Publishing
From the desk of Carol C….
Publishing was hard for me for a long time, and I never had it down to a science. I think it had something to do with the way writing was taught when I first started teaching. Assign the topic, students write, students turn in their papers, teachers correct the papers, teachers hand the papers back, students copy the paper over with corrections, teacher corrects papers again in pencil this time, students correct again by erasing teacher pencil marks and making changes, students turn in papers for a final time, teacher grades papers, cycle begins again only when teacher can put it off no longer.
Who can blame the teacher? Who wants to live this nightmare every day? I didn’t, but how could I have my writers finalize one piece of writing that reflected their level of thinking, writing, and usage of conventions in a timely manner? Especially if they were expected to share their work in some way?
Thank goodness the way writing is taught has changed since I started teaching! Now the emphasis is on learning and using writing strategies that will help all writers throughout life. Also, there is an expectation that writers should be celebrate what they have learned. Now how do we get to the celebration? Well, the first step you must take comes before the writing unit ever begins. The unit has to be mapped out, so you can decide when it will end (realistically). Writing units usually last between 4-6 weeks. The last week of the unit is the publishing phase.
Below I’ve laid out a schedule to complete publishing and celebrating in five days. It’s an ideal. Your first time will take longer I can almost assure you. Also, you may never be able to get it all done in five days. The problem with stretching it out over a longer period of time is making sure that quality learning is still taking place. So much time can be spent on copying over a piece and illustrating it that the learning goes out the window. One suggestion would be to have the illustrating completed at another time in the day. Another would be to move some of day 3 up into day 2. You could limit the illustrated pages they can have. Remember in the real world of publishing, editors (you) control everything. Take the following and make it work for you.
DAY 1: Mini lesson: what is and how to begin publishing. Have writers go through their writing from the unit and choose one piece that they want to publish. It must be a finished piece of writing not one they put away to work on later or one they just thought of. Then every writer needs to confer with their writing partner. Content should be discussed first, and then writers need to revise their work. You will walk around and give support to struggling teams. Realize that you are not going to be able to rebuild Rome here. In other words not every mistake or ill conceived sentence will be fixed.
DAY 2: Mini lesson: how to edit conventions. You’ll have your writers do the same routine as yesterday only instead of focusing on content, they’ll focus on conventions. You may want to call up small groups to work on a specific skill such as checking for complete sentences. Again realize that they aren’t all going to be corrected. The goal here is to help them find and correct their own mistakes. Your job is to give them a strategy they can use.
DAY 3: Mini lesson: how the finished piece of writing should look and how to achieve it. This means you have to decide if the writers will rewrite their pieces or type them and then show them how you want it done. I usually had mine handwrite their pieces as they were not proficient enough at the keyboard. You can give them half sheets or whole sheets of paper. They can be lined or unlined. If you are planning to have your writers illustrate also, then it’s helpful to have them go through their piece first and draw lines where each page will end. This will help you and them see if they are biting off too much to try to illustrate in a limited amount of time. You will be lending support to writers who need/want it.
DAY 4: Mini lesson: how to finish publishing. Depending upon your preference you can have them write a dedication page, title page, and any other pages appropriate for the genre. Have writers decorate a cover and attach the cover and a back to the finished writing. Writers should rehearse reading their work to at least their writing partner.
DAY 5: Mini lesson: Celebration Day! My advice here is to start out small and grow your celebration with each unit. You may want to start by just having your writers read to each other or invite another class in to share. The last unit celebration may involve all of the writers’ parents. The parents could look through their child’s writing portfolio from the year to see the growth that was made. I love this celebration as the writers are proud of all they have accomplished, and they have a chance to really show off all they have learned.
In closing I want to use this quote that I have no idea who said. I apologize to whomever it is. I think it’s a great idea.
“Calkins suggests that principals not look on the walls in the hallways, but in writer’s notebooks. I agree that it is quite easy to see who has been teaching writers and who hasn’t. But with that said, some schools sadly value perfect pieces in the hall. Some require it. If this is the case in your school, simply create the following banner- ‘Celebrate Our Work in Progress’. After all, writing is a process for life.”
Now it’s time to celebrate! Have a great week!
Carol
For more ideas about publishing and celebrating check out the Two Writing Teachers book Day by Day.
Click here for the great writing website from Two Writing Teachers.