MAMS Students Achieve Goal of Becoming Better Writers and Published Authors
At the start of the 2023-2024 school year students in Miss Samantha Houser’s sixth grade ELA classes set a goal to improve their writing and to the end their first year at MAMS as published authors.
Students not only achieved their academic goal of maturing as confident writers, they have pride in accomplishing a feat so few ever do.
Before any words were written or illustrations drawn, students in Miss Houser's classes worked together to choose a book topic. Each of her four classes chose a different book topic and learned about the importance of pre-writing and brainstorming ideas. Miss Houser shared with students how this step creates a solid foundation for writing and can prevent “writer’s block,” which causes many students to shut down or dislike writing altogether.
Once students felt confident with their topic, they began their first drafts. Without too much concern about spelling and grammar at this point, students were able to truly encapsulate what they wanted to say. Miss Houser then worked with students to edit and revise their writing, and emphasized the significance of accepting mistakes and the need to add or remove different words or phrases. She stressed to students the importance of knowing and understanding that a first draft is a working document that doesn’t have to be perfect the first, second, third, fourth, or even fifth time.
When students were pleased with their writing, they moved on to the illustration step, to bring their writing to life, and finally, worked collaboratively to decide on a cover design. Once the book was in the final draft, it was off to the publisher!
The hardcover books arrived in late May and Miss Houser said the students had a look of awe when they saw their work in the same format as some of their favorite books and authors. Students also enjoyed seeing themselves featured in the “Meet the Author” page.
Miss Houser added students were able to see the importance of each step of the publishing process and how each of the actions to becoming a published author can relate to their course work. She said she observed students who typically would get frustrated with imperfection accept the need to make multiple edits and revisions, and see students who used to hate writing find a love for writing about things they enjoy.
Sixth grade authors Brayden Winter, Audrey Hoerner, and Caralye Palacios get a first look at their class book The Camping Nightmare. Audrey Hoerner designed the book cover.
Below Miss Houser and her seventh period class do the first-ever published read aloud of The Camping Nightmare. |
