ing demystifies the publishing process for all education ...Garden Cookbook Students use the harvest...

Take STudenT Work Beyond The ClaSSroom This all-new second edition of Classroom Publishing: A Practical Guide for

Teachers will help educators take their students’ work beyond the class-

room, enhancing literacy, building new skills, and encouraging students

to take pride in sharing their work with a wide audience. Intended as

a resource guide for K–12 educators and beyond, Classroom Publish-

ing demystifies the publishing process for all education levels. This new

edition is the perfect guide for teachers who want to integrate publish-

ing into their curriculum and includes dozens of real-life examples from

classrooms across the country. This book discusses new projects, as well

as tips from educators about how to sustain more traditional long-term

publishing projects like school newspapers and literary magazines. Ad-

ditionally, this edition provides resource materials for finding funding,

planning projects, and making eco-friendly choices.

The firST ediTion of ClaSSroom PuBliShing WaS WriTTen in 1992 by Laurie King and Dennis Stovall. In 2001, Dennis Stovall founded

Ooligan Press, the premier student-run publishing house in the United

States, basing the curriculum around the concept of classroom pub-

lishing. Itself a project from the classroom, the second edition was

written and produced by the graduate students of Ooligan Press.

1

The Publishing Process

Every book, magazine, zine, or website is deliv-

ered to the reader via a process that involves a

number of skills and a variety of people. The

publishing process can be as simple as an author

self-publishing a pamphlet or book, or as com-

plex as a large publishing house whose hundreds

of employees perform very specific jobs. As

these pages will show, teaching the stages of

publishing is a curriculum in and of itself that

can reinforce an existing writing curriculum by

providing applications that go beyond the class-

room, teaching students skills that they will use

in non-school settings, and offering new ways

to engage all students in the process. A list of

suggested classroom activities accompanies each

section of the process.

2 Classroom Publishing: a PraCtiCal guide For teaChers

Acquisitions: Generating and Selecting Content

What to publish? Professional publish-

ing houses acquire manuscripts from

authors; periodicals often ask for sub-

missions or have a staff that generates

the content. School publications, such as

the literary magazine and the newspaper,

follow both of these models. Each pub-

lication establishes its own internal standards of quality and selects

content based on an understanding of its audience. When publish-

ing with students it’s equally important to establish standards of

quality and to clearly identify the audience. Involve students in the

selection process by helping them evaluate student writing using cri-

teria that they developed. Putting students in the roles of publish-

ers, authors, and editors can invigorate the writing process by giving

them a stronger sense of audience and greater purpose.

Acquisitions Activities • As a persuasive writing assignment, have students

write query letters in which they pitch imaginary novels

to publishers.

• Ask students to search Creative Commons (http://

creativecommons.org) and have each find an image to

complement the class’s current reading assignment.

• Have students include all the proper citations and

present their selected images along with a paragraph

discussing the connection of the image to the reading.

3OOligan Press | httP://OOligan.Pdx.edu/

Editing

Editing has multiple levels: developmen-

tal editing, copyediting, fact-checking,

and proofreading. Teaching students the

purpose and goal of each level can provide

additional structure to the writing process,

as each level of editing requires a different

skill. Developmental editing needs a strong

reader who can interact well with the text. Copyediting needs a strong

writer who understands style. Factchecking and proofreading both

need meticulous readers and writers. It’s important to train students

at each level, but it is also useful to allow them to specialize. This will

show students what skills are needed at each stage of editing, let them

value their peers who have those skills, and see how they benefit from

having capable editors work with their writing at each level.

Editing Activities • Have students write stories in 500 words, then re-write

them in 250 words, then re-write them in 100 words.

Finally, challenge them to reduce them to fifty words or

less. Ask them to identify what was cut first, what was

cut last, and to explain what differences each cut made

in their stories.

• To teach fact-checking, have students edit a piece of

writing that is free of grammatical errors but full of

factual errors. How does this type of editing differ from

others? What are good resources for checking facts?


Layout and Design

This stage is made easier with comput-

ers. There are sophisticated software

programs, such as Adobe InDesign,

which are industry standards in the

publishing world. However, a basic

word processing program can provide

professional-looking type and a digital

copy of the students’ writing, allowing the designer to play with the

text on the page. Scanners can be used to include digitized student

artwork. If no computers are available at all, a manuscript can be

reproduced directly onto the page by hand, just as it was done for

hundreds of years before the invention of the printing press.

Design Activities • Using a word processor, have students design a sample

piece of text using three different combinations of

typefaces, leading, and alignment. Which do they find

to be the most readable? Why?

• In small groups, have students design an advertisement

on poster board for a classic book. Ask students to

explain their design choices.

• Explore the differences between the designs of web

and print publications by having students discuss and

write about the design of publications that have a print

and web edition.


Production

This part of the process is often con-

tracted out by professional publish-

ers who don’t have the means to

produce thousands of copies of a

book. For classroom publishers with

funding, production involves send-

ing files electronically to a printer

who will both print and bind as many copies as needed. How-

ever, if there is only to be one copy of a student’s book pro-

duced, and time allows, there are some real rewards that can be

gained by bringing the production into the classroom. Students

can personalize their books by writing front-end material, like

introductions, editors’ notes, and dedications. The type of art

available to single editions is more varied as well, and students

feel an even greater sense of ownership of the final product.

Printing and Production Activities • Install a page-imposition freeware program such as

Cheap Imposter on a computer in your classroom.

Teach students how to print their work in booklet form

with four pages of text on a single piece of paper. This

activity will also save paper, toner, and money.

• Have students research new ways of reading books

(such as reading online or on Kindles) and discuss how

this might impact the future of book production.


Marketing, Sales, and Distribution: Expanding the Audience

In the publishing world this stage is all

about getting books to their audiences.

This usually includes generating

buzz by getting media coverage,

having promotional events featuring

authors, and selling the product to

generate capital for the next project.

For classroom publishing projects, the amount of marketing is

relative to the size of your print run. For single-copy editions,

this might be an in-class “Book Fair,” or possibly an event in the

library where student work can be put on display. For larger print

runs, this could involve launch events in conjunction with local

bookstores, writing press releases announcing the publication

of the book, advertising in the school and local community,

or an author signing at a sales table in the lunchroom.

Marketing Activities • Look at marketing for a variety of products other than

books (e.g. movies, cereal boxes, etc.). What aspects of

the ad campaign work for these products? What aspects

don’t? Can any of these methods be applied to book

publishing?

• Teach students how to use a web site such as

Amazon.com to find book recommendations. An

activity could include writing a book review and either

publishing it on the site or bringing it to class.


Garden Cookbook

Students use the harvest from their class garden to create recipes

and publish a cookbook that they sell at the local farmers’ market.

Roberta Guarnieri of Kentwood Elementary School in Los An-

geles, California, had a large garden and butterfly and bird habitat

where students learned about sustaining local wildlife. With such a

large space at her disposal, Roberta decided to grow vegetables with

her fifth-grade class and write and publish a vegetarian cookbook

with recipes that did not require electricity or gas energy to prepare.

When planning a project, it’s important to consider how the content and design can influence each other for maximum usability. A unique two-ring binding that mimics a set of recipe cards was the perfect design option for this cookbook. Image courtesy of Roberta Guarnieri.


Historical Fiction Digital Stories

Dawn Hawkins at Tiger-

ville Elementary School

in Taylors, South Caro-

lina, put another twist on

digital stories by integrat-

ing the project into her

social studies curriculum.

Dawn’s third, fourth, and

fifth graders studied and

read about standard his-

tory topics, then assumed

the first-person voice of a

character from their read-

ings and wrote pieces of historical fiction, which they illustrated

with images, background music, and voice-overs in MovieMaker.

Although the stories were fiction, they had to include a certain

amount of factual content.

“I tell them I don’t want a list of facts, I want a story told from

the perspective of your character… and within that story, they tell

me facts,” Dawn said. For example, in a story about a message that

was being delivered from camp to camp during the Revolutionary

War, certain information would be factual, but the details could be

improvised. “They might make up that it’s a rainy day or that an

accident happened,” she said, “but anything like the date and the

content of the message needs to be accurate.”

“For the visual learners, working with the pictures really helps them, and the auditory learners are usually the ones who love the voice-over the most, and my kinesthetic learners get the hands on work of constructing the digital story.”


Illustrations can add another dimension to a published text and engage artistic students who might not be as excited about the writing process. A sample spread from a gamebook about exploring the treasures of ancient Egypt shows how visuals can be easily integrated. Image courtesy of Dave Cooper.

Dawn’s students wrote their stories first, then searched for images

and audio content to accompany the text. The diverse tasks the stu-

dents had to complete to finish the project catered to the needs of

all learning styles. “For the visual learners, working with the pictures

really helps them, and the auditory learners are usually the ones who

love the voice-over the most, and my kinesthetic learners get the

hands on work of constructing the digital story,” she said. When

the stories were complete, parents and other members of the school

community were invited to the classroom for a movie showing, and

copies of the stories were kept in the classrooms for future use.


Math Books

Fractions guide the story in students’ math-based children’s books.

Roberta Guarnieri, a fifth-grade teacher in Kentwood Elementary

in Los Angeles, California, was often confronted by middle and

high school teachers asking: “Can’t you elementary teachers teach

fractions? We’re still teaching them [to students].” In response to

these comments, Roberta decided to remedy these complaints by

taking a different approach to teaching fractions. Roberta had her

students write a story and publish a book based on word problems

that used fractions to guide the plot… Students presented their

Classroom publishing projects can be used to complement any curriculum. Students proudly show off Math Curse, which teaches kids how to use fractions using fun word problems. Image courtesy of Roberta Guarnieri.


books in two ways: first, by speaking about their books in front of

their class. Roberta set up a chair in the middle of the classroom

and had each group share the books they’d written. Roberta also

sent her students to fourth-grade classrooms to read their books

to younger students, which gave the younger students a preview

of a project they’ll do the next year and provided valuable public

speaking experience for the fifth graders. Roberta said that when

her students completed the project, “They didn’t feel like they were

doing math. They enjoyed this learning experience.”

International Children’s Books

Students make books that are used to teach English to impover-

ished children around the globe.

Special Education teacher Lisa

Sanford estimated that nine out of

ten students in her English class

of ninth through twelfth graders

at Northwest Secondary School in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, had never

read a whole book. When she

told them they would be making

books that would be used to teach

English to children in Uganda,

they didn’t believe her. “They

“To participate in Books of Hope, Lisa applied for a grant to purchase a small color printer and ink cartridges for her classroom. … They couldn’t believe their teacher would do something special for them.”


A youth in Uganda reads a book created by students from Wisconsin. Books of Hope connects students across the world, putting handmade books into the hands of those in third-world countries who have little access to reading material. Image courtesy of Abha Thakhar, Books of Hope.

immediately said, ‘We can’t do a book.’ I had to work hard to get

past that,” she said. The work paid off when each student finished

a picture book that was delivered to Books of Hope, a nonprofit

organization that distributes student-made books to children in

impoverished countries. Knowing the books would make a dif-

ference in the lives of other children increased Lisa’s students’

empathy and motivated them to overcome their low expectations.

The project gave her students a sense of pride and accomplish-

ment that was rare in the low-income area where she taught. Not

unlike the children in Uganda, many of Lisa’s students faced

poverty and violence in their daily lives. To participate in Books

of Hope, Lisa applied for a grant to purchase a small color printer

and ink cartridges for her classroom. The printer, which was used

to print the final books, impressed her students, who weren’t used

to getting special atten-

tion, Lisa said. “They

couldn’t believe their

teacher would do some-

thing special for them.”

Educational and Library Sales: Ooligan Press sells directly to educators and libraries that do

not have an established relation-ship with our distributor, Ingram

Publisher Services.

For information about our edu-cational discounts, or to place an

order, please contact us at [email protected].

ISBN 978-1-932010-28-2, 8.5” x 11”, softcover, 256 pages, $34.95

Ooligan Press is a general trade publisher rooted in the rich literary tradition of the Pacific N

orthwest, a region

widely recognized for its unique and innovative sensibilities.

To find out m

ore, visit ww

w.ooliganpress.pdx.edu.

Ordering Information

Cut here for a bookmark to remember us by.

A Practical G

uide for Teachers is a resource guidefor educators, containing real-life exam

ples of classroom publishing projects,

background on the publishing process, and information on sub-

jects from project planning to eco-friendly publishing options.

This revised second edition teaches educators how

to combine new

technologies and traditional book publishing in order to create engaging lesson plans and encourage student literacy.

ing demystifies the publishing process for all education ...Garden Cookbook Students use the harvest...

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