Writing is often an difficult task for students. For students, writing
can be intimidating, difficult, and unrewarding. After all, the only reward
for writing a paper is a good grade, which can be enough for some students
but it is not always the case. The latest trend in encouraging student
writing is publishing. This gives the student an outside audience and feed
back. In some schools they have a school newspaper, an annually anthology
of student work, or the year book. However, some teachers are trying to
use new methods to encourage student writing. Because of the push for technology
use in the classroom, one such method is publication of writing on the
internet.
Index
On line publishing provides the student writer a significance to writing. By this I mean, students often find their papers have little real life significance. Their papers are often turned into one person and returned back to them with few comments, and rarely is any follow-up to the assignment. The internet provides the writer with a direct channel of communication to the reader. It is this feedback that can be most helpful to students, because it is a source of positive reinforcement. This is crucial during childhood/teenage years. The mind of a child can be broken up into two selves- the public self and the private self. The private self is reaching out to find identity and is more likely o take risks. The public self is desperate to fit into a group and be accepted. The internet provides a forum where the private self can publish and receive recognition without injury to the public self.
This web site caters to the needs of teen writer wishing to publish their work on the internet. It uses a book format and is the most formal. Criteria for submission include :originality, grammar/useage correctness. This site publishes poetry, prose and book reviews.
MidLink has a magazine format Teachers are asked to edit writing before submitting it for publication. Individual schools must enroll in order to allow students to publish online. Parent permission is also required
This site is actually an online version of an already printed magazine. Students are paid for accepted submissions. The requirements for submission are higher than normal.
Kidpub features organic stories-stories that are ongoing. This site is one of the more established and recognized because it has received numerous awards. It even provides information on the authors.
This site is interactive between reader and writer. It also includes organic stories.
This site has only some requirements for submission. Work does not require a title or name/e-mail address. Admission must only be signed and not exceed the 20 line limit. This site is exclusively for poetry.
Inkspot is an excellent resource for support. It includes articles about writing, writing resources, as well as a place for teens to offer ideas on how to begin a writing project.
Student Center Network's Teen Poetry
This site allows readers to edit poems published on the site if the
reader is registered and has a password. It also allows comments on poetry
to the writer and comments seen on the work itself.
Hopefully this web page got you thinking about using this method of publication for student writing. Though I have offer some great web sites on this topic. I have one last suggestion: Create your own. This web page could be your class' or school's personal space. It is important to remember that you will need students outside of you class to offer feed back and to summit work. Good Luck!!
