Taunton Press Volunteers Help HOM Students Produce Literary Magazine

By Eliza Hallabeck

Taunton Press art designer Teresa Fernandes and Fine Homebuilding managing editor Debra Silber addressed Head O’ Meadow fourth grade students on Monday, May 3, when the two volunteers helped students kick off the third year of the collaborative effort between the school and the publishing company.

“We’re going to help you,” said Ms Silber, “because we make magazines all the time.”

In past years the effort to help students understand the process of publishing written work has focused on nonfiction writing, but this year the students will be submitting fictional stories to be pulled together for a literary magazine with the help of Ms Fernandes and Ms Silber.  

Writing fiction, as Ms Silber told the fourth graders assembled in one classroom for the presentation, begins with thinking.

“Before you write,” Ms Silber said, “you want to think. You want to wait for that inspiration to come.”

Once the students have found the inspiration for their writing assignments, Ms Silber said the next steps are to decide on the format that will best suit the writing and following the rules of grammar and punctuation. Once those are finished, students will enter the editing process.

“Then you bask in the glory of being a good writer,” said Ms Silber, as a presentation went slide to slide demonstrating the concepts behind her, “and everyone claps. And everyone loves you.”

Ms Silber went through things the students should keep in mind when writing their stories, like using descriptive language and knowing how to keep a reader interested.

“No one is ever perfect the first time,” said Ms Silber, “not even professional writers. Nobody.”

After Ms Silber spoke, Ms Fernandes explained to students that pictures and illustrations that accompany stories make people want to read a story.

She also explained and shared different techniques students may use to illustrate their stories, such as scribbles, clay creations, cartoons, paint, and more.

“Illustrations can capture the mood of your story,” said Ms Fernandes.

Fourth grade teacher Pat Kurz reminded students their work should be high quality, because it will be printed in a literary magazine.

Once students have finished writing their stories and creating their illustrations, they will be taking a trip to Taunton Press to work with Ms Fernandes, Ms Silber, and Taunton art assistant Kat Riehle to create the literary magazine.

Except for the cost of transportation, the program is completely free to the school due to the volunteer efforts from Taunton Press.

Like the past two issues of the literary work created by Head O’ Meadow students and Taunton Press, the magazine will be called Hawk Talk, according to Ms Kurz.