Write-A-Book project 2019
Pupils, parents, and teachers gathered together for an inspirational evening on Tuesday 28th May at the Garage Theatre to celebrate Monaghan’s young authors. The following week, teachers from Cavan were invited to attend a similar event at the Cavan Crystal Hotel to celebrate the success of the Cavan pupils in this long-standing literacy project.
Every year, Monaghan Education Centre runs a literacy project for Primary school pupils, and teachers support their pupils through the writing process, to enable each child to produce their own book. Since January, pupils and teachers across the county have been working hard to develop, hone, and polish their stories into a well-considered finished book. The evening celebrated the success of the 120 pupils who had been awarded Merit prizes (first place in their class group) and was led by David McCague, the director of Monaghan Education Centre, Wendy Flood, project Co-ordinator and the guest speaker for the evening, local author Colm McElwain. David spoke of the importance of determination and hard work with the support of parents and teachers being fundamental to the nurturing of the childs’ potential, and Colm McElwain shared his tips on how to develop as a writer. The first tip was to read a lot, and the second was to write a lot. To these young authors, Colm mentioned the importance of entertaining the reader, educating them, and elevating them, so that the reader felt inspired or enriched by the reading experience.
In all, 33 schools entered the project, with 90 winners in Cavan, and 103 in Monaghan. All pupils at the evening received a certificate and medal to celebrate their success, and back at the schools the runners up received medals and certificates. All pupils who entered the competition, by writing their own book, also received a certificate of commendation for their work.
Writing books is no mean feat, and would not be possible without the dedication of the Class teachers who supported their students in the writing process, and assisted with judging the final products. Therefore, huge thanks must go to all the teachers who encouraged their pupils to undertake this inspirational project, and to all the staff at the Education Centre who worked tirelessly behind the scenes with admin, providing information to schools and sharing the load on the Presentation Evenings. Thank you Mary Savage, Mary McQuaid, Ann-Marie Woods and Carmel McKenna.
Congratulations to all the authors on your hard work and efforts, and keep writing, ready for another literacy project in 2020!
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Monaghan Education Centre is pleased to announce details of this year’s literacy project:
Write A Book 2019. This will follow similar lines to previous projects, with participating teachers marking books from other schools, and culminating in a presentation evening in May/June 2019.
Write a Book is a non-competitive project, encouraging children and teachers to develop the process writing approach in their classes. It also involves taking a critical look at books, and imaginative use of art. It is age-appropriate for pupils from Junior Infants to 6th Class, accounting for all ability levels.
Features of the Write a Book project include:
- Planning, drafting, editing, writing and illustrating a book on a topic of choice.
- Each child will receive a certificate acknowledging his/her achievement in producing a book. At least one child from every class participating will be awarded a Merit Award at a special Presentation Evening. Two/Three children from each class will have their work highly commended.
- Merit Awards will be presented to approximately one child in every 10 who attend Learning Support or Resource lessons.
- In Infant classes, children may work on a short picture book with less text, focusing on topics familiar to them.
- The teacher undertaking Write a Book with his/her class will work on the project as part of the class’ English and Art programmes during this period. Work previously covered in class may be incorporated into the story, for example, a previously written story may be further developed, edited and written and illustrated as a new book. Fiction and non-fiction books are equally viable as original works in this project, as are texts completely as gaeilge.
- The teacher will certify that each child’s work is his/her own.
- At the end of the project, each teacher will accept one batch of books from another school. After reading the books, the teacher will award one merit and two/three highly commended awards (dependent on class size) to books they have read.
- Fee of €20 per teacher – maximum €60 per school, payable when registering.
Books should be entirely the children’s own work. Neat handwriting and artistic illustrations are encouraged. Write a Book does not encourage use of technology in the production of books. In some circumstances, technology may be necessary. If modern technology is used, the class teacher must assure the coordinator that this is the child’s own work.
For Consideration:
“Winning” books (Merit) should be of the best quality within the age-group being judged, with an emphasis on interesting storyline, chronology, good character descriptions and interactions. Well-considered illustrations, including an eye-catching cover should be clear features of the book’s design. All teachers should make their pupils aware of this prior to, and during the writing process, as attention to these points will be assessed during the marking process.
Please refer to the criteria listed below when writing with your class, and when assessing other class’ work to ensure consistency of marking within the project.
Infants to 2nd Class | 3rd Class to 6th Class |
Quality illustrations | Gripping cover and blurb |
Interesting story | Development of storyline |
Correct sentence structure | Use of more complex language and sentences |
Sequencing ideas and events | Grammatically sound writing including consistency of tenses, correct use of punctuation |
TIMEFRAME | |
February 13th 2019 | Register intent to participate in the project |
March 27th 2019 | Book swap day at Monaghan Education Centre 3:30 – 4:30pm prompt |
8-11th April
The week before Easter break 2019 |
All Books to be returned to Monaghan Education Centre, clearly marked as Merit/ Highly Commended/ Congratulations for participating before 5:00pm |
May/June 2019 | Presentation Evening |
Please note that because Easter falls late this year, all books are to be completely finished, marked, and returned to the Education Centre BEFORE the Easter break to facilitate a smooth transition to the Presentation Evening for winners.
Please complete and return the REGISTRATION FORM by 13thFebruary 2019 to Monaghan Education Centre, Knockaconny, Armagh Road, Monaghan or via email to info@metc.ie or fax 047 74010.
Write A Book Co-ordinator: Wendy Flood wendyflood25@gmail.com 087 947 1458