THE POWER OF PUBLISHING

by Jacqueline Jules

At the end of the year, many schools publish literary magazines. It’s a wonderful way to help young writers see that they write for a purpose and an audience. Publication is also a powerful motivator for revision.

Before you send your literary magazine to the printer or post it online, give your students the opportunity to see “proof pages” of their entry. This simulates the real world model many magazines and publishing houses follow of giving authors one last final approval before publication. Explain to the students that this is their chance to look over their work and make any necessary changes before it is presented to the public. You might be surprised how seriously even elementary school students take this responsibility.

Presented with a typed and formatted version of their own writing, students will suddenly see repetitious or weak word choices. They will add snappier endings or beginnings and they will find typos you missed. Some will even come up with stronger titles.

I recently visited five third grade classes with proof pages of work most of them had completed at least two months prior. All of these students had previously seen their stories typed on an individual page. They had chosen the font type and formatting. However, when told that their work would be part of a grade level book, they re-read their work with a critical eye. Working in pairs, they read their own work and their partners', checking for mistakes and making suggestions. They were told to write on the papers directly and put a 0,+1, +2, +3, etc, indicating how many changes they wanted.

One boy who had been lackadaisical about his writing in earlier conferences suddenly had all sorts of details he urgently wanted added to his story. His proof page came back with +8! Another girl changed the sentence, “It was sooo beautiful,” to “She was enchanted by its beauty.” Student after student crossed out bland words for more descriptive ones.

And while I am not a proponent of changing ,“said,” simply for variety since  there is no point in calling unnecessary attention to a speech tag, I was delighted when a child looked over his story and changed a “said” to “murmured.” The story was about a misunderstanding in a conversation. Indicating that one speaker mumbled, strengthened the whole story. Other third graders found inconsistencies in their stories such as “My mom drove the car. I don’t drive!”  Or, “The story shouldn’t take place in 55 A.D.” I even saw students catch pronouns with no antecedents. Wow!

Publishing student work in a literary magazine is time-consuming and can be expensive, but it is a powerful tool for motivating students to do their best work. There is something about knowing your work will be in an anthology beside other pieces that makes young writers realize that a little extra effort might just be worth it.

http://www.jacquelinejules.com/ 

THE IMPORTANCE OF VOCABULARY

by Alison Hart

The last blog I wrote on the difficulties of writing discussed how incredibly complicated writing is for my pre-college students. During one semester, they must write six essays, including a literary essay on a novel. Most of them arrive with below average skills, yet in sixteen weeks, they need to understand and craft essays using correct spelling, grammar, sentence construction, punctuation, different writing purposes and modes, paraphrasing, thesis statements, topic sentences, engaging description, supporting details, and essay format. Since texting and commenting on Facebook are about the only writing they do, they are surprised that “c u latr lol” is not acceptable. Many do not make it through the semester.

The number of skills needed to write is mind-boggling, and what I have discovered is that even at the college level the biggest obstacle is language.  Students with a limited vocabulary can master skills, but rarely do their essays rise above an elementary level.  Writing requires words—descriptive, specific, fanciful, precise--to convey meaning to a reader. Without the right ‘words’, writing is simply black print on paper.  Yet teaching vocabulary without context is useless, and since most students who struggle with writing don’t read widely, it is difficult for their vocabulary to grow.

Along with not reading, the second problem at all levels is: how often do students get to tell stories and use words in school?  With twenty students and more in a class, teachers don’t have time to listen to every kid’s (big or small) tale of what happened on the way to school. My students have incredible stories of divorce, DUIs, foster care, immigration, jail time and death.  Sometimes I read about their hardships in disjointed essays. Rarely do I listen. 

 When I first taught in the 80s, the LEA (Language Experience Approach) was big. Students recited stories to volunteers and aides who wrote them down. The kids saw their words and thoughts on paper, and when they reread them, the stories had correct spelling and punctuation. At the college level, I have used a type of LEA for not only my EL students, but for those who find that getting ideas from their heads onto paper is a daunting task.  During the edit stage, I can ask questions to help each writer draw out or add details.  It then gives the student a model and shows the connection between thoughts and words.

         

In my lowest writing class, I do an exercise on sensory description. I bring in spices to smell and food to taste. Students work in groups using an online thesaurus and dictionary to find words to describe their sensations. They love the exercise, but it is not enough.  It is never enough.

In all my classes, my students brainstorm why vocabulary is important. When they are done writing their ideas on the board, I hit them with this fact: the one proven indicator of success in a career is a rich and useful vocabulary. As employers and employees we need to be able to successfully communicate, direct and inspire with words.

         

I would love to hear ideas on building vocabulary at all levels, and would like to share them in the next post. In the meantime, when a student wants to tell you a story, I hope you will take the time to listen.  It is an important link to writing.

www.alisonhartbooks.com