Now, as we come to end of all the reading and researching, the question is: Does it really help students to allow them, no, encourage them, to write for a larger audience such as the publication world? Obviously, classroom dynamics and other intangibles may make this avenue not a very feasible option for some teachers, but based on what I have found, it seems apparent that the prospect of possibly being published is potentially a great motivator for students.
In Jacksonville, Florida there is a teacher who decided to make publication a facet of a project she did with her students. Suzanne Magish, a middle school reading teacher tells her story in the article, “Writing assignment has binding effect“, published in the Florida Times-Union. Ms. Magish says this about the reasons behind her decision to take student writing to the next level:
“I looked deeply into the eyes of each of my seventh-grade students realizing they were not grasping my lesson on fairy tales. “Alright, kids,” I stated more firmly than I was actually feeling at that moment in time. “We are all going to become bona fide published authors when this fairy tale unit comes to fruition.”
And that is exactly the goal her class pushed for day in and day out. Now, her class didn’t write the fairy tales to become famous or to have some fancy publisher take a look at the stories and call them “pure genious”. She promised her students published copies of their stories: hard-bound books that instantly turned her seventh grade class into real authors.
So, what happened while her students took to writing for this higher goal?
“We became immersed in the project. We talked fairy tales, read fairy tales, brainstormed the elements of fairy tales and reminisced about our own favorite fairy tales from our earliest days. We even watched videos of fairy tales discussing them at length: What made them work and hook audiences into reading or watching them?
I saw understanding and enthusiasm mirrored in the faces of my students. Together, we got excited. Each student wrote and illustrated his or her very own creation.”
Her students took pride in the stories they researched, studied, and wrote. Writing a fairy tale was no longer just another assignment; it was an adventure. Having their stories published was exciting and gave them the motivation to learn the material. And the benefit wasn’t just for the students: the teacher benefitted as well. In the article she describes the day the books came,
“One day the books came, and each of my students had become authors. The looks on their faces were incredible for me to behold.
I was so proud of each and every one of them and, more importantly, they were so proud of themselves”.
So, back to my original question, Does writing for publication really work in a classroom setting? According to Suzanne Magish it does and I tend to agree with her. Besides, just ask those seventh graders who are now published authors, I am sure their faces would tell you everything.
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April 15, 2007 at 12:59 am
boundtoreact
Andi,
The opportunity to be published was something that was lacking in my high school experience. From my college experience, I definitely think that it serves as a motivator for writing. Students are bound to take more pride in what they write and have a greater purpose knowing that what they are writing is not just going to be read by the teacher. I liked the idea from the article you discussed in this entry. We talk in class about how writing on the web creates published writing, yet what this teacher has done is taken publishing into her own hands, old school style if you will. I do wonder if the thought of being published could possibly have a negative effect on student writing (anxiety or embarrassment)? Great post, you rock.
Chris
April 15, 2007 at 1:17 am
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April 15, 2007 at 8:43 pm
stephcj
I totally agree with you, Andi (and Ms Magish). I think that when students know that their work is going to be published, they take more time in writing and perfecting it. I know that if I knew that my writing were going to be read by more than just my teacher, and would be professionally published, I would try and make it the best piece of writing I’ve ever written. I think that to an extent that is what our blogging in class has made us do. Every time I write a new blog post I read over it several times to make sure that there are no visible errors, and that it is the best writing I could do on the topic. Writing on the internet may not be as substantial as being published, but I think it brings with it the same size audience, don’t you?
What I especially liked about Ms. Magish’s idea of making her students published authors is that she is doing it at such a young age. Often, I think, students in the middle and high school don’t think their work has any value, that they – at their young age – could not produce something that others, not just their teacher, would want to read. The truth is, though, that they can.
April 15, 2007 at 8:59 pm
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April 16, 2007 at 12:14 am
picketca
I loved this story (or article rather). Ms. Magish seemed so deeply invested in her students success and confidence as writers. It’s story’s like this that make all of this blog, essay, paper, research, homework, classes, and a million other things that college requires, worth it.
I have never worried about my work being published until this class. In fact I had and still have a large amount of anxiety about having my words out there for all the world to read, but on the other hand, I feel like what I’m writing better be decent because it is being published in a sense.
The teachers excitement tied to the idea of having their work published obviously made a huge impact on her students and I’m sure this boosted their self-esteem and desire as writers.
-Cassie
April 16, 2007 at 1:08 am
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April 16, 2007 at 4:19 am
Gina
This was a great post. I think that teaching younger students is much more challenging then older students since they are still attempting to grasp many of the concepts of writing and style. The article with the 7th grade teacher is a great example of how there is no single conventional way of teaching a certain subject matter. I think that giving the students an oppertunity to express themselves in this way is a great way to get them intersted and engaged in what they are doing, even if they do not particularly enjoy writing.
Thanks for sharing!
:~: Gina :~: _\,,/
April 17, 2007 at 1:38 pm
mishlela1
I really admire Ms. Magish for what she did to encourage her students to take an active interest in their writing. I think it would be great if we can all accomplish that with our future students. I really do think that it helps students to be interested in their writing if they know that it’s going beyond the teacher. I can’t imagine having that opportunity when I was in seventh grade. In fact, I would actually have been very nervous about the idea of any of my writing being published. I think that might have been because I never had anything published. The closest I ever came was winning a school-wide poetry contest, but in a school of 100, that’s not saying much. I think that if the idea of publication beyond your classroom could be integrated early on, then students might be more open to it in the future and more invested in their current writing.
April 17, 2007 at 4:40 pm
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