Writerly Life

As Katherine Bomer states, “For most writers, the reason to write is to have an image of someone at the other end reading your words and ideas.” Publication is the part of the writing process that gives the writer a purpose. It’s about making student writing public, as a way to motivate them and build excitement to write again. Often students can learn as much or more from publishing their writing than they do in any other part of the writing process. The idea should be that students are sharing their writing work with others, beyond the teacher. There are many ways to celebrate student writing and make it public. Look at the resources below to consider some possibilities for making your students writing public at the end of this, and any, unit of study. The video clip below is an example of one student publishing her poem by reading it publicly at an event.