Updates

My five published poets will each receive a copy of the Creative Communications Anthology.  I also ordered a copy for the school library and I will receive a free one for having five published students (yay! I won  a prize!)  The students will also receive a certificate at the end of the year Awards Assembly.

I have been putting together a book of writing contest submissions for my 4th period class, since they have entered the most contests.  The book will feature all fourteen contests (12 required, 2 optional) and each student in the class will have two submissions printed.  I'm having the books printed through blurb.com.  I will order them tomorrow and will have my fingers crossed that they get here before the end of the school year!  I'm excited to have all of my students see their work in print.  Hopefully they are secretly proud of themselves, in addition to being monumentally irritated with me about the amount of work they've had to do this year!

Also, students' test scores are starting to roll in.  I've started an analysis of last year's writing scores compared to this year's scores.  I will be posting my findings soon, but I can tell already that there is a significant difference.

More Winners!!!!

Yesterday I had the privilege of informing SEVEN of my students that they would be speakers at this year's 8th grade promotion celebration! 

Contest #15: Take Action!

Contest:  Scholastic's "Action Magazine's" Take Action!

Genre:  Advice column

Theme:  Respond to one of 12 prompts

Prize: free t-shirt

Publication:  Advice Column of Action Magazine

Odds of winning:  one student per month

I promised my fourth period that this would be their last contest.  Fourth period has participated in twelve contests this year and they have about had it.  It's been fun, though.  I don't know if I'll ever do that many with one class again, but it was a great experience for me to test out what I liked and didn't like about each contest and to see their writing approve.  

Action Magazine has an advice column in each issue.  The website provides twelve prompts, such as "your friend is having a sleep over party, but you have a lot of homework to do," or "you find a wallet with cash and no ID."  Students have a specific format to follow to offer their advice to peers who may find themselves in these situations.  The actual writing is quite short, but it's a great exercise in following directions, since the format of the responses is so specific.  I had all my 8th graders participate and 4th period didn't mind SO much.  Plus, who doesn't love a free t-shirt?!

Writing and Reading Challenge for Next Year

This place seems as good as any to write about my ideas for next year.  Writing contests have really inspired me to increase the rigor in my classroom.  It is also the goal of the Language Arts Department to increase rigor for all students.  We've been talking a lot about homework.  As a department, we've decided to require 100 minutes of reading outside of class, since research shows this is the number one way for students to increase reading ability, vocabulary, spelling, writing, etc.  It's also easy for students to do independently and easy for teachers to grade.  Our hope is that by making it a school-wide policy, it will be easier to get the word out to advisory teachers, support staff, and parents.  The more adults that can encourage students to get their homework done, the more likely it will be for them to get it done.

I wanted to do something similar for my ELD classes.  I decided to have them write for homework - a journal or a blog or something along those lines.  I'm looking into setting up a blog on a UEN page that students can respond to each week.  Posting writing on Facebook may also be an option.  Things I already do, NaNoWriMo, Script Frenzy, will fit nicely into a plan like this.

Even with these two things in place, there always seem to be parents and students who want more homework and definitely students who can also use additional challenges.  I have an idea for two different challenges.

1.  The Reading Challenge: Students would be required to read ten books and write a book review for each book.  (I have a form for a Blog book review that I would use).  Each book would have to be from a different genre: non-fiction, biography/autobiography, anthology of poetry, historical fiction, science fiction/fantasy, etc.  The idea would be that students would be exposed to a wide variety of literature.  They could use the time spent reading for their reading logs.

2.  The Writing Challenge:  Enter ten different writing contests.  I would compile a top ten of contests that we've tried.  Some of the contests will be class assignments, but some contests would have to be entered on students' own time.  Students would write in a variety of genres and attempt to publish their work.

I was thinking of some different recognitions to honor students who complete one or both of the challenges.  They would definitely get recognized at our end of the year awards assembly.  Possibly we could take a field trip to McDonald's, or get a guest speaker from a published author, or some other cool prize. 

Missed opportunity

Contest:  Utah Chapter of the National Association for Multicultural Education: Narratives of Bravery and Hope

Genre:  Essay

Theme:  What makes Utah home?  What challenges have your faced in making Utah home and how have those challenges made you grow? be brave? have hope?

Prize: $1000 college scholarship

Publication:  Essay booklet available to the public

Odds of winning:  Five winners in Utah (2 middle school; 3 high school)

For more information:  www.utahname.org

I am so mad!!!!!  I can not believe I missed this contest.  It was due February 18 and I only just remembered it a couple of weeks ago.  I had all my students enter last year and though none of them won the contest, I learned so much about them from their essays, that I compiled them all into a book for my faculty.  Many teachers told me that they appreciated the essays (the theme was "what makes you diverse living in Utah?")  It was amazing to read how acutely aware students are of their differences in race, nationality, language, and ability.  (Not one single student wrote about being a different religion).  This contest is catered so specifically to my students that it was one of the reasons I decided to have students enter more contests. 
So, how did I forget?  Well, I didn't get a flyer this year, like I did last year.  And January and February were so busy with so many other contests that it didn't occur to me to look for more.
Even though we missed the deadline, I am considering having my students write the essays anyway, just because I want to hear what they have to say.  I could make a second book for the faculty as well. 
I am writing about this to vent my anger and to remind myself to do this one next year.
As I'm getting toward the end of the school year, I've been reflecting on this process.  It has been a lot of work, but worth it in so many ways.  Having reflected on each contest will help me decide which ones I will do in the future with which students.  I don't think it makes sense to do ALL contests with ALL students, but since I will have most students for two periods next year, it won't hurt to have a lot of options and spread the contests around.
Anyway, trying to get over this missed opportunity . . . that theme is so good, though, will definitely use that prompt in the future!!

Contest #14: Promotion Speeches

Contest:  Bryant Middle School 8th Grade Promotion

Genre:  Speech

Theme:  Step by Step

Prize: to be a promotion speaker with all the rights and privileges pertaining thereto

Publication:  Commencement exercises - June 8,  2011

Odds of winning:  I can almost guarantee that at least one of my students will win this one!

 The second year I taught ESL, I had a student right and audition to be a promotion speaker.  She asked me to help revise and edit her speech, but otherwise she did all on her own.  In her speech, she explained how she started Bryant Middle School as a 7th grader without speaking one word of English and there she was, just two years later, giving a speech on the stage in front of the student body, faculty, and parents.  It was a big hit and every year since, I've been asked to find one or two speakers from my program to speak at promotion.
Over the years, it has been a great experience for many students.  I've had a speaker from my program almost every single year.
This year, in keeping with our writing contest theme, I decided to have every single 8th grader write a speech.  I offered extra credit to them if they would audition.  Twelve of my students auditioned. 
In total, seventeen students auditioned, and although most of the speeches are quite short, it's impossible to have that many speakers at promotion.  We decided to have callback auditions this Friday and look for the students who are most prepared.
I've been talking to my students about the callback auditions.  Some students started out doing this simply for the extra credit, but now most genuinely want to speak.  It's going to be a difficult decision, but we will get as many students on the stage as we possibly can.
Did I mention their speeches are amazing?

Updates

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week.  I gave copies of the essays from the Barnes and Noble and Borders Contests to the teachers that had essays written about them.  Of course, it was a hit.  It's a great way to publish student writing and to share their appreciation with their teachers.

My ELD class is still Script Frenzying even though April is over.  Rather than just write a script, students are actually making graphic novels.  The first student finished today and we are trying to wrap this thing up by Friday.  I took photos of the students for their "About the Author" page.  I think their books are going to turn out pretty cool.  They have great stories and most of them are working really hard on their finished products.