Teaching The Hudson Valley

Share student writing on place: Get it published, win a field trip

Posted by Debi Duke
on October 11, 2011

Everybody writes!

To explore, kvetch, understand, worry, discover, make peace, be crazy, and stay sane

We write lists, poems, e-mails, journals, texts, blogs, rants, stories, and essays using laptops, paper and pen, and smart phones.

To celebrate the National Day on Writing, THV invites student writing about places in the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. Any place open to the public and significant to the student is eligible. Read on for details, prizes, and writing prompts.

During the next 12 months THV's blog will publish samples of the student work received.

In addition, three students – one each elementary, middle, and high school – will receive an Explore Award covering trip costs so they can share the place they wrote about with their classmates.

The National Day on Writing aims to celebrate and encourage our desire to write.

This year it will be officially observed Thursday, October 20, but the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Writing Project, and Figment.com are already sharing resources and writing. Soon, the New York Times Learning Network and Edutopia will join them with on-line interviews, blogs, and teaching ideas.

What to share

THV is looking for writing about places in the 11-county Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. All writing about place will be considered for publication. To be eligible for an Explore Award places should have cultural, historic, or natural significance, be owned or managed by a not-for-profit or government body, and be open to the public regularly.

Appropriate sites include but are not limited to archives, art galleries, parks, libraries, museums, nature preserves, and other historic or heritage sites.

Readers will look for evocation of place, the vivacity of the writer's voice, and use of conventions appropriate to each student's age and development.

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Feel free to use your own prompts or try, "Tell us about a nearby place, such as a park, museum, house, garden, etc., that . . .

• You want to protect, improve, or keep from changing.
• Makes you feel, e.g., happy/thoughtful/peaceful, etc.
• You’d like to take us to.
• Makes history come alive for you.
• Inspires you.
• You’d like to work at as a guide, interpreter, gardener, curator, etc.
• Changed you. (You may need to give examples, e.g., made you decide not to litter, caused you to look something up or read book, made you want to be a scientist/historian etc.)

How and when to share

Short (up to 500 words) essays or stories written by K-12 students during October 2011 will be accepted. All work should include student’s name and age or grade. If the student wants to be considered for an Explore Award, we will also need the name and e-mail address of the teacher or youth group leader. E-mail this identifying information with writing attached as a Word document or PDF to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Teachers and group leaders may send one attachment with multiple essays as long as the author of each piece is clearly identified within the document.

All writing must be received by 9 a.m., Monday, November 7.

Publication

Beginning in December THV's blog will publish up to one student essay per week for the next 12 months. We will also share student work with the sites written about; they may choose to publish as well. If your school requires publication releases for student work and you do NOT have them for the submitted work, please tell us and indicate whether we should contact you or someone else to arrange for a release should we decide to publish work from one or more of your students.

Readers

Student work will be read by THV’s coordinator, who holds a BA in English language and lit from the University of Michigan, as well as representatives of the NYS DEC’s Hudson River Estuary Program, the Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites, and the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. We will also select a small number of teachers and site staff to read the work. If you are interested in being a reader, please e-mail Debi Duke.

Explore Awards

Any teacher or youth group leader may apply for an Explore Award at any time.

THV has reserved three grants – one each for an ES, MS, and HS student – for those participating in the National Day on Writing. Awards will cover transportation and/or admission costs for visiting the site written about by the selected students. The school AND the place to be visited must be in the 11-county Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area.

Teachers of the students who receive Explore Awards will need to obtain trip permission from the building principal, complete a short version of the Explore Award application form, make arrangements for the trip and, and submit valid receipts or invoices.

For additional information, please This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Debi Duke or phone 845-229-9116, ext. 2035.

Top photo by Julie Cash, Kingston City Schools.
Photo of Rondout Valley students visiting the fireboat John J. Harvey by Bill Urbin, Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Sites.

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