Why Publish Student Writing?
Project-based learning has become a terrific tool for teachers to use in lessons to be able to make classroom activities and learning relevant for students. Essentially, students take all the pieces and put them together in “a whole” that is realistic to everyday life. Projects also provide clear methods to assess student learning so that teachers can tailor their instruction toward areas that need improvement to be able to meet the required learning standards.

Utilizing a class project to publish students’ writing provides a powerful incentive to help students engage in their own writing development, especially if you introduce the idea at the beginning of the year to inform students of the goal they are working towards. If the project is combined with pre-project writing assessments you will then be able to determine and demonstrate students’ learning when the books are complete.

So what is the powerful incentive of publishing student writing?
Research shows that when students know their writing will be published and read by others, they are more likely to put forth their best effort and are often motivated to draft, rewrite and finalize their work to create strong, polished, final pieces. When all the effort put forth is then rewarded with a finished published book, students garner a tremendous sense of accomplishment, increased self-esteem and desire to achieve. These affective benefits help develop students’ belief in themselves and in the value of learning. They also contribute to their core belief in their abilities and help them engage in their own learning/education.

Writing and publishing also helps students realize why all the writing work they perform throughout the year has importance. As students write and share their stories, the purpose of proper spelling, grammar and punctuation suddenly becomes evident – particularly if a reader misunderstands an author’s point because of a misspelled word or poorly phrased sentence (the “Aha” moment). Connecting the smaller elements of language and grammar to the bigger picture of developing and sharing ideas through writing complete pieces opens a new world of understanding and enthusiasm for students that will help propel them into their learning and expression.

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