' ongoing Holocaust project, my students wanted to do something special for their school. Using the Internet, we found out that they were moving into a new building with a new library. We e-mailed the UJC to see if they would send us a "sampler" of all of the middle school titles instead of a class set for us, so we could donate them to Whitwell Middle School. They enthusiastically agreed. We packed them up, decorated the box with watercolor butterflies and paid it forward. Find out about the paper clip project here http://www.oneclipatatime.org/
And let me tell you this. After the tornado relocated my classroom to a new school, two members of the UJC stopped by the front office with the books my students earned this year, Han Nolan's If I Should Die Before I Wake. On the box was a handwritten note wishing us well. Writing creates communities.
If publication is something that you feel strongly about, get a copy of the latest Writer's Market. The amount of information in that resource will be more than you could ever need.
Finally, if you ask your students to enter a contest that has an adult writers category, enter! They will love to see you workshop your piece. Take it from start to finish in front of them. Let them give you feedback. What a great opportunity!
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How about dusting off some of your writing skills and entering a current contest?
Here's a helpful site ---> http://www.pw.org/grants
Showing posts with label Owl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Owl. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Friday, May 13, 2011
What's on the coffee tables of most middle school boys?
Okay, okay. Please don't give middle school boys coffee, or encourage them to move out of the house. I was writing figuratively. But, if middle school boys did have coffee tables...behold...the latest copy of the Guinness Book of Worlds Records would sit proudly atop it. AND it would be worn out.
Why? Have you opened that book lately? It has some cool pictures in there! You don't have to read the book from cover to cover. Hey, you don't even have to read it. You could just look at the pictures. You could. But, don't you want to know more about that lady with those wickedly long, curly fingernails? Gag. YES! I dare you not to read the captions and mini-articles.
Even the Surgeon General knows that teenage boys cannot live on Guinness alone. Here are a few other resources that capitalize on a similar appeal.
Other "coffee table books" for teens include Pick Me Up, Take Me Back, Open Me Up and Do Not Open. Oh, they are soooooooo cool! Please, please, please promise me that you will at least investigate them on line. Amazon will allow you to see sample pages before you buy. If one student opens this book in your class, a knot of readers will appear around him or her. It's one of those, "You've got to see this!" books, so be prepared for that to happen. Good luck keeping them quiet. They're finally talking about books. Be excited.
Owl magazine is also popular with students. They also provide a balance of great visuals, weird news, fun contests, reader input and interactive material. One of my favorite ways to use this magazine is by reading the "Would You Rather..." lists, letting the kids voice their opinions by a show of hands and then call on volunteers to explain their choices. For example, would you rather have the neck of a giraffe or the legs of a flamingo? Harmless stuff from a Canadian publisher. I've gathered up all of our back issues and allowed students to have a sustained not-so-silent reading time in pairs. It was fun to listen to for sure.
But what about the measurable stuff? Jamestown Publishers has a non-fiction series that I love: The Wild Side. Every high interest story comes with the standard questions that are near and dear to an English teacher's heart. Main idea, supporting details, drawing conclusions, making inferences, fact. vs. opinion, author's purpose, etc. Check it out here...http://www.glencoe.com/gln/jamestown/reading_nonfiction.html
In the real world, a variety of reading material sparks dialogue within a community. Let it happen in your classroom as well.
Note: Some of my strongest readers are young men. I am not, in any way, implying that all boys struggle with reading longer texts. That's not true. But, think about it. Like me, you are probably an avid and able reader. Don't you enjoy thumbing through a stack of magazines at the beach? Or, do you always bring your college Shakespeare textbook with you everywhere you go? Is there still a little bit of middle schooler in every adult that makes them marvel at the Guinness Book of World Records? Yep. Me too. And I'm a girl.
Why? Have you opened that book lately? It has some cool pictures in there! You don't have to read the book from cover to cover. Hey, you don't even have to read it. You could just look at the pictures. You could. But, don't you want to know more about that lady with those wickedly long, curly fingernails? Gag. YES! I dare you not to read the captions and mini-articles.
Even the Surgeon General knows that teenage boys cannot live on Guinness alone. Here are a few other resources that capitalize on a similar appeal.
Other "coffee table books" for teens include Pick Me Up, Take Me Back, Open Me Up and Do Not Open. Oh, they are soooooooo cool! Please, please, please promise me that you will at least investigate them on line. Amazon will allow you to see sample pages before you buy. If one student opens this book in your class, a knot of readers will appear around him or her. It's one of those, "You've got to see this!" books, so be prepared for that to happen. Good luck keeping them quiet. They're finally talking about books. Be excited.
Owl magazine is also popular with students. They also provide a balance of great visuals, weird news, fun contests, reader input and interactive material. One of my favorite ways to use this magazine is by reading the "Would You Rather..." lists, letting the kids voice their opinions by a show of hands and then call on volunteers to explain their choices. For example, would you rather have the neck of a giraffe or the legs of a flamingo? Harmless stuff from a Canadian publisher. I've gathered up all of our back issues and allowed students to have a sustained not-so-silent reading time in pairs. It was fun to listen to for sure.
But what about the measurable stuff? Jamestown Publishers has a non-fiction series that I love: The Wild Side. Every high interest story comes with the standard questions that are near and dear to an English teacher's heart. Main idea, supporting details, drawing conclusions, making inferences, fact. vs. opinion, author's purpose, etc. Check it out here...http://www.glencoe.com/gln/jamestown/reading_nonfiction.html
In the real world, a variety of reading material sparks dialogue within a community. Let it happen in your classroom as well.
Note: Some of my strongest readers are young men. I am not, in any way, implying that all boys struggle with reading longer texts. That's not true. But, think about it. Like me, you are probably an avid and able reader. Don't you enjoy thumbing through a stack of magazines at the beach? Or, do you always bring your college Shakespeare textbook with you everywhere you go? Is there still a little bit of middle schooler in every adult that makes them marvel at the Guinness Book of World Records? Yep. Me too. And I'm a girl.
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