CHAMPION – As students and seniors here can attest, the only thing better than creating, is sharing.
The Grade 5/6 language arts class at Champion School recently capped off a writing exercise with something many authors can only dream of ¬– a publishing party. In this case their audience was a very receptive group of seniors from the Champion Pioneer Club.
Teacher Amanda Rodgers says the students were asked to write about a personal experience from the first-person perspective. The parameters were that it had to be a true story that happened to them and many wrote about the first time they learned to do something, outside of school.
Topics included everything from learning how to ride a bike, to a trip to Calaway Park and building and moving into a new home. Rodgers says the students worked hard at including dialogue, vivid verbs, setting and character description, as well as sensory details in their writing.
The final step of the exercise was a ‘publishing party,’ where they read their essay aloud to the seniors, discussed their work and shared a few treats.
“I was hoping this would provide students with an opportunity to share their writing,” says Rodgers. “Getting to participate in something like this may be a motivator for some students.”
The Palliser teacher was also looking for a means for her students to develop relationships with community members. Both students and seniors enjoyed the opportunity to share, she says.
“The seniors loved it. It was wonderful to hear the discussions between the seniors and the students. The discussion topics ranged from the student's writing topic to a personal connect a senior may have made to the story,” Rodgers says.
Neither was the value of the experience lost on the classroom teacher. She says it would be “wonderful” to have the seniors involved in a future project and Rodgers will continue to explore further opportunities for students to share their work.
Champion School Publishing Party
