NaNo YWP: Getting Students Excited About Writing

In addition to the main NaNoWriMo and Camp events each year, NaNoWriMo provides free creative writing resources to educators and young participants around the world through our Young Writers Program. Today, educator Amber Hummel shares the success story of her class:

The first time I discovered NaNoWriMo was through my sister. She heard about the program and told me about it. I loved to write as a kid and actually wrote a novel at 17.  We decided to participate in NaNoWriMo and have never looked back. I am now an 8 time winner between November and various Camps.

When I heard that there was a Young Writer’s Program I knew I had to implement it in my classroom. I had already been doing a Young Author project each year, but spending the month writing a novel and setting their own word count goal sounded like something my students would love. 

I base my curriculum on Chris Baty’s No Plot?, No Problem!. We use the steps outlined in that book to create our novels. The kids have the opportunity to write for an hour each day during November.

Last year my sister and I put on our very own Night of Writing Dangerously for my students, as well as an optional Saturday Write-In. The fact that almost 35 kids are willing to come to school on a weekend and spend hours writing has been really exciting! We get a higher turnout each time.

My advice to educators who want to use the Young Writers Program in their classroom is to let the kids see that you’re excited about the program and do it with them. Also, all plots are fair game. Don’t put a limit on their stories or a box around their ideas. The impact I have seen is that kids who hated writing and struggle with a short summary are cranking out thousands of words easily. And they are excited to do it.

My name is Amber Hummel and I teach 4th, 5th, and 6th grade at Antioch Charter Academy in Antioch, California. I have been teaching for 12 years. I myself am a NaNoWriMo participant and have two books published through CreateSpace, one an intermediate book under the name A.M. Hummel.