Publication: When Student Writers Learn from Each Other

What do classmates learn from their fellow authors? How do they benefit from a peer’s published work? How are they affected? What impact do young authors have on their listeners and readers?

Sharing is an integral and important part of the publication stage because this a time when student writers learn from each other (Ray, 1999). The fact that it also helps students develop a sense of audience and improve their writing skills for the student writers is well known (Simic, 1993; Willinksy, 1985; Graves & Hansen, 1983; Hansen, 1987). Oelz (1989) describes how student writers learn from one another when they share their published writing. Student listeners often get new story ideas upon listening to a story read aloud. Audience members will come to know when a piece has “voice,” is filled with supportive details, is well organized, stays focused on one main topic, is clear and well-organized, and holds and captures their attention. With sharing as one of the key components, Hyde (1990) observed that the quality of students’ writing had improved, and after analyzing data, Bassett (2001) stated that the “data indicated an increase in the targeted students’ writing abilities, a positive attitude toward the writing process, an increased confidence in the editing and revising of student work. . . .”

Harste (1988) views his students’ sharing via “author’s chair” as “crucial in helping authors develop the sense of audience so essential to becoming a writer who can successfully communicate with others.”

This sharing and responding helps students develop a reader perspective on their writing among readers they know and trust. The child receives opinions and ideas from many children, whereas during individual conferences, the author receives the comments of only one person. Children learn how to be helpful responders in an author’s circle. They learn how to discover good qualities in a piece, and how to ask good questions about the content. Additionally, circle participants learn that their
ideas are valued when many of them later turn up in the work of the authors they have helped. (Simic, 1993) (2)

Communities of Student Writers

Writers need a community of writers to nurture and assist them. Like adult writers, students need a writing community that Murray (1996) says, “both provides a sense of companionship and a staging area that will ease us into publication before strangers. . . . Another test of the members of my community is that they share work with me. I get the most help from those who are writing themselves. They understand the territory; they know the feeling of writing.”

Sharing then is perhaps one of the most important steps a teacher can take to promote writing growth (Zemelman, 1998). Students learn to take risks with their writing by listening to their peers who take risks in an atmosphere of support and acceptance. Through sharing of and responding to published pieces, classroom community building occurs, and this community of student writers, in turn, becomes one of the most powerful motivators available for students to both draft and revise pieces (Zemelman, 1998).

As student authors are celebrated, they are learning the value of writing and communicating. “That means treating students to that final and ultimate writerly pleasure of finding their words come alive in the faces of their listeners and readers” (Willinsky, 1985). Celebrations of authorship like author’s share and student writing festivals generate excitement about writing, and they promote more writing in classrooms (Lewis, 2000; Calkins, 1994; Simic, 1993). Not only do public readings inspire other students to write (Brown, 1993), they inspire students to write well (Larson, 1994), to try new forms of writing (Redmon, 1997), try new topics and learn new writing strategies (Zemelman, 1998).

Authors’ Days and other ways (e.g., assemblies, public readings, publications in showcases, and so on) of celebrating their publications can become an integral part of a writing classroom. Such events provide a deadline, incentive to polish and complete pieces, and an opportunity for students to look back over what they have done and learn from it before they move on (Calkins, 1994). Moreover, Frank Smith (1986) writes:

Writing is for stories to be read, books to be published, poems to be recited, plays to be acted, cartoons to be labeled, instructions to be followed, designs to be made, recipes to be cooked, diaries to be collected. . . . Writing is for ideas, action, interaction, and experience. (179)

We acknowledge our student athletes with awards and assemblies. Showcasing our students’ writing is where we honor academic success (Radenich & Orapollo, 1999). Eric Kimmel, author, tells how publication is the medium through which young authors bring their accomplishments to the world:

Publication is to writing what a concert performance is to studying music, what playing a game is to participating in sports. This is where it comes together and where we show the world what we can do.

Chris Weber has seen the proud faces of student authors at public readings and classroom readings who know what they’ve accomplished and what it meant to be heard. He has listened to students describe the parties or ceremonies that they have been given in honor of their work. Friends, teachers, and family showered them with praise. They were viewed in a new light by others and themselves. Schools have given assemblies featuring their student authors, displayed their students’ works in either showcases, school newsletters, or newspapers, or encouraged their local newspaper and television stations to feature the student authors. By being published, many of the student writers and artists were encouraged to keep on writing and drawing. Their published stories and art also inspired other students.

Student Publications Serve also as Classroom Texts

Wagler (2002) describes using published student journals of inquiry as texts to help create texts and projects for the next journal of student inquiry:

On the second day of school, I hand out individual copies of the major text we will use all year, the 1999 issue of Great Blue: A Journal of Student Inquiry. Students take turns reading paragraphs out loud from the articles written by students in Room 202, fourteen of whom have returned as fifth graders. The authors are reminded their hard work led to success. I challenge them, also, to begin imagining projects for this second year. The fourth graders see a model of what they will be able to do.

As we read them, I ask them, “What is the question she asked?” What procedures did he use?” What data did she collect?” What conclusion did he reach?” What help did she get in the project?” Soon they are able to answer more complex questions such as, “Does the data support his conclusion?” “If you did a similar project, what could you do to improve it?” I show older issues of our journals and remind them of the lineage of our work—each year Heron students build on what has been accomplished before. Next we expand the image of our community of inquiry by reading articles from other classrooms. (121-122)

Like Wagler, Lawrence (1999) also sees student publication as a powerful tool for sharing and serving as a bridge to next year’s classes. His students “present their [community] research within the classroom using various media; digital pictures; electronic text; and Web pages will preserve all of the work and create a research base from which the next year’s group of students will work.” In addition, some of Lawrence’s students take their research to elementary schools and share them to
future community researchers.

Chris Weber uses student publications to: show students what is possible, show them how such publications look, inspire them, and to help students generate ideas about their next publication. In addition, he uses published student samples to illustrate different writing traits, such as, ideas & content, organization, voice, and so on. Also, these samples serve as kernels for discussion.

Published Work Inspires their Classmate and Peers

When students write, their peers will want to read what they have to say. When they read out loud or share a personal moment, their peers will listen. Published student authors and artists inspire others to write and draw in a far more powerful and telling way than teachers can. Adele Cerny, a third and fourth grade teacher at Seneca Elementary School in John Day, Oregon has seen this in her students:

“This winter, we received our copy of Treasures. The students read it constantly and recommend favorite stories to each other. They use Treasures to get ideas for topics and styles of writing. It definitely motivates them to write. A frequent comment is, ‘A kid wrote this story. I can write, too!’. . . This year, every pupil in my class wants to enter their story in the contest. Treasures has provided a tangible goal for my students to work toward.”

Published Student Work Moves Readers to Respond

The power of students’ stories reach out far beyond the classroom. Chris Weber was tutoring a homeschooler and asked her if she might be interested in participating in the Impressions Project. A week later, Danielle read the impression she had written, and he sat there in silence, overwhelmed. Her impression of a Treasures 3 story entitled, “Remembering My Mother” by Julie Geil so eloquently expresses the impact of losing a loved one that it was meant to be shared. Danielle said that she was moved to respond; such is the power of one student’s story upon another. We are the recipients.

Impression of “Remembering My Mother”

The author of this piece described her agony and emotions during her loss so well, that I couldn’t hold back my tears. I found it easy to relate to, seeing as how I too have lost a very close family member. Several years ago, when I was no more than three years of age, my family and I were oppressed with grief. My older brother’s sudden death affected all of us and our lives. Much like the death of Julie’s mother did to her family. Although her mother’s death wasn’t sudden, it wasn’t expected.

Julie described the feelings that this difficult time brought: the pain and suffering that the whole family goes through, the need to blame others, the confusion and questions like “why did this happen?” And worst of all the guilt. This is what people experience when others they love are suffering or dying. You keep thinking they will come back. One time, when the door bell rang, I imagined my brother waiting on the other side of the door just stopping by to say “hello” and talk. Deep down inside I knew he wasn’t coming back. Even when the death is expected, there can never be enough closure, or warning.

I read this story several times. I felt Julie’s pain and cried like it was me experiencing the tragic death of my mother. I imagined the mother’s pain. The pain of knowing you have little time left, not wanting to leave your family or cause them grief, and the thought of not being able to watch your own children laugh, play, or blow out any more birthday candles.

Reading this story caused me to remember my pain when my brother died, and all the pain I’ve felt since. It was like I was reliving all the painful years. I was so young when he died that I can’t say I really knew him---what his favorite food was, his favorite color, or any of his hobbies. I feel this emptiness inside me that can never be filled or ignored.

Members of my family have gifts or belongings from my brother, but I don’t have any. All I have are a very few flashbacks. I remember hearing him talk or seeing his face. These memories are precious to me. I even treasure remembering the day he died, the white blanket covering his face. The older I get the fainter the images and memories become. I’m afraid of forgetting them, afraid of losing him completely.

I’ve never told my family what I remember about Brent. I guess it’s because they all have their own personal connections and ways to keep a part of him with them forever. My memories are my way of keeping a part of him with me, something just between the two of us.

I envy my older sister because she knew him, for getting to argue with him, playing with him, talking with him, even just eating with him---most of all, for knowing him and having an older brother. Since I was so young, I wonder if he even really knew me to love me or knew I loved him.

Sometimes I find myself angry, even at my brother for not being alive, I think that if he wanted to live and loved his family more, he wouldn’t have died. I blame the doctors for not being able to save him. And I blame myself. I think that if I were older and loved him more, he would still be alive. Over the years I have blamed everyone alive and dead for my brother’s death. Some days I still do, but I know that doing that won’t bring him back or make the hurt go away.

I think the worst part of my brother’s death is missing him. I miss not knowing him, not having him around to look after me, tell me what guys to stay away from, and not being able to meet his girlfriends when he brings them home. I even miss him being in my future, not having him be at my wedding to meet my husband, not being able to tell my kids “let’s go over to your uncle’s house.” I miss not being able to have Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner with him, talk about work, cry with him, and tell him how much I love him. I miss things that I would have taken for granted if he were here.

What Julie and many other people have gone through and will go through is life draining. Every morning afterwards you wake up and feel alone in the world, like nobody knows how you feel, what you’re going through. You escape by sleeping all the time; at least then you aren’t conscious and distressing over your tragic loss. Eventually you become shut off and secluded from everyone around you. That’s when the guilt and depression start to eat away at you. Everything happens for a reason; it might not seem like it, but it’s there. You can’t let your past and what’s happened affect your future. It seems so much harder to talk about how you feel. In fact, this is the first time I have, and afterwards I felt a little better. In a way it’s been a small type of closure.

When someone close to you dies, it hurts worse than any cut, scrape, or injury. And it will for as long as you let it. Don’t hold back what you feel—cry and let it out—but know that everything in you, all the tears, pain, hate, and blame will never make you feel better or bring someone back. Know that because the person loved you, they wouldn’t want to be the cause of your terrible feelings. Remember all the good times you both shared. Having people you love and who love you are a blessing—never take them for granted.

Danielle Logan, 14, Homeschooler, Portland, Oregon