Writing Together, at Home and Online

Sparks and inspiration from 826: Our good colleagues at 826, the national network of youth spaces and mentors for writing, publishing, and unleashing creativity, have an online resource collection at 826 Digital. In this recent newsletter, they point to some of their resources that might be especially helpful for youth and families while schools are closed.

NaNoWriMo’s Young Writers Program open for business: Anyone can write or set up a classroom as part of National Novel Writing Month’s (NaNoWriMo) Young Writers Program. Their curricular materials are open as well and could help a budding novelist get started during this school break.

American Creed as Part of a National Conversation: The American Creed website, part of NWP’s Writing Our Future youth publishing sites, is still up and provides a place for young people to publish responses to the PBS Film, American Creed. The film is still streaming from PBS and is accessible from the site, along with various teaching resources.

Youth Voices for Connected Learning: Youth Voices,  the youth-powered publishing platform started by teachers from local NWP sites, is a platform where youth write about their interests, both in school and outside of school. Teachers can work alongside youth while connecting with colleagues to support each other across contexts. Interested teachers should contact Paul Allison from the New York City Writing Project at allisonpr@gmail.com.

Make Media With Student Reporting Labs PBS NewsHour: Student reporting labs provides curricula, tips, and techniques for young people Making Sense of Coronavirus Through Media & Storytelling.

Take a journey Out of Eden: Out of Eden Learn offers “learning journeys” designed to combine offline activities with online interaction that invites young people to observe the world carefully, exchange stories and perspectives, and make connections between their own lives and bigger human stories. It is a free online program for students aged 3-19 run by Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Storium makes writing a game: Storium, the online creative writing game, lets writers play their way to a collaborative story. Prompts and role-playing help keep the experience going, but the key is the social experience of playful writing. Storium has an educational version, but anyone can play the game version for free.