Hollie Hughes, a middle school English teacher in my district, has her classes participating in “National Novel Writing Month”.Below I included the article our local newspaper ( www.StarGazette.com )wrote about Hollie.Although it is almost over, the site described in the article, welcomes sign-ups year round.This idea is an excellent way for Hollie to assess her students……there is a process involved, progress can be measured, and all students have a product to produce!
FOUNDATIONS IN EDUCATION Students try their hands as novelists
Elmira Heights school participating in 30-day program
Hey, teachers, here’s a novel idea: Have all your students devote one month of the school year to a writing project.
That’s what English teacher Hollie Hughes has been doing this month at Cohen Middle School in Elmira Heights as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, for short).
Hughes, in her second year as an English teacher at the school, signed up her students — along with herself and a few other teachers — to participate in the international Young Writers Program, which asks each participant to write a novel in 30 days.
“I’m really excited about this program because the kids come in and they want to tell you about their ideas and talk about what they want to write. It’s just awesome,” said Hughes.
She said about 95 students in her five English classes are taking part, along with Hughes, co-teacher Jill Wood, librarian Jennifer Thomas and science teacher Jason Howe. She said as far as she can determine she’s the only teacher in this area who signed up at www.NaNoWriMo.org.
The Web site started the writing program in 2004 and claims to have more than 25,000 children all over the world pounding their computer keyboards since Nov. 1 in what it calls the pursuit of the “Great Frantic Novel.”
Hughes said she has written some poetry but nothing longer, and no fiction. “So I can share my anxieties” with the students, she said. Students were given minimum word limits based on their abilities, from 5,000 words (about 20 double spaced pages) to 15,000, Hughes said. Adults have a 50,000-word goal, or about 200 pages.
Subject matter was left pretty wide open.
“Obviously, it can’t be anything that can’t be discussed in school,” Hughes said. “Those are the only parameters. Everything else is fair game.”
November has been for writing (“We’re turning off our inner editor”), and the classes will revisit the novels in January for editing and grading, Hughes said.
In preparation, she taught the elements of plot, literary devices and techniques, and generally “what makes a novel a novel.”
Hughes said the project has inspired a few of her students. “Some of them couldn’t stand English,” she said, “and those are some of the kids who are really excited about this.”
