A Stage 2 student from our school will be published in the “Penrith City Star” newspaper next week: with a book review of the picture book, “The Terrible Plop” by Ursula Dubosarsky & Andrew Joyner! The student gets his photograph and book review published in the newspaper (and we put the review on our school library wiki). The newspaper uploades all six reviews to their website. Another student in the six is drawn from a barrel to win a $25 book voucher from a local bookshop (Dymocks this year). That student is also photographed with his certificate.
I coordinate the reviews each year as part of my fifth day (I’m a 0.8 teacher-librarian), as a 0.2 Priority Schools Funding literacy support teacher. The Penrith Star Readers Program was developed with the DET and local principals as an annual event, rotated amongst various primary schools, modeled on a similar program in St Marys – and it gives K-6 students a great opportunity to be professionally published.
“Professionally published” in that the students don’t get paid (except the one who gets the book voucher), but only two of the six get into the print edition with their piccies – but all six get published online.
But the hardcopy newspaper is handy to wave around in people’s noses and scream, “I’ve been published!” and it sits in racks outside of local businesses for a few days. A computer printout of a webpage is never quite the same.