Publishing with Students: A Comprehensive Guide We Can Use in Our Work

Nina M. Koptyug, EFL teacher, Ph.D., Associate Professor of English, English School #130, Novosibirsk, Russia.

“As you may know, climbing a mountain means little unless you get down safely” (p. 169). I read those words written by Chris Weber late at night, and I woke up with them echoing in my head. They are so true about what we are doing and/or trying to do and about the lesson this book is teaching us. As you may know, publishing with students means little unless you manage to put together a meaningful collection of student writings. A few years back, I thought that anybody who undertakes it must be mad. Then I got acquainted with Chris via e-mail, and this is what I thought: if I’m mad, at least I’m not the only one. My youngest daughter, then nine years old, used to tell me that in Virtual Reality, “like always finds like”. This is another truth I learned through the years. How else can one explain the coincidences that happen, the wonderful friendships that spring up via the Internet, the joint projects, and the complete understanding among people who have never met in Actual Reality? Or, as my children call them, “virtuality” and “actuality”.

During our first year of communication, I realized I was not yet ready for this tremendous task. Organizing students, finding the extra time, the money, the publisher(s), gathering the material, and choosing the best. There are two difficulties which I still face in my work. One, Russian students are used to being led by the hand, sort of, all the time. They will do what I tell them when I arrange everything, but there's very little initiative. Two, my colleagues are so over-burdened, so oppressed by life hardships, that it is next to impossible to make them interested in a project. Yet, as Marion Dane Bauer wrote in her Foreword, “few of your students will make a living writing poetry and essays and stories, but all of them will be required, throughout their lives, to write. If under your tutelage they can learn to love the process, they will go into their futures supplied with one of the most important tools for success.” This I understood very well.

We started with reading and writing reviews during a summer course. I had a group of twenty talented teenagers, chosen by the school administration and myself from among one hundred students who were going into their final year. Chris Weber sent us a set of Treasures 3: Stories & Art by Students in Japan & Oregon, which was a great gift for us in all respects. In Publishing with Students, Chris and other authors often mention what a huge impact a publication has on those who took part in it. In my case, Treasures 3, a book of student writings, produced a tremendous impression on my students, because it was a book compiled of stories, essays, poems written by children. Indeed, if others could do it, why can’t we? Some of my group, as it turned out, only read the book, but produced no reviews. They spoke about their reactions. Others translated the stories. A few wrote their reviews, or their own stories which were in fact their reflections about the pieces they had read. My own daughter Evgenia, then twelve (too young to be included into the group of kids whose average age was sixteen), read the whole book and quietly wrote several reviews, as well as some stories and poems. When she showed them to me later, I realized for the first time that her talents and inclinations might lie in this creative direction. Now she is finishing school; she wants to enter Novosibirsk University Journalism Department. We believe it happened partly thanks to her getting acquainted with Treasures 3, and with her early knowledge of what Chris was doing with his students. As he writes in his Preface, “student publications are forums where student voices are heard”.

Publishing with Students is beautifully compiled. I don’t know if Chris himself noticed the following curious feature of his own book: the contributors are people who think alike. What’s more, those of us who took part in the e-mail discussions, who successfully tackled the task of making a student publication happen, might say, like I did, “Why, Peter Elbow says in English what I said in Russian!” All my students recently had what’s called a “rehearsal” before the final state exam: they come to school, sit in a classroom for six long hours — and write a composition each, non-stop. It doesn’t matter whether they want to do it or not, whether they can do it today or not. It’s the system, it’s rigorous, and they must do it, period. Who said “inspiration”? When they finished, looking drained, feeling cramped in every joint, their fingers stiff with effort, they handed in their papers to the teachers to be evaluated, but long afterwards. Exactly as Peter Elbow describes it.

Creative writing is different. Students write what they want when they can. They put all their thoughts and ideas on paper and then have a chance to discuss them with their fellow students and teacher. They learn to edit, proofread, and correct. They learn several necessary technical skills and think about the way they could arrange their writing. They learn a lot about their own or a foreign language. As Mark Levin says, “students will always need some direction and constant monitoring. They aren’t used to being in charge and making most of the decisions” (p. 33). Very true. And the voice of Chris adds: “Bookmaking begins and ends with process” (p. 47). When I finally took my courage in both hands, applied for a grant, got it, and started compiling Laws of Life book, I realized it was not enough just to have the required 150 essays written by students from six different countries, nor to have a beautiful website by the dates specified. It was necessary to have a team of students who could help me make the book a reality. This is the first hurdle I had to overcome, I share it as a free advice with my colleagues: ALWAYS remind your students to sign their work. Time and again I would get a written or printed essay, or a floppy, or an e-mail contribution, an essay or poem per se, no name, no school, no country. “Why, didn’t you recognize me?” said an astonished student after I hung out a notice on the time-table. How would I recognize a student when all I got was an unmarked disk? ALWAYS remind your students to use Spell Check before they submit their writing.

Many of us teachers involved in international projects know that students eventually do become enthusiastic once they understand what they are going to achieve, and once communication with other participants is under way. Teachers are different. As Richard Barrow wrote, “none of my teaching colleagues really understood what I was trying to achieve” (p. 95). Very often we remain lonely enthusiasts for years; this is what teachers from many countries tell me. So we all face the same difficulties. Let me tell you this, from my own and other people’s experience: if you notice a spark in at least one of your colleagues, try to preserve it. A younger teacher just dumped her students essays on me last year; they were not proofread or edited. She went on summer leave and I worked at the book with a team of my students. We did the work which others were supposed to do, as well as our own. I remember saying a silent prayer of thanks each time I received a contribution from my good friends Hans Henkel, Germany, Petru Dumitru, Romania, Alicia Perez, Uruguay, and Diane Fay, UK. All I had to do was copy-paste them into the book, and they were ready for publication. Well, this whole school year, my colleague was silent. Now she occasionally runs to me with a disk from one of her students. The first time I opened the file, it was just a plain text, no signature. I patiently told her about it, she stared. The second disk was signed but not proofread. And so on. I’m steeling myself for a task which is in no way part of my school duties, that of teaching the said colleague how to insert a disk into the computer, how to open a file, and how to copy-paste. I think it’s time, and know that unless I do it, nobody will.

Anybody who reads Chris Weber’s book will notice that all of us have to do similar jobs. Either we remain solo singers in a vast field or we try to teach others how to sing. Or, as Anna Citrino puts it, “Everywhere there are opportunities to open a dialogue. There is time. Invite someone in” (p. 119). What a support! I for one took it as personal encouragement. “Bring out the artist, the creator hidden in each of us,” write Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Compoy ( p. 158). My students know that I translated about thirty books from English into Russian; they read my articles as they appear in print. I myself am an example for them. I often tell them that I cannot draw a picture nor write poetry; I also tell them that no matter how much one has written, a new publication is always a thrill. What Chris wrote about this feeling, this incredible experience of seeing oneself in print, be it a class hand-made publication or a “real” book fresh from a publisher, is a very important lesson which students can understand only when they experience it themselves.

Any undertaking which concerns children, demands all one’s energies. It mobilizes a teacher’s best qualities, like love, patience, perseverance, readiness to support and to console, and the ability to deal with tempers and relationships. Sometimes, in a moment of tiredness, as many of my colleagues, I wonder, what was I thinking about when I embarked on this project? Then I read Chris Weber’s Publishing with Students, and I grin to myself. I am not alone. Some years ago, Chris invited me in. We belong to the same species. He is more experienced than I am; he can help. Look, he’s put together a whole book for all of us! We can quote from it, retell it to students, read portions from it and have them translate some pages if needed. We can put pencil ticks and underline passages. Since Chris wrote that he always tried to reply at once to fellow educators, we can e-mail our questions to him. Guys, this is a comprehensive guide we can USE in our work! Thank you, Chris!

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