Writer Pack L.E. (Library Edition)

Librarians and teachers: The Writer Pack Library Edition for teens is a powerful addition to library teen centers, middle school Language Arts and high school English classrooms, and teen writing programs.

 

 

The Writer Pack L.E. was created in response to the call for libraries across the country to find ways to interest teens in library offerings and develop programming that addresses the unique needs of this particular audience. Depending on time availability and degree of interest, teens can use the Writer Pack L.E. on three different levels: (1) individually, (2) interactively, and (3) meta-actively (on a critical thinking level). Use of the Writer Pack L.E. is not time- or place-specific: in other words, users don't all need to be in the same place at the same time in order to use it interactively. What's more, the Writer Pack L.E. is designed to encourage a progression of use, eliciting more interactive participation over time as a user's comfort level increases. For all of these reasons, Sharon Snyder, the Youth Librarian at the Bainbridge Island Public Library in Washington State, calls the Writer Pack L.E. "quintessential teen programming."

 

 

Each -exclusive Writer Pack Library Edition comes in an elegant book-size case and contains a lined, 100-page, spiral-bound journal and pen; a Ways to Use the Writer Pack L.E. card; a Writer Pack L.E. Rules card; a set of photographs to use as writing prompts; and a set of triCards created by two award-winning, published writers and educators offering invaluable tools, resources, and inspiration for the young writer: websites, places to publish, writing programs, quotes about writing, writers' wisdom, writing activity ideas, practical writing advice, and more.

 

 

The set of photographs and the set of triCards are each clipped together to facilitate the librarian's check-in of returned materials.

 

 

Teen writers are encouraged to contribute writing to the journal, responding to the triCards, the photo prompts, or one another's work; to engage with each other in the carefully moderated Writer Pack online group; to form a living Writer Pack by meeting in person in the library teen center or classroom writing area; to add additional prompt materials or writing quotes to the Pack; and to develop new interactive uses of the Pack. A Rules Card attached to the inside of the Writer Pack journal helps librarians and writing teachers keep control over the Writer Pack's use without inhibiting creativity, and it encourages users to take responsibility for their use of the Pack. When the journal and/or the Writer Pack case are full of entries and other contributions, their contents should be archived in a manila envelope and made available to teen library patrons. Replacement journals with pens and new Rules Card stickers are available at a discount for the life of the product.

 

 

Users of the Writer Pack L.E. are invited to join the online Yahoo Writer Pack, a discussion group for teens about writing as art, which is carefully moderated by the creators of the Writer Pack. Users are also invited to subscribe to ProgressiveKid's free electronic newsletter for teen writers, Goat.

 

 

Writer Pack L.E. contents:

• Polypropylene case (8.75" x 5.75" x .75")
• 100-page, lined, spiral-bound journal
• pen
• Ways to Use the Writer Pack L.E. Card
• Writer Pack L.E. Rules Card
• Writer Pack L.E. Journal Cover Sticker
• set of writing-prompt photographs clipped together
• set of triCards (tools/resources/inspiration) clipped together
• a life-of-the-product discount on replacement journals with pens and Rules Cards