May/June 'tis the season for school closing, graduation, and student recognition programs. I was noticing the great coverage of West Virginia's statewide writing contest and recognition program at here at the Charleston Daily Mail and noticed that it included the samples of student writing. Then, in almost the same moment, I saw a link to a student essay frm Texas A&M University that received recognition in the personal essay category. It's about being a 'rapid' Harry Potter fan, and you can find it here. I started to think, hmmm, 'tis the season for collecting student writing to add to the mentor text collection. And, of course, the amazing art and writing that comes from the Scholastic Awards program continues to inspire students and teachers alike. Their website, like Figment's, is full of creative work by talented teens.
It's not an easy thing to build up a collection of student writing for young people to read, study, and relate to. Lots of what we might want to use, we can't quite get our hands on... But online publishing, both by young people directly and through publication programs and youth websites, is turning that around. Are you or your site publishing student work that you would recommend to your colleagues as a surce of models and examples for use with their students? If so, add your links here. Folks might find it useful as they plan for summer work or rethink curriculum for next year.
Responses
What a great a idea. I save some student samples to show students in other years. Currently, my students are looking through class poetry books from earlier years. The on-line work is a great place to go for student mentor texts. Thanks, Elyse, for pointing out what is right under my nose!
Hi Margo, If you find any great links for student work as you poke around, please share them. Also, in keeping with my ''tis the season' theme, another one just popped up...this one a set of some essays about the Holocaust as part of a Holocaust education project in Lexington, Kentucky. You can find them here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/05/12/2185171/lexington-essay-winners-help-others.html
A lot of these are 'winning contest entries', and I confess to being ambivalent about contests. I love that interested, motivated writers get recognition and that contests focus 'the public mind' on student writing. In many cases, young people get read who would not otherwise get read. On the other hand, lots of businesses, etc. just want to run contests, rather than investing in a real writing program and experience that supports all writers in improving, expressing, and extending their work. And lots of contests just end up certifying the 'haves;' and expanding the gap.
But since they're out and about, it's great to see the actual writing being printed in so many newspapers, etc. in addition to announcing the winners. I don't know if that's new or if I am only now noticing it.