Contest #2: Teen Ink Magazine

Contest:  Points of View Essay Contest

Genre:  Persuasive Essay

Theme:  Opinion on a Controversial Topic

Prize:  $200

Publication:  Teen Ink Magazine and EBSCO website

Odds of winning:  two winners chosen every month
For more information:  www.teenink.com

My sevies had to take the Analytic Writing Task, so while they were doing that, I had the eighth graders enter the "Points of View Essay Contest" from "Teen Ink Magazine."  "Teen Ink" is a monthly magazine completely comprised of teenagers' entries.  You must be between the ages of 13 and 19, so that left most of my sevies out.

The seventh grade "Analytic Writing Task" was a persuasive essay, as well.  In the state of Utah, fifth and eighth graders take a persuasive writing test, so there is a big emphasis on persuasive writing.  It was good to get some practice in early in the year.

Poetry Scams and Contests to Avoid

I received a postcard for "Creative Communications" which hosts three poetry and three essay contests each year and divides students into small subcategories so they are competing against their peers.  It's one of those deals where if you win, they try to sell you the anthology that your work is published in.  I've gotten tied up in these before.  Mostly it's just a giant disappointment when you realize probably no one even read your work, they send a form letter to everyone trying to sell books.

I scoured "Creative Communications" website www.poeticpower.com.  It seemed like it was legit.  They are up front in saying that you can buy an anthology, but you don't have to.  They make most of their money from advertising.  They seem like they are legitimately trying to help more students get published. 

I found a great discussion about this contest at the following link.  It's not a scam, but it's not considered highly selective.  I'm still considering whether or not we'll do this one.

http://donsavant.14.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=139

I also found a great list of ways to figure out if a contest is a scam or not.  The link is here.

http://www.winningwriters.com/contests/avoid/av_signs.php
 

Contest #1: Scholastic's "Action Magazine:" Dream Poetry Contest

Contest:  Dream Poetry Contest

Genre:  Acrostic Poem

Theme:  Dreams (not the "at school in your underwear" kind, but the future plans kind)

Prize:  iPod Shuffle

Publication:  Scholastic's Action Magazine

Odds of winning:  just one winner in the whole United States

Ms. Stimpson’s Example:

Do you think someone might

Read my novel and want to sell it

Everywhere: Barnes & Noble,

Amazon.com - even the library!

Maybe some day soon . . .

So, today it began - Writing for Fabulous Prizes - an iPod Shuffle is a pretty fabulous prize.  The kids got really excited about it.  Some even wrote their "dream" poems about how they dream for an iPod!  I wish I could post some of them - they are truly adorable.  I'm going to look into the legality of posting student writing, because they are seriously adorable!

My Own Writing History

"When you are not writing, you are a writer, too."

~ from Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones

I wrote my first book when I was four-years-old.  It's called Beautiful Things and I still have it.  My grandmother helped me to fold and string together construction paper.  I drew illustrations and then dictated the words to her.  It is no great literary work, but I think it proves that I was born to be a writer.  (The fact that I was teaching school to my stuffed animals at age four, also proves I was born to be a teacher).

I had the same teacher for second and third grade, Mrs. Charla Hedgepeth.  She had us write one short story a week.  It was the most fun I had in elementary school and I loved those lessons.  Every Friday, she read a couple out loud.  I still remember that thrill in my tummy when mine was chosen.  I have a couple of those stories and they are rip-offs of whatever I was reading or watching on TV at the time.  Still, the writing isn't half bad.

While in elementary school, I entered several short story contests, but never won.  I did, however, win some art contests.  It baffled me, because even at the age of eight I knew I was a writer, not an artist.  At the age of nine or ten, I decided to get serious.  I emptied out my closet and turned it into a study.  I used an oversized suitcase as a desk and strung the cord to my Raggedy Ann lamp under the door.  I would sit in my study for hours upon hours and write stories.  It was in the closet that I started my first novel, the story of a girl who owns her own horse until the day her parents sell it without consulting her.  The plan was that she would spend the novel going on adventures, trying to retrieve her beloved horse.  I never got past the second chapter.

At the age of twelve, I asked for and received a typewriter for Christmas.  I was convinced that having a typewriter would improve my writing.  The first thing I wrote on my typewriter was the beginning to a science fiction novel (no kidding - science fiction)!  I had an elaborate outline and prologue.  I made a diagram of the system of planets.  The system consisted of several planets, two of which were inhabited by intelligent beings.  One planet was at complete peace, with all of the beings working together in harmony.  The other planet was at war, with many of the problems of planet Earth.  The plan was that the warring planet was depleting its resources and would eventually invade the peaceful planet.  The peaceful beings would have decide whether or not to fight to defend themselves.  I never got past the second chapter.

Toward the end of eighth grade, my middle school counselor invited me to an academic camp for computer technology.  It struck me as odd, because playing "Oregon Trail" was the extent of my interest in computers.  When I declined the offer, she showed me the complete list of academic camps being offered and "Creative Writing" jumped out at me.  I spent the first week of summer vacation in an unairconditioned classroom with Mrs. Judee Stanley and a dozen other fourteen-year-old writers.

I could write an entire blog post about that writing camp.  The highlights were meeting a real-live published author, Magaret Rostkowski, getting some much needed encouragement from someone who wasn't my parents, and seeing my writing in print for the first time.  In one week our writing instructor managed to have us prewrite, peer conference, revise, edit, type, and publish several pieces.  We had our book, "Dream Makers and Future Takers" by Friday afternoon.

That was the summer of 1989.  I attended three more camps that summer and I could write another blog post about each one.  It was definitely my "coming of age."  By the end of the summer, I was inspired to write a novel about my experiences.  I created an outline and wrote several scenes that I hoped to one day insert into my novel.

I began high school with a lot of hope.  My teachers were asking for a lot less creative writing and a lot more expository writing, but I continued to write short stories and work on my "camp" novel.  I started having friends read my work for feedback.  Unfortunately, the feedback I was getting was primarily negative.  Maybe those that were reading my work were trying to be constructive, but everything I heard was very discouraging.  I submitted some work for publication in local contests and the school's literary magazine.  The only thing I ever published was a tiny poem that I had written in about five minutes for a class assignment.  The teacher submitted it without me knowing.  I wasn't at all proud.

I satisfied some of my writing bug by joining the Yearbook Staff my senior year and becoming the Copy Editor, because no one else would do it.  Other than that, I have two creative writing highlights from my high school years.  In Sophomore English I wrote a character sketch.  In addition to a few corrections, my teacher wrote, "I want to know more about your character (in another piece, of course)."  In my senior year, I took AP English from the best English teacher I have ever had, Ms. Jill Flamm.  The first assignment was a descriptive narrative.  I wrote about the first game of softball I played.  She read it aloud to the class.  She never said it was good.  She didn't hand out compliments like that, but I could tell she thought it was and that was enough.

Most of my college years were dedicated to expository writing, but that's important, I think.  I took a creative writing class where I learned a ton.  My classmates never had much positive to say about my writing.  My instructor gave me positive feedback, but I think that was his job.  I started submitting work to the college of humanities literary magazine to no avail.

Once out of college and with a couple of years of teaching under my belt, I had more time to write.  I attempted a novel a couple of times, never getting past the second chapter.  I wrote some poetry for family members that I gave as gifts.  They were appreciated, but your family has to appreciate that sort of thing.  I joined a writing group.  Most of the participants were writing YA fiction.  They gave me some good criticism, but not much in the way of positive reinforcement.  I quit the group.

I started reading "how to write" books.  Most scared me into not writing anything.  There were too many rules I couldn't seem to follow - avoid cliches, write every morning, write what you know.  There was too much conflicting advice - begin at the beginning/start in medias res, use adverbs/don't use adverbs, describe/but not too much.  The books froze me up - too terrified of making a mistake to do anything.

Then I found Chris Baty's "The Novel Writing Kit" on the budget rack at Barnes and Noble.  It had an abbreviated version of his book, "No Plot? No Problem!" which I promptly bought and read cover to cover - twice!  This was it!  This was what I needed.  Here was someone saying, You know how to do this.  Stop looking for advice and DO IT - do it fast and do it without fear!

In May/June of 2009, I wrote my first complete novel in thirty days.  It was exhilarating!  I'm still riding the high!  I've revised and edited my first novel into its fourth draft.  I've written a second novel and will be writing my third in November.  I've found my own writing process.  I don't write in the morning and I don't write every day.  I write when I have time, usually at night after the kids go to bed.  I take advantage of my summers, holidays, and weekends - weekdays are just too much.  I'm taking all writing advice with a grain of salt.  There are as many ways to be a writer as there are writers.

Best of all, for the first time in my life, I don't feel guilty saying that am I a writer.  I've always included it in my list of hobbies, but felt it needed an asterisk - I was a writer that didn't write - but now I am just a writer.

Logistics

"If you build it, they will come."

~ from "Field of Dreams"

  

I wrote a letter to my students' parents explaining our quest for fabulous prizes.  I wanted to give them a heads-up that they had the freedom to choose whether or not students will participate in each contest.  It will be a requirement for students to get a signature from their parents or guardians for each contest, but students will receive credit whether or not they receive permission to actually enter.  There are many valid reasons why parents may choose not to have their students' work published. 

I requested a translation for this letter and got a great e-mail from the man who does our Spanish translations.  He said he enjoyed translating the letter and was excited about the project.  He mentioned that he has always liked to write and wished he had been encouraged to publish in this way.  I invited him to do NaNoWriMo with us.  His email made me really happy and confirmed that teaching students about publication is an important part of the writing process.

I spent some time digging through my files to find students of mine who had won writing contests or had been published in the past.  There haven't been many contest winners, because I haven't had students submit that many, but I have a nice long list of NaNoWriMo winners and students who have been published in our school's literary magazine.  I typed up the list and am going to display this in my classroom.  When a student says, "We can't win," I'll point to this list of kids who have done it in the past for inspiration.

Last Friday, I sat down at the computer and looked up several writing contests that colleagues had passed onto me.  Some were for elementary school only, others were for high school only.  I have yet to see a writing contest for middle school kids only.  What's up with that?  I also did some searching for writing contests, which proved to be quite overwhelming.  There are an awful lot of writing contest scams to be wary of.  I came up with a couple of promising choices, however.

Our school has a subscription to "Action Magazine" from Scholastic.  They are having a "Dream Poetry Contest."  There will only be one winner, but it's a simple contest and a good way to get started.  They also have an on-going "Advice Column" contest, which I thought would be fun for my Advisory class to do.  You can find these contests at www.scholastic.com/actionmag


"Teen Ink" magazine is completely comprised of student work: poetry, essays, interviews, opinion, art, etc.  There are no deadlines; they are always accepting work to be published on their website as well as their print magazine.  They only publish students between the ages of 13 and 17, so that is a bummer for my twelve-year-olds.  My PIC (Partner-in-Crime), LaVerna, noticed two contests that fit into things we already do with students.  One is an environmental essay, in which students think up a project that will have a positive impact on the environment and then write it up.  Another is to plan, implement, and write up a community service project.  The FAQs on the site state that these two categories get the least amount of submissions, and are therefore the most promising for publication.  Their website is www.TeenInk.com

Creative Communication has three poetry and three essay contest per year.  They publish anthologies of student work.  No entry fee or purchase of the anthology is required.  I scoured their website and it looks legit.  It is run by professional writers and educators and they award grants to language arts teachers who have fifteen or more students published.  They have divisions broken up into categories - grades 7-9 would be our category.  They also have links to lesson plans, handouts, and resources.  Their website is www.poeticpower.com


All of the contests I have done in the past have included a parent permission slip, but none of these do.  This means I will either be writing (and thus submitting for translation) lots of permission slips, or developing a form letter that I can plug in the details of each contest.

We've been in school only four days, but I already feel great about this batch of students.  They come every day prepared and ready to learn.  The past few years, I've spent the first couple of days doing discipline, but these guys aren't here to fool around.  I'm pretty sure I have some writers on my hands!

Tomorrow we start our Gary Soto unit and we should be submitting to our first contest within the next two weeks!

The Hunt for Fabulous Prizes

"Make voyages!  Attempt them!  There's nothing else."

~ Tennessee Williams

Today I had students complete a writing sample.  I used the QIA Literacy assessment.  I also had students complete a reading interest survey.  These two samples, as well as standardized test scores will be my "pre-test" for the year.

I planned my first unit: an author study of Gary Soto.  I planned a unit that included short stories, poetry, interview, and a novel.  My colleague, Adrianna with the cutest hair ever, dropped by a poetry and essay contest flyer.  I thought it was sort of perfect - after reading Soto's poetry, we could write our own and submit it to our first contest for the year.  Then I got irritated.  Writing poetry and submitting to a contest this early in the school year was not part of the plan.  Then I had to remind myself that this was EXACTLY the plan: to look for opportunities to get published and take advantage of them.  But I already penciled in ALL of the Gary Soto plan into my new cute planner. . .

This is why I haven't been into submitting to contests in the past.  They are difficult to plan for.  Even the ones that occur every year don't always happen at the exact same time.  Last year, knowing that the district Cesar Chavez contest was coming up, I did a three week unit on Chavez.  The contest materials didn't show up until a month later.  By that time, we were on to something else - which we stopped in order to go back to Chavez.  It all worked out fine, but it irritates me.  I like to plan.  I hate when my plan gets interrupted.

This year, however, the plan is to stay flexible with the plan.  That's why the plan is penciled.  It's a challenge for me, but hopefully the pay off will be big.

A word on what I'm looking for in contests:

1.  We won't enter any contest that requires a fee or the purchase of a publication.  There are plenty of free contests.

2.  Contests must award middle school students specifically.  No fair my guys competing against high school students.

3.  Contests must tie to my core curriculum.  Not hard to do, since we are to cover multiple genres with emphasis on narrative and persuasive essay.

4.  If there is an opportunity to publish, so much the better.

5.  We'll take local over national and the smaller the pool of entries, the better.  We're looking to win and I'm not kidding.

If anyone reading this knows of writing contests for middle school students that fit my criteria, please let me know!!!

What the Blog?

"I am just a writer in search of metaphors."

~ Terry Tempest Williams

I always seem to be slightly behind the technological curve. I was the last person I knew to succumb to buying CDs. I was late to get email, late to get a cell phone, late to get an iPod. I can’t figure out “Twitter.” Honest to blog, I burned my first CD just last week. I only recently caught on to what the whole blogging thing is all about. I follow a couple of them and certainly never planned to have one. So what is this one all about? It’s all about providing students with opportunities to write for authentic purposes. So what’s more authentic than a good old-fashioned blog with a real-live audience?

This year I will be asking my students, all English Language Learners, to be taking huge risks with their writing. Specifically, to put their writing out into the world to be read, judged, rejected, and maybe occasionally accepted and published. I’ve always believed that if you give your students an assignment, you’d better be willing to do it yourself. So, this year, as they take risks with their writing, I’ll be taking risks with my own. I will maintain this blog, I will attempt to publish some articles about student writing, and I will pursue my life-long dream of publishing a novel.

Last year, after announcing the second essay contest I required my students to enter, one student groaned, “How come we always gotta do contests?”

(I love adolescents. Twice becomes always.)

This was my response: “Well, this is Language Arts class and we have to write essays. You could write essays to me for a grade, or you could write essays for a contest, get a grade, and possibly win fabulous prizes. Which would you rather do?”

His half-hearted response was, “Write for fabulous prizes, I guess.”