Publishing

We don't really think about ourselves or one another as potential publishers, do we?

Publishing books seems like something that "authors" do, perhaps those like Jennifer Donnelly or Kurt Vonnegut. (RIP Kurt Vonnegut). But we can publish, which means that our students can publish. Perhaps a teacher could put a bunch of students' pieces together into a large compilation, like Will mentions in his blog (Lulu), maybe a student could submit his/her own larger piece, or maybe a student could publish an article or piece online.

Will talks about student publication in his blog. A seventh grade teacher compiled a bunch of stories into a book that will now be published in major book stores. Students must feel excited to work on those projects, for they are published to a real audience. Their work is authentic and purposeful. What an excellent idea.

When I was in elementary school, we got to publish our own stories in a small book that we kept for ourselves. Even though that is small scale, I still treasure that book I created, and my family loves to look back and read it. Even a small project like that would have authenticity, purpose, and relevance to students.

Similarly, Will has a post on talking to his daughter about publishing. His daughter seems awed about the fact that she could actually publish. With so many opportunities, we must instill the idea to our students, our just youth in general, that anyone can publish. You can be an adolescent or adult, and one can publish anything--poetry, articles, stories, commentaries, memoirs, etc. His daughter's reaction is one we will face in our classrooms, kind of shocked but excited. We can have a similar discussion in our classrooms, even with the introduction of the class blog. Then that idea can change as we open opportunities for students to publish their pieces to a large piece or just to submit to a contest or online journal/magazine.

Students want to be heard and put their opinions, ideas, and stories out there, because many students are looking for recognition. Will also posts about a business card, which students distributed to participants at a presentation, that presented the classes products (class wikis and blogs). Students have some finished product that they can share with other people--and that is exciting! They will not be impressed to show their Regents essays, but they have something more meaninful that they would like to show others, not just strangers, but also family members and friends.

Take these ideas into account even for yourself, for publishing opportunities are opening up faster than you think.