I recently submitted an article to NCTE's (National Council of Teachers of English) journal for middle school teachers. (It was my first time to submit to them.) It was an article about doing NaNoWriMo with my students. The piece was not accepted, but look at the incredible feedback I got:
First, it's a little hard to know whose story this is. I think it may be really yours and the students'. To give it more depth, I think you need to provide more detail about some very important parts of the story. I would shorten up the beginning 3 paragraphs so you can get to the experience with your sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. I would also get more quickly to the NaNoWriMo unit. Making these revisions would give you more space to explore how you and the students learned about writing, the choices you made as writers, and what you and students learned about composing in a more detailed way. For example, I'm one of those people who had to look up the Tulsa riots to remind myself about the circumstances, and you addressed how reading about it or looking old newspapers gave you new ideas for not only your writing but also as a catalyst you shared with your students. And, I wondered about the students: Did your conversations with them provide new ways of thinking about their own writing? How? The sample comments from your students are a good start.
The experience with NaNoWriMo was intended to help students become more fluent and confident writers not so driven by form. That you shared the experience with them is a practice that has long been held as important to the teaching of writing. This challenge added a new twist, I think, to the concept in that it was not only daily but also focused on writing a significant amount every day. I'm not quite sure yet about the significance of what you learned about yourself as a writer or "how tightly-knit [your] community had become."
I'll end with a couple of last thoughts. You have a really pleasant writing voice. You hold yourself up to a writer's mirror and assess yourself with honesty and hope. What you need to do now is hone this story and make every word count--you don't have that many to use!
Reviewer #2: I think it would be powerful to start the article with what you were noticing in your classroom with your current students. Try beginning with paragraph 3 on page 1. Starting with your own Nano experience and then moving in to comparing your old and new school distracts from the point of this article: what happens when teachers write with their students. Focusing in on this experience from the beginning will strengthen your point. I found the first two paragraphs distracting and am not sure how they support the overall idea.
I'd also like more explicit reflection on how a teacher writing with students changed the experience for the students. I love that you used student voices. The quotes are powerful. But now expand on those. If I, or any teacher, am going to try this out in my own room I need to know why I should. In the abstract you ask how writing with students might impact the teacher...but I'm wondering if you might talk more about how it impacts students.
The article as a whole is mostly narrative. I would encourage you to weave in some research on teachers as writers. More reflection and more explicit explanation about how each interaction with a student caused a change in his/her thinking about writing might be another thing to try. You talk about moving around the room, sitting by different writers, and give snippets of conversations you had. How did that kind of teaching, as opposed to not writing with them, change the students view/understanding of writing?
Wow! Of course, I'm disappointed they didn't fall in love with it and snap it up. However, I am so appreciative of the feedback. Maybe I'll get closer to an acceptance the next time I submit to them.
And now, onto this week's book blurb :
Look at the photo below. That is the cover of your book. You choose the genre. An informational book on historic neon signs? A crime story about gamblers in a flashy desert city? You decide.
Write an enticing blurb--150 words or less. (The title doesn't count in the word count.) Blurbs are those enticing bits that prod you into buying the book. Sometimes they're on the back cover of the book. Sometimes they're on the inside front cover. What they always try to do is lure you into purchasing the book.
Lisa Ricard Claro was the original creator of this writing challenge. However, she's been busy for the last few years. She's gotten published a three-novel series, and currently, is taking over the Korean children's book market. Watch out! She has sharp elbows and even sharper ideas. If you get in her way when she's on a writing roll (or if she step in her path when she's on her way to see the movie Beauty and the Beast) she might just jab you with those deadly elbows.
Include your blurb in a blog post. Include a link to this post. Also, link your post to Mr. Linky. Mr. Linky is easy. If you've never done it, you'll be impressed with how simple he is. And then, check out the other blurb(s). It's interesting to see the different directions writers take, given the same photo.
Here's the book cover, along with my blurb:
photo by pixabay |
Elvis Presley’s alive. He’s not a hunka-hunka burnin’ love anymore but he does eat hunks of bread, deep-fried and still burnin’ hot. He might choose to wear :blue suede shoes but why bother? He can’t see his feet these days. And when he dances in his own kitchen, alone, his belly jiggles so much, it resembles a milk shake that’s getting all shook up in the blender.
When he goes shopping (which he does rarely), people have a little less conversation and make a lot more snide remarks. Don’t be cruel, he insists inside his head… but he never says it out loud.
He doesn’t live out loud, either. Elvis is forced to wear disguises and live like a recluse.
Presley decides enough is enough. He’s 82 now, people were fooled into thinking he died almost forty years ago, so it’s time to reveal the truth…
… in Las Vegas. (150 words)
And here is next week's photo, if you would like to let your ideas percolate:
And here is next week's photo, if you would like to let your ideas percolate:
photo by pixabay |
Wow,such detailed observations...so helpful...know that not all editors can do this, but wouldn't it be helpful if they did? I hope you go back to work and resubmit it again!
ReplyDeleteClaudia--I completely agree. I wish they all could do this.
DeleteThat's some great advice you were given. I guess Even Steven is making sure you get payback for your previous good deeds!
ReplyDeleteElvis should just call the tabloids, and tell his story in his own songs--I mean WORDS! Elvis, they'll probably pay you some good money, honey!
Val--You are ASSuming I do good deeds...
DeleteThat kind of feedback is golden--a blueprint for an article. What a great rejection, Sioux!
ReplyDeleteCathy--Yes, it's the best rejection I've ever gotten.
DeleteSioux,
ReplyDeleteI admire you as a writer and as a teacher who is passionate about teaching and writing. Getting rejected is disappointing, but, oh, my, what a gift of feedback you received. With your tenacity, I have no doubts you will receive an acceptance.
You rock!
Donna--Thanks. And right back at you, Donna (rock-wise). I admire YOU because of your strength, your humbleness and your writing skills.
DeleteGreat feedback, as all have said. Nothing like a peer-reviewed answer to help us see what others see. When I took "Writing Across the Curriculum"--I taught general music, gifted ed and choir--I used writing quite a bit. Definitely redo your article and send out again. I enjoy your blogs a lot.
ReplyDeletePatricia--I bow down to you. Weaving writing into some classes, such as science, social studies, art--would be easier (I imagine) than infusing it into music classes. (And thanks. I enjoy having this digital conversation with people all over the world.)
DeleteEven though your piece wasn't accepted, it was good enough that time was taken to offer all that feedback. I hope you'll revise the piece accordingly and then submit elsewhere. The next time may be a yes!
ReplyDeleteLisa--I will certainly revise it... and then look for another home for it. That wonderful feedback shouldn't be wasted, in my opinion.
DeleteFirst off, CONGRATULATIONS!I have never received such a thorough commentary about a submission. Obviously your work resonated. Was this the Ferguson piece? I agree, you have a wonderful writing voice and draw the reader in. Revise and resubmit or send elsewhere. That was a gift.
ReplyDeleteAnd your Elvis blurb made me laugh out loud, because, well, I'll tell you later.
To me, this simply underlines the fact that different publications are looking for different things. Your story, I have no doubt, is wonderful. The feedback (awesome they give such a thorough critique) is simply guiding you in shaping it to what this particular journal wants. Kudos to you for stepping out of your comfort zone and submitting!
ReplyDeletePat
www.patwahler.com
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