Celebrate the Student Author of the Week

Student writing mentors are great!

Want a great way to motivate your writers?  Try having a student "Author of the Week." This little addition to our classroom routine is having quite a positive impact on the students.

Each week, while conferring with the students, I look for one piece to highlight in the classroom.  I try to find a specific "craft move" or practice that I can share from the piece.  In this way, the student writer becomes a mentor for others.

Whoever is chosen as the "Author of the Week" not only gets to have their piece hung up in the classroom for the week (I make a copy so the student still has the original), but they also win some fabulous prizes.

The author of the week gets a blank book (usually one from the Target dollar section) to use in any way they choose.  They also get a brag tag that says "Awesome Author."

Here are a few pics from some of my colleagues that also do a similar thing.

Another fabulous writer...

This teacher actually has a spotlight shining on the poster!

This teacher makes color copies to show.

Thanks for visiting!  Please share your thoughts and ideas with me!  Do you have student mentors in your class?  How do you showcase student writing?