Contest #13: Kobo My Favorite Teacher Contest

Contest:  Kobo "My Favorite Teacher Contest"

Genre:  Essay

Theme:  Who is your favorite teacher and why

Prize: Kobo Wireless eReader for you and your favorite teacher

Publication:  None

Odds of winning:  Unknown, but the contest is open to all of the U.S. and Canada

For more information:  www.yourfavoriteteacher.com

This contest is for Borders' celebration of Teacher Appreciation Week.  Because it is similar to the Barnes and Noble Contest and it fell during CRT testing, I offered it up for extra credit.  I got twelve submissions!  I'm glad it was only twelve because they had to be entered through email, which meant I had to type them all - no computer access this week for students due to testing.  I can't wait to give each teacher at our school the essays that have been written about them. 

I had two rejection notices this week.  One student contest that I was quite sure we get some recognition from and one that I had entered in order to get a grant for our school.  Rejection is hard, but I share my own rejection notices with my students to let them know you don't win 'em all and you have to keep entering and trying if you ever hope to win won.

I've been thinking lately about all this competition surrounding writing.  On one hand, it is an incentive, but competition is like playing with fire.  It could just as easily discourage if not handled in just the right way.  My students don't seem dismayed at not having won more.  I hope that is how they feel about it.  As more optional contests are coming up, I'm thrilled to see students step up to the challenge.

Anyway, just a couple more contests to go as the school year winds down.  It has been quite a journey, so far.

Contest #12: Script Frenzy

Contest:  Script Frenzy (brought to you by the creators of NaNoWriMo)

Genre:  Graphic Novel

Theme:  Anything you like!

Prize: Serious bragging rights, certificate, your own book

Publication:  Only if you want to share!

Odds of winning:  Everyone can be a winner!

For more information:  www.scriptfrenzy.org

So it occurred to me last week that my first period English Language Development class does not take the CRTs during first period and seriously needs a project.  We've been doing mini, disjointed lessons for awhile now and they need something challenging and fun.  I've decided to have them each write a graphic novel for Script Frenzy.  Rather than coming up with page count goals, I broke the project down into ten assignments.  I got a chart and buttons from the Script Frenzy Young Writer's Program.  For each assignments students do, they will receive a star on the chart.

As an example, I read aloud Toni and Slade Morrison's "Who's Got Game?  The Lion or the Mouse," an adaptation of the fable.  They enjoyed it.  I also showed them some examples of graphic novels and it got a couple of students really excited and brainstorming right away.

So far we have developed characters, setting, and conflict.  We complete plot charts.  We have a few more prewriting activities before we start writing a script.  Once scripts are completed, students will actually draw their books, color them if they choose, and ink them.  Naturally, I have to make my own book.  I plan to use the first act of my screenplay for my graphic novel.  I am not looking forward to drawing my book at all, but of course if they do it, I have to do it, too.

I just ordered a classroom set of "Alia's Mission," a graphic novel about the true story of a librarian in Iraq who saved 40,000 books before the library was bombed.  We will be reading this as a class once our own books are finished.

I'm glad to be taking a break from writing contests with my fourth period.  I have warned them that we have at least two or three more contests before the year is done!

Contest #11: Creative Communication

Contest:  Creative Communication Poetry Contest

Genre:  Poetry

Theme:  Anything you like!

Prize: Multiple Cash Prizes, teacher grants, free anthology

Publication:  Anthology containing winning essays and poetry

Odds of winning:  The website boast hundreds of winners

For more information:  www.poeticpower.com

 

Fourth period is getting a little sick of the "Writing for Fabulous Prizes" project.  They really balked at this one.  Only half the students brought back permission slips to enter.  We reviewed free verse and rhyming poetry and I asked the students to write one of each on any subject they chose.  They whined.  They cried.  They refused.

Then we saw a one-man play about Cesar Chavez.  The writer and performer of this play comes on stage as various characters and tells the story of Cesar Chavez.  In between acts, his wife plays the guitar and sings.  It was a beautiful performance and the students seemed to enjoy it.  We used the play as a spring board for our poems, revisiting the conversations we have had about social justice, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King, Jr.  This time the students really talking about the immigration issues that Utah is currently grappling with.  Every student wrote interesting and thought-provoking free verse poems.

The easiest way to submit these poems was through email.  I used my own email address and got confirmation letters addressed to each student.  This was a little exciting for the students to get a response that their poem had been received and when it would be judged.  It was a nice bonus for the students who went to the trouble to bring their permission slips in.

Optional Contest: Saanii Novel Publishing Contest

Contest:  Saanii Publishing

Genre:  novel (memoirs, short story collections, other novel-length entries accepted)

Theme:  Anything goes!

Prize: The winning student will receive a copy of his/her novel in book form

Publication:  Copies of the winning novel will be placed in the Bryant school library as well as Bryant Language Arts classrooms

Odds of winning:  One Bryant Bobcat will win

Last year, Saanii Publishing published the memoir of one of students.  This year, they have opened up the contest to look for another book to publish.  I distributed the permission slip on Friday and approximately twenty students showed interest.  This is one contest we are sure to win, so I will keep you posted!

Optional Contest: Script Frenzy

Contest:  Script Frenzy (brought to you by the creators of NaNoWriMo)

Genre:  Script (movie, TV, stage play, graphic novel, comic book, etc.)

Theme:  Anything you like!

Prize: Serious bragging rights, certificate, extra credit in Ms. Stimpson's Language Arts Class

Publication:  Only if you want to share!

Odds of winning:  Everyone can be a winner!

"Script Frenzy" is a challenge to write a script in thirty days.  A participant may choose any theme and any script-related genre.  This is the first year I will participate, thanks to my husband who convinced me to try it.  I shared the idea with my students and several of them are interested.  This week, I plan to have lunchtime meetings for students who are interested in doing this independently.  (Doing it as a class project would be much to difficult with end-of-the-year testing going on in April).  I would love to have a small group of students to meet occasionally during the month of April to share ideas and support one another.  I have offered extra credit to any student who participates and will award points based on amount and quality of work.

Personally, I am struggling to decide between a movie screenplay and a series of TV scripts.  I have ideas for both.  One thing I am certain of, this writing project I am going to focus on comedy.  I've never tried writing a pure comedy and I think this will be a good opportunity to try my hand at it.  They say comedy is more difficult to write than drama and I believe it.  Here's to writing challenges!

Contest #10: Barnes and Noble

Contest:  Barnes and Noble: "My Favorite Teacher Contest"

Genre:  Essay, poem, or letter (though I am requiring a persuasive essay in preparation for the DWA)

Theme:  How has your favorite teacher inspired you?

Prize: Students: certificate and recognition at a Teacher Appreciation Event at Barnes and Noble

Teachers: cash, gift certificates, books for their classroom, recognition at Teacher Appreciation Event, author visit from Laurie Halse Anderson, a NOOK

Publication:  Winning essays will be bound and presented to the teacher who is the subject of the essay.  Essays may be read aloud at the Teacher Appreciation Events

Odds of winning:  Each Barnes and Noble store will have their own events and will award prizes.  The largest prizes are nation-wide winners.

Okay, okay, this contest may be a little self serving.  Naturally, I hope to be named as my students' "Favorite Teacher."  I'm not requiring that they write about me, though.

Since the "District Writing Analysis" is coming up this week, I have turned this essay contest into a review of the six paragraph persuasive essay.  On Thursday, the eighth graders will sit at the computer and be given a prompt.  They will choose a side and compose a six paragraph essay in response.  This is an untimed test, but students must complete the entire process independently.  I will be comparing this year's scores with last year's as another piece of data about whether or not entering writing contests as improved student test scores.

The students have now finished the essay contest as well as the DWA.  Thanks to help from my student teacher, Emily Primrose, we submitted 37 entries to the Barnes and Noble Essay Contest.  What was really exciting this week, however, was watching the 8th graders take the "DWA," the state-wide writing assessment.  I'm not sure I should disclose the topic of the assessment, but let's just say it was directly related to one of the contests we'd entered and I was pretty excited that the students' had so much to say.  Every single  one of my 8th graders wrote an essay of six paragraphs - some of them even indented their paragraphs which made me weep with joy.  Looking forward to seeing these test scores!  Write on!

Contest #9: Kylie Klein

Contest:  2011 Kylie Klein Writing Competition

Genre:  Essay

Theme:  "If I Could Meet Anyone, It would Be"

Prize:  $100 cash

Publication:  No publication, thus no permission slips.  That makes things a bit easier.  More information at www.kylieklein.com

Odds of winning:  One winner in each state, but only 6th-8th graders are invited to participate.

Kylie Klein is a local author, editor, and public speaker who hosts this contest each year.  She strongly encourages email submissions, so as my students have been finishing their essays, I've been typing them into my own email for submission.  A lot of typing, but not much more work than keeping track of permission slips, etc.

This essay was highly structured: four paragraphs with specific information requested.  This helped students structure their essays and gave us a lot of opportunity to talk about adding detail and specific information.  I required three examples for each paragraph and most students' essays reached the two to three page mark (typed). 

The speed at which students are writing is improving.  The quality of ideas is improving.  Spelling, grammar, punctuation are going through the roof.  Some of my students' handwriting is actually improving, too.  This is by far the best caliber of writing I have ever gotten.  Less griping over the writing portion on the UALPA this year.  Hopefully, those scores will improve - I will keep you posted.