Publication Education
This is what I like to call my story of a Literate philosophy
One of my most memorable literacy experiences reads all the way back to first grade. Towards the end of the academic year, my first grade class partook in a brand new educational experiment that involved the collaboration of reading and writing. Of course, this experiment had too sophisticated of a name that neither the students nor the teachers cared to recognize, so we decided to create a name of our own - a name that made us feel less like scientific variables and more like regular children going off on an adventure.This adventure was proudly known as: “Publication Month for Kids”.
The very first day of this special month was assigning the official writing project. But before my teacher even gave my class assignment, she announced, with a little reluctance in her smile, that there were no specific length limits. Thus, it is not hard to imagine a bunch of little first graders erupting with excitement - they have been officially given the liberty to scribble big and bubbly - lettered tangents. But before my class became too excited, she described the theme of this assignment - we were required to write a story about any meaningful item that resides within our family households. Once again, my classroom became overwhelmingly loud with excitement. Every boy and girl started to scream different ideas to their friends on the opposite side of the room; and if you’re wondering, I immediately chose to write about my beloved dog, Daisy (who is still alive and well at the age of 17). Thus, for the rest of the week we spent a good portion of our English lessons working on our stories. Fortunately, the next week would bring another grand surprise as well.
Towards the beginning of the second week of this publication process, it was time for our teacher to give us directions for the next part of this project. At the beginning of one of our English lessons, the teacher holds up a flimsy, spiral - looking contraption and asks the class, “Do you know what this is?” Of course, we all give her blank stares and filled the classroom with awkward silence for a few moments. My teacher just chuckles and proclaims, “This is a book binding, the thing that holds a book together.” This simple explanation doesn’t give the slightest budge to our blank stares. Once again, the teacher chuckles and announces, “All of you will be making your very own story book!” The classroom finally awakens to pure joy. But before the excitement gets too out of hand, my teacher continues, “You will be handing in your stories to me and I will be giving them to some lovely ladies to help make your stories”; and before the class’s joyous volcano can erupt for the tenth time, my teacher proclaims, “However, all of you will have to read your stories aloud to the person that is going to type them for you.” Now, the reaction to this last statement was rather a mix of nervousness and exhilaration; and my being well aware, my teacher states, “I know the thought of reading aloud scares some of you, but you only have to read your stories for 10 minutes and afterwards, they will finish typing your story for you.” Of course, most students only read aloud for as long as they felt comfortable in doing so, but I confidently read my entire dog story from beginning to end. Nonetheless, we all worked through the task of reading aloud; and shortly after, all or our masterpieces were typed, laminated, and pulled together by the infamous flimsy
book bindings; and just as we thought that this experience couldn’t get more exciting, us first graders were given the opportunity to add color to our stories.The next process for this experimental month involved our artistic abilities.
Towards the middle of the third week, each student was handed their freshly published story books; and once all books were distributed, our teacher asked us, “So how cool? you guys have written your very first books. But, look through your story. Is there anything that’s missing?” All of us started to feverishly sift through the pages of our stories, but we just didn’t know what was talking about. Holding up a coloring book, my teacher continues, “What do all of you love most about some of your favorite books”? After a few moments of silence, one kid manages to shout,“Pictures!” My teacher smiles and responds, “Correct! So you know what that means? You guys get to draw pictures for your stories!” Alas, Mt. St. Joyous erupts for the eleventh time; and for the rest of
the third week, we used some of our English sessions for extreme doodling. Lastly, the fourth and final week of this experiment only gave me and my fellow first graders an insurmountable amount of joy and excitement.
For the final process of “Publication Month for Kids”, all first graders were brought to the library for a special assembly; and once all the students were huddled into our little library, the librarian encouraged for everyone to quiet down by knocking on this large and empty book shelf. After a few moments, she begins to speak, “First, I want all of you to flip over to the very back of your wonderful stories.” All of us youngsters flip our books to the back and the librarian continues by pointing at a barcode of a book, “Now, do you see this weird thing at the bottom? This is the thing that you all use to take out books from the library, right?” A strong response of agreement fills the library pit: “Well guess what,”asks the teacher, “all of you will be putting your stories on this bookshelf so that your friends and other kids in your class can read your stories as well.”Once again, Mt. St. Joyous fills the air of the library pit and the fourth and final week of this wonderful experiment becomes a huge success.
The final week of this special month was a championship event. During any English session for the rest of the week, each first grade class got to spend a half hour to 45 minutes going to the library and checking out different books of their fellow friends and classmates. As a matter of fact, teachers and staff would find some students who would spend their lunch periods in the library swapping stories with other students. But, most impressive ordeal about this whole experiment was it raised the interest of the older grades as well; and even though this wonderful experience belongs to the first grade level, I believe that this particular educational experiment
would be a perfect model to use as a guide for peer reviewing in the Secondary
classroom.
The very first day of this special month was assigning the official writing project. But before my teacher even gave my class assignment, she announced, with a little reluctance in her smile, that there were no specific length limits. Thus, it is not hard to imagine a bunch of little first graders erupting with excitement - they have been officially given the liberty to scribble big and bubbly - lettered tangents. But before my class became too excited, she described the theme of this assignment - we were required to write a story about any meaningful item that resides within our family households. Once again, my classroom became overwhelmingly loud with excitement. Every boy and girl started to scream different ideas to their friends on the opposite side of the room; and if you’re wondering, I immediately chose to write about my beloved dog, Daisy (who is still alive and well at the age of 17). Thus, for the rest of the week we spent a good portion of our English lessons working on our stories. Fortunately, the next week would bring another grand surprise as well.
Towards the beginning of the second week of this publication process, it was time for our teacher to give us directions for the next part of this project. At the beginning of one of our English lessons, the teacher holds up a flimsy, spiral - looking contraption and asks the class, “Do you know what this is?” Of course, we all give her blank stares and filled the classroom with awkward silence for a few moments. My teacher just chuckles and proclaims, “This is a book binding, the thing that holds a book together.” This simple explanation doesn’t give the slightest budge to our blank stares. Once again, the teacher chuckles and announces, “All of you will be making your very own story book!” The classroom finally awakens to pure joy. But before the excitement gets too out of hand, my teacher continues, “You will be handing in your stories to me and I will be giving them to some lovely ladies to help make your stories”; and before the class’s joyous volcano can erupt for the tenth time, my teacher proclaims, “However, all of you will have to read your stories aloud to the person that is going to type them for you.” Now, the reaction to this last statement was rather a mix of nervousness and exhilaration; and my being well aware, my teacher states, “I know the thought of reading aloud scares some of you, but you only have to read your stories for 10 minutes and afterwards, they will finish typing your story for you.” Of course, most students only read aloud for as long as they felt comfortable in doing so, but I confidently read my entire dog story from beginning to end. Nonetheless, we all worked through the task of reading aloud; and shortly after, all or our masterpieces were typed, laminated, and pulled together by the infamous flimsy
book bindings; and just as we thought that this experience couldn’t get more exciting, us first graders were given the opportunity to add color to our stories.The next process for this experimental month involved our artistic abilities.
Towards the middle of the third week, each student was handed their freshly published story books; and once all books were distributed, our teacher asked us, “So how cool? you guys have written your very first books. But, look through your story. Is there anything that’s missing?” All of us started to feverishly sift through the pages of our stories, but we just didn’t know what was talking about. Holding up a coloring book, my teacher continues, “What do all of you love most about some of your favorite books”? After a few moments of silence, one kid manages to shout,“Pictures!” My teacher smiles and responds, “Correct! So you know what that means? You guys get to draw pictures for your stories!” Alas, Mt. St. Joyous erupts for the eleventh time; and for the rest of
the third week, we used some of our English sessions for extreme doodling. Lastly, the fourth and final week of this experiment only gave me and my fellow first graders an insurmountable amount of joy and excitement.
For the final process of “Publication Month for Kids”, all first graders were brought to the library for a special assembly; and once all the students were huddled into our little library, the librarian encouraged for everyone to quiet down by knocking on this large and empty book shelf. After a few moments, she begins to speak, “First, I want all of you to flip over to the very back of your wonderful stories.” All of us youngsters flip our books to the back and the librarian continues by pointing at a barcode of a book, “Now, do you see this weird thing at the bottom? This is the thing that you all use to take out books from the library, right?” A strong response of agreement fills the library pit: “Well guess what,”asks the teacher, “all of you will be putting your stories on this bookshelf so that your friends and other kids in your class can read your stories as well.”Once again, Mt. St. Joyous fills the air of the library pit and the fourth and final week of this wonderful experiment becomes a huge success.
The final week of this special month was a championship event. During any English session for the rest of the week, each first grade class got to spend a half hour to 45 minutes going to the library and checking out different books of their fellow friends and classmates. As a matter of fact, teachers and staff would find some students who would spend their lunch periods in the library swapping stories with other students. But, most impressive ordeal about this whole experiment was it raised the interest of the older grades as well; and even though this wonderful experience belongs to the first grade level, I believe that this particular educational experiment
would be a perfect model to use as a guide for peer reviewing in the Secondary
classroom.