Week 14- The Write Thing by Kwame Alexander Part 2 and Appendixes

Part 2 is all about publishing. Part 2 consists of two parts: chapter 6 and chapter 7.

Chapter six focuses on making student-run publishing a priority- it says why you should publish

in the classroom, publishing alternatives (including broadsides, digital poetry, a website

showcase, interactive eBooks, and blogs), and creating a classroom publishing center. It says that

publishing in the classroom can boost student confidence by incredible amounts and foster a

further connection among reading, writing, and publishing. Students will take pride in their work

and feel confident they can do it again. The publishing alternatives offer new and different ways

to create these same feelings and connections without having to publish a real story. It also says

that you create a classroom publishing center by equipping your students with the tools and

information they need to be able to publish the stories themselves. Chapter seven gives you a

step-by-step for book publishing. The steps are: select the poems, produce the final manuscript,

choose a title, publish the book, and lastly explore print options. It also has a section for

celebrating your authors and giving students a voice. It lays out teams that you should assign in

order to make this process happen (team one is editorial, team two proofreads, team three does

production, team four does marketing, and team five controls design).

The appendixes are full of resources you can use: teacher resources, poetry form

mini-lessons, book publishing resources, and the last appendix is just the references. These have

information ranging from actual worksheets to be filled out to defined vocabulary terms. In the

publishing appendix, it has what the final copy of the book should look like along with certain

things each team needs to know in order to carry out their jobs (proofreading terms, setup

inspiration, etc.). The references appendix has other important contributors as well as a list of

other books that can be accessed to learn more.

 I really enjoy this book. I missed my reading response last week, so this was my first

experience with this text. I really love it! It is so entertaining while still being packed full of

information. It almost reads like a fiction story. Choosing just a few things to write here is nearly

impossible for me because I easily see myself using every piece of information that I read. In

chapter 6 it talks about why you should make publishing a priority. This was one of my biggest

takeaways. I know that as a student I would have absolutely loved this! We did something a little

similar but we never actually had a published book. This is something I will absolutely do for my

future students. I even loved the part where he talked about allowing the students to sign the

copies like real famous authors. This is definitely an opportunity that students will remember

forever. The next piece of information I will use was from chapter 7. In this chapter it laid out

how you should utilize teams and what each team should do. This information was backed up in

the appendix. This is super helpful, especially for my first year of teaching. This is something I

can see myself copying directly and using as a guide. I loved the distribution of the work and I

think students would love to be a part of any team. I also like how it could play into multiple

intelligences: some students can read and correct, some students can make connections and

market (people skills), and some students can even work on cover design and page structure.

That is so awesome. Finally, I loved the mini-lessons in appendix B. I especially loved the

worksheets about color poems and “I am” poems. These, again, are things that I can see myself

copying directly and using in my first classroom. They were super informative and great, I would

be excited to introduce students to them!

Overall this reading was my favorite one yet. I learned so much and am going to

practically commit everything to memory! It was filled with useful information and I feel lucky

that I have this resource for the rest of my teaching career.

 Works Cited

Alexander, Kwame. “Part 2 and the Appendixes.” The Write Thing:

Kwame Alexander Engages Students in Writing Workshop (and You Can Too!), 1st ed.,

Shell Education, Huntington Beach, CA, 2019, pp. 95–116, 136–208.