Does anyone remember the days in elementary school when it was "make your own book" day? Clearly a win with most students as it touches upon creativity, gives them something to bring home and show grandma and lets them have a little fun too. In our schools growing up when this activity was done we always laminated and bound our "books" together, which made them last for years and years. It was also great fun to look back years later and wonder what in the name of god I was thinking when I wrote the book, but that's a different topic altogether.
Despite this exercise being a popular favourite with elementary school teachers, the practice seems to drop off in high school, which is a little bit puzzling. No doubt fuelled by the lack of crayons and construction paper in most high schools, I also think the whole process is a little "kiddish" for the high school masses (although, they'd probably have fun doing it) what's really interesting though is there's no lack of students interested in creative writing in high school, yet the works they produce, many of which are extremely high quality are just printed and stored in a three ring binder.
LuLu is a service that can offer students the ability to see their work in print, experience publishing and even get an ISBN number if they like. The article referenced talks at length about academic credibility (bla bla bla) and that's a fair point, but I think offering an older student the chance to see their work in print is something that is super cool and could easily be a real win with students interested in creative writing.
If my supervisors ever take leave of their senses and get me to teach an English course, this may just end up being one of the assignments
Article source: http://www.educause.edu/library/resources/7-things-you-should-know-about-lulu
I loved turning my stories into books when I was in Elementary school. During my days it was called the "Publishing Center". A group of Mom's would type our stories out on the typewriter and bind them. If you were lucky they would even laminate your cover! Thanks for sharing LuLu, I'll have to check it out.
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