I want to teach middle school some day. This seems to be a rare approach when it comes to secondary education, but I really feel that middle schoolers have so much to offer and so many possibilities when it comes to life underneath all the bad attitudes and teen angst. On top of that, the digital age is opening up so many new avenues for publication that would otherwise be closed to students such as “This I Believe” and other websites. For this reason I was very excited to see an interesting news article in my Google Reader tonight. The article, in the Rennsselaer Republican Newspaper detailed exciting news for me as a prospective middle school English teacher.
While the article may seem unimportant to some, for me it gave me two new resources when it comes to writing for publication and using that in my classroom: In the article, 3 middle school students were honored by their local newpaper for acheiving publication on the web.
“The publishing process honors teachers and students according to Creative Communications. Thousands of entries are not invited to be published and being chosen makes a strong statement about the school. The publication will also provide a record of what is important to today’s students.”
Two websites are listed in the article as possible choices for students wishing to publish poetic works. One is www.poetry.com and the other is www.poetrypower.com. Both offer contests and publications that reward students for their work with money and scholarship prizes on top of being officially published on the website. As the editor of the website Thomas K. Worthen says,
“Without this publication the entries which reflect the unique insight and perspective of the youth today would be lost forever,”.
This man realizes the depth of thought middle school and high school students are capable of and it is so great to know that students can have resources like this to take their writing to the next level. I sincerely hope to hear more stories like this one in the future, maybe some day one of my own students will be published in print or on the internet. In light of our recent discussions of poetry in class, I think it is important to make it clear to students that to share work and poetry is to share information and knowledge and ultimately learning. The ultimate in sharing is publication and with more and more websites and places accepting poems and stories. Students should know about these avenues and teachers should promote them. That is what I hope to do.
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April 17, 2007 at 12:11 am
moonshot
I have to applaud you for wanting to teach middle school. That can be a very rough age. But you are right – middle schoolers do have a lot to offer, and I think they often get looked over. Teaching them to write meaningful pieces and giving them the opportunity to publish them teaches students a lot more than just righting. It teaches them respect and responsibility and pride in their accomplishments. These are all good things for students of any age, and I’m glad that middle school students are also getting the opportunity.
April 17, 2007 at 12:12 am
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