A novel in 30 days?

Sixth grade students at Liberty Park Middle School had an opportunity to participate in the National Novel Writing Month Young Writers program. Offered every November, this is the world’s largest youth writing event. Interested students set a word count goal that would help them draft a novel in 30 days. This enrichment activity helped students learn how to create characters, design plots, define conflicts between protagonists and antagonists and write dialogue.

Led by sixth grade teacher Linda Rummell, students received assignments, shared ideas and asked questions through the use of Edmodo. Edmodo is a secure social learning network that allows teachers to collaborate and connect with students who have join the classroom group.

By participating in this activity, students also had access to pep-talks, posted on Edmodo, from well-known young adult authors. Some of these authors included Scott Westerfield, author of the Uglies; Marissa Meyer, author of Cinder; Kate Dicamillo, author of Tale of Despereaux and Because of Winn Dixie; Lois Lowry, author of Number the Stars and The Giver, as well as many others.