image taken here
It all started with the reading text in our course book called ‘Boys R Us’, Going for Gold, Upper-int. (Longman)
The story was about a teenager who was a reluctant student but changed when a teacher assigned them to write a 20 page- story in 2 months. The teenager went home and wrote his 20 story and soon realised it was just the beginning of the actual story and in the end there was a novel on the teacher’s desk.
After reading and doing the comprehension exercises, we talked about the text, challenge and the result. They said they loved the idea. Then suddenly I realised I loved the idea very much too and told them they had a new challenge and two months to write a story of 20 pages.
The thing which made me write this post was not the challenge I described above. It was an attitude of a very special student I have in the class. He is very kind, eager and motivated. He has loads of problems with his English and no help at home: however, he tries his best to overcome all the obstacles.
OK now I’m telling why I decided to write this. On Friday he came next to me with a notebook in his hand and said he wanted to show me something as he needed some advice. He said he started writing the story and felt something was missing so he surfed on the net and found some ideas on how to write a story, develop ideas, etc. He showed me his plans, character definitions, setting, event and I just felt very proud. I was amazed at his motivation. I praised him and told him that the thing he had been doing was just the thing I wanted them to do. I told him I knew I didn’t guide them well and I would hand them a checklist the following handout tomorrow
I don’t know what I’ll end up with but I’m planning to have a story compilation book of my students.
Any suggestions for creating an e-book?
Hi Eva!
If you don’t think it’s too childish, you could try My StoryMaker:
http://www.carnegielibrary.org/kids/storymaker/embed.cfm
I’m going to have my grade 8s use this tool to write stories in the past tense (they need the practice). What do you think?
Thanks Karin. I love MyStoryMaker and if any of them comes up with a children’s story, it will be very useful.
Dear Eva,
It’s a great idea to have the students write a 20-page story and I wish I had students like the one you have.
Maybe you can use the Youblisher, which allows you to turn your pdf documents into flippable documents. Here is the link: http://www.youblisher.com/
cheers,
d.
Thank you Deniz, I think this will help a lot.
Hi Eva!
I love love love the idea and cannot wait to see what they will come up with! I am sure it will be very interesting. I like how you support all the kids and give them great ideas – super work!
Kindest regards,
Vicky
Dear Eva
What a fabulous idea! I am sure it will be great for all the students concerned and can’t wait to see the results! You are always challenging yourself and your students, and I think that is amazing. Best of luck!
Like Deniz, I can also recommend Youblisher as I have recently published a few booklets of lesson ideas using it and it’s really quick and very easy to use! There is also Issuu, but I haven’t tried that yet.
Best wishes
Janet
Thanks Janet,
Today I told them that before each story we will also publish their biography to make it more similar to a real anthology 🙂