Sonora Middle School Students To Publish Essays

SPRINGDALE -- Mack Henson said the knowledge that his essay will be published made him work harder and longer on his writing.

The essay Mack, 12, is working on is one of 840 to 850 essays by students at Sonora Middle School that will be published, said Charlene Hornor, instructional facilitator for literacy. All students at the school wrote three essays over nine weeks and chose one essay to edit for publishing.

Hornor said publishing is a motivator for students to work hard. Applying what they learn also helps them retain that knowledge.

"We want our kids to write for an audience," she said. " We want our kids to know we're not just writing for that grade."

Sixth-grade students worked on essays to entertain their readers, Hornor said. They wrote an essay about a personal story, a realistic fiction essay and a historical fiction piece.

Seventh-grade students wrote essays to inform their readers, like a news article would, Hornor said. They wrote an essay about ancient Greece, one about ancient Rome and another about ancient China.

Some teachers have individually done projects such as this in past years, but this is the first year the entire school has participated, Hornor said. Students would normally write an essay in six weeks, and it wouldn't be published.

Students are receiving editing help from people inside and outside the school, Hornor said. Two authors met with students individually on Monday, and Hornor said she planned for another to come today.

Author Jeffrey Miller said he wishes he had been able to meet with an author when he was young. He said he wanted to be a writer when he was 13. It wasn't part of his school's curriculum, so he attempted to write a novel on his own and quickly got overwhelmed.

Miller sat with Mack at a table in the school's library Monday. He read Mack's essay out loud, explaining reading that way can help a writer catch errors.

Phyl Campbell, another author, sat at another table with Jordan Thompson, 12. They discussed sentence structure.

"What do you want the readers to get from that sentence?" Campbell asked.

"The geography," Jordan answered.

Hornor said a couple of retired English teachers are to meet with students Wednesday. A couple of other teachers and some Har-Ber High School students are also helping via the Internet.

Four students who work on The Herald, the student newspaper at Har-Ber, helped edit nine essays, said Karla Sprague, newspaper advisor. It was a "real world" experience for her students.

"It takes what we do in our newspaper classroom one step further," she said.

A lot of the editing would not have been possible without the Chromebooks each student in the school has access to, Hornor said. Schools across the district were supplied with the computers this year as a result of the Race To The Top Grant the Springdale School District received in December 2013.

Students have used the Chromebooks to type their essays on Google Docs, an Internet-based document program, Hornor said. The program allows students to send the document to other people.

Students and teachers are planning to have all essays completed by Thursday or Friday, so they can get parents involved in the writing process, Hornor said. School officials have invited parents to the school to read essays with students, and ask them questions about their work.

Hornor said she wants to have the essays published in February 2015. All students, their parents and the school's library will receive copies. It might also be an option to sell the published works as a fundraiser.