A Young Authors Program: One Model for Teacher and Student EmpowermentAuthor(s): Susan H. Harris-Sharples, D. Gail Kearns and Margery Staman MillerSource: The Reading Teacher, Vol. 42, No. 8, Empowerment through Literacy (Apr., 1989), pp.580-583Published by: Wiley on behalf of the International Reading AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20200237 .

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^^mm^^^l^^S^m Susan H. Harris-Sharpies _

D. Gail Kearns, Margery Staman Miller

A young authors

program: One model

for teacher and student

empowerment

This program encourages teachers to help students create original illustrated bound books.

What I liked best was making your own story and

being happy about it.

Grade 2 Young Author

I got to know what authors do with their books. I

would be ready to be a author if I wanted to.

Grade 3 Young Author

It set my imagination wild for stories!

Grade 5 Young Author

This conference provided an opportunity to talk with teachers from other school districts

? to

share ideas about children and writing.

Third grade teacher

I did not think that this program was going to generate that much in the district. We already had a good writing program going. But the excit

ing fact that there were certificates available and that it was a district wide program motivated

children that I never realized could be motivated

into writing a polished piece of writing.

Public school district coordinator

These success stories exist because of a

Young Authors Program that encour

aged teachers to help their students create a specific written product, an original illustrated bound book, and to participate in a

program that went beyond the walls of a single classroom or building. The Greater Boston

Reading Council, Massachusetts, a diverse

community of educators, excited by recent de

velopments in curriculum that integrate read

ing and writing, created a Young Authors Committee charged to develop a regional pro

ject for schools which would encourage the

development of the collaborative relationships needed for supporting literacy environments. The Young Authors Program was designed to create a wide audience where young authors

throughout the Boston area could share their

writing. Teachers as well as their students met this challenge and created meaningful prod ucts that could be read and enjoyed by others

outside their individual classrooms. Our vision was to engage children in a va

riety of literacy acts focusing on reading and

writing in a wholistic manner as intercon nected processes. To accomplish this, the pro gram had four goals. We sought to recognize and encourage children's outstanding writing

580 The Reading Teacher April 1989

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efforts. We also wanted to encourage and sup

port those classroom teachers who provide children with opportunities to participate in all

phases of the development of a piece of quality

writing. We hoped to encourage as many chil

dren and teachers in the regional area as possi ble to participate in our Young Authors

Program. Finally, we felt it was important to

create a special setting where children could

exchange and share their own published bound books, participate in the role of reader

and critic of one another's works, and together celebrate the experience of authorship.

Who was involved The Young Authors Program focused on

elementary students in grades 2, 3, 4, and 5.

School districts throughout the greater Boston

area were invited to participate. At our annual

fall reading conference, the committee pro

vided an introductory workshop where we dis

tributed a notebook of helpful hints and instructional suggestions. Throughout the fol

lowing months we supported teachers of par

ticipating districts with encouragement and

consultation. Within their individual classrooms and

schools 5,077 children selected their own top ics, created drafts which they revised, pol ished, and edited, and learned how to publish

and produce their own illustrated bound

books. The final products ranged from picture books with limited story lines to full chapter books. Topics included the colors of the rain

bow, remembering and reflecting on the death

of the teacher-astronaut, science fiction, ad

venture and animal stories, modern fairy tales, and even poetry connected by a story line. Specific titles included "Crayons for a

Rainy Day," "The Dog That Came by Magic," "An Armory in the Basement," "The Story on

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A young authors program: One model 581

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the Other Side of the Wall," and "Valerie and the Voopsies."

Many of the 18 participating districts, as well as individual schools and classrooms,

provided special recognition for their young authors. In one town an "Authors' Tea" was

planned by three 3rd grade classroom teach

ers. The children's parents were avid listeners

as the proud young authors read their finished books to small groups of adults and children.

In one urban setting students who had each

produced a bound book were invited to a "Book and Author" pizza luncheon with the

principal where they told about their books and discussed their experiences as authors. In

another urban setting, a man who had been a

bookbinder for a large public library came to

a school and gave a workshop on bookbinding for the children's parents and teachers. The

parent volunteers particularly enjoyed their

involvement since it enabled them to encour

age their children as writers. Finally in an

other large district with many participating schools, a book mobile cart was set up in each

building. This cart traveled to a different classroom each day, and during leisure time

reading children could select books to read

which other students in their school had writ

ten.

The Greater Boston Council acknowl

edged the work of each child and teacher by awarding specially designed Young Authors certificates. The council also sponsored a one

day conference at a centrally located college in recognition of the outstanding efforts of the

young authors. A representative author from

each grade level of each participating school

district was invited to attend, together with his

or her teacher.

The conference At the conference, children met in grade

level groups to read and respond to each oth

er's books. Many integrative literacy experi ences occurred. For example, after each

child-author in the 2nd grade group had read his or her book aloud, the other children re

sponded by choosing and holding up signs which indicated their emotional responses to

the book just heard. Signs exhibited read "ex

cited," "funny," "sad," "frightened," "inter

ested." The child critics then explained why each book had made them respond as they did. In another workshop 5th grade children were

read excerpts from Dear Mr. Henshaw, by

Beverly Cleary, a book in which the main character is writing to an author. The children

then wrote letters to each other as authors, re

sponding to and asking questions about each

other's books.

The children's evaluations of these experi ences from the conference indicated that the

day's activities had made them feel valued as

authors, especially when other people read

and responded to what they had written. Many of the young authors said they were going to

start writing their very next book as soon as

possible. Clearly, it was important for the children not only to be recognized and hon

ored at the conference as authors, but also to

be provided with an opportunity to share and

talk about their works with others outside

their own classrooms, schools and even dis

tricts. Our goal to encourage children as au

thors was realized through the special events

which recognized and encouraged these stu

dents within their own schools, as well as

through the one day Young Authors Confer ence.

Additionally, when their teachers came

together with educators from a variety of dis

tricts, they shared what they knew, found out

what others had learned about "real kids" and

writing development, and posed questions about the writing process and the Young Au

thors Program. The conference provided these

greater Boston area teachers an opportunity to

collaborate with one another and with college teacher educators as equals. The teachers

were recognized and honored for knowing their subject matter and their subjects well.

Their questions and comments were legiti mized in a meaningful forum of colleagues

brought together in support of children's au

thorship and publishing beyond their own classrooms or schools.

Unexpected outcome In evaluating our efforts, the Young Au

thors Committee realized that what had begun as a local reading organization's dream to sup

port literacy environments that promote the

process approach to teaching writing became a way to enhance the role of the teacher

as professional. When the teachers came

together in formal and informal sharing activities on the day of the Young Authors Conference, and when the teacher evaluation

582 The Reading Tfeacher April 1989

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forms were tabulated, an interesting finding

emerged. Teachers felt valued and empow ered; they considered themselves leaders in

their school districts! Therefore, this project had fostered an outcome well beyond what we

had anticipated in our focus on the students

and on their success as authors: namely we

had enabled teachers to achieve professional success and empowerment.

There are two aspects of the Young Au

thors Conference process which explain this

unexpected outcome for the teachers. First, most participation was voluntary. The teachers

who chose to implement this program were

willing to try an alternative approach to writ

ing, to tackle a more in depth project with

their students. They were willing to be risk

takers, to try something new with the promise of recognition and reward for their students, and to a lesser degree, for themselves. Sec

ond, through participation in the Young Au thors Program, teachers began to feel part of a

larger community of professional educators

devoted to the enhancement of literacy

through writing. The teachers' contact with other profes

sionals, such as librarians who arranged book

displays and catalogued the students' works, artists and published writers who shared their crafts with the children, and business people

who offered supplies and, in some cases, re

wards for the young authors, put these teach ers in the public eye as educational experts. Each of these contacts drew attention to both

the childrens' work and to the teacher's role in

that work. Participating practitioners felt a new respect from and sense of impact on their

respective communities. In many cases

teacher status within the school community was enhanced.

These teachers gained in self worth and

felt empowered because they had become part of a community supportive of writers. Their

expertise as teachers, coaches, critics, and fa

cilitators was enhanced and confirmed

through their students' works. They also

gained from the opportunity to reflect on their

actions as teachers throughout the process of

conferencing and revision with their students

and by engaging in dialogue with other educa tors (Burton, 1986). Furthermore, the teach ers were using an inquiry/researching stance on a practical level; they were putting theory into practice (Brause, 1985).

We have concluded from this project that when an educational experience is directed to

ward meaningful in depth products, students

and teachers at all levels tend to see their own

roles as more valued and more productive. When such energy occurs in schools, learning becomes more positive and schools become

places where it is exciting to spend one's time

and one's professional energy.

Harris-Sharpies is involved in training elementary classroom teachers and consulting teachers of

reading at Wheelock College, Boston, Massachu

setts; Kearns was chair of the Young Author's

Program and is currently working with World

Book's Partners in Excellence Program. Miller is

director of graduate reading programs at Lesley

College, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Specific

suggestions for conducting a Young Authors Pro

gram were provided by Judith Meagher, Univer

sity of Connecticut, Farmington, Connecticut, and

by June Fox, Lesley College, Cambridge, Massa

chusetts.

References

Brause, Rita S. "How Can I Get Teachers to Become In

quirers?" Paper presented at the National Council of Teachers of English annual meeting, Houston, TX, March 1985.

Burton, Frederick R. "Research Currents: A Teacher's

Conception of the Action Research Process." Lan

guage Arts, vol. 63 (November 1986), pp. 718-23.

A young authors program: One model 583

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