Publish original stories and photos inspired by this award-winning photograph!

[Publishing Voice]

Each year, the WritingFix website sponsors a Digital Photo Contest for students and teachers worldwide.  The goal is for students (and teachers) to share original digital  pictures that would inspire their classmates to want to write the "story behind a picture."

Click here to access
WritingFix's Digital Photo Resource Page!

 

At right, you see the student-winning digital photograph from our 2011 contest.  It was taken by a high school student, Jennifer Acevedo, and sent in by her teacher, Mrs. Soto.  You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it.

 

If you use this photo in class as a writing prompt, and then have a student like what they're writing so much that they take their writing through the writing process, we want to see their published stories posted here!

Post no rough drafts...please.  We're looking for polished writing inspired by this photograph!  Final drafts of stories can be pasted or attached in the "Reply to This" box below.  If you do not see the "Reply to this" box below, it's a simple fix; look in the upper right-hand corner of this page for the "+Join Online Student Publishing" link and click on it.  That will allow you to
post a story or poem inspired by this photo.

 

Very Important:  Teachers, please only share your students' first name and grade level with us when you post the writing on their behalf.  Do not post last names or school names, or the posts will be deleted.

Twenty-five Teachers every semester will win a free classroom resource!  Each semester, we choose 25 new students to publish at our online lessons directly at the world-famous WritingFix website. To have your students' writing considered, it can be posted below in the box underneath  this posting.  In November and May, we will select the 25 students whose writing

impressed us the most, and if your student(s) is selected, you will be asked  to choose from any of the NNWP Print Publications (http://www.unr.edu/educ/nnwp/publications.html) for us
to send to your classroom.

 

Help us celebrate your writers.

 

--Corbett Harrison, WritingFix Webmaster

[James Dunnigan]

Poem Chains

By Colby 7^th Grade

 

 

The chain was still there

Right after the dare

Who knew what could come

Hurting that bum

Now all of the sounds

Bring all of the frowns

The tears, the cries

Make all of them hide

They still remember the night

That brought all of the fight

And all of their lives down

[James Dunnigan]

A Hanging Chain Haiku

By: Jonathan, a 7^th Grader

 

A chain, out of place

Broken, suspended, in mid-air

Waiting for its proper place

[James Dunnigan]

Chain on a Fence

By Adam, a Seventh Grader

 

A plane flew over the city

A chain fell, what a pity

The chain landed on a fence

And has not been moved since

[James Dunnigan]

Leann—a seventh grader

 

There’s something broken,

maybe not a heart but a chain broken apart,

a hook at the end, a curve and a bend.

It will sometime have to end but never descend;

that chain on that fence has never made sense;

it has a reason to lie in the seasons,

day by day,

maybe in the month of May,

maybe a certain time of day,

that made that one guy lay that chain on a fence;

but to him it will always make sense.

 

[James Dunnigan]

The Death Chain

By: Gretchen    Grade: 7

 

 

The chain still hung by the oak tree and the horrific memory of that night snaked through my body like sugar rushing to your head.

 

The night still had the misty dew hanging over the maple trees and Emma, Jake, Taylor and I were all drunk, celebrating New Year’s Eve. We were crammed in the backseat of Jake’s Corolla that reeked of tobacco and slightly of sweat and Coke. Taylor was the most drunk of all of us and the worst part was-- he was driving. We all held bottles of Bud Light and were blasting Eminem’s song, “Not Afraid” through the car’s stereo speakers.

 

Even thought we were underage, we pulled into Snakedog’s Bar and piled in through the graffiti stained doors. It took us half of the night to realize that Taylor was gone. Not in the bathroom. Not in the bar, or the car. Emma burst out of the bar, petrified that Taylor was gone. We trailed after her, leaving the waitress to yell and fuss at us for not paying the bill. When we got out to the parking lot, all we saw was the glittery stars poking out from underneath of the night sky and the trees, lining the sidewalk. Everything was fine until we squinted…

 

Taylor was hanging by a chain knotted around an oak tree branch. His body was limp and lifeless, he hung from the loop of chain around his neck. Dead.  Emma let out a blood-curdling scream, we tried to run- but it was too late. Four police cars were driving into the parking lot and one cop was stringing yellow – Do Not Cross- tape around the tree. The blinding lights flashed from the tops of the police cars.

 

That night we were arrested and charged with drunk driving, our punishment was four years in jail. And that’s where I am now. Jail.  And as for the chain, well, it’s still there. Hanging.

[Sam Hellberg]

Untitled, by Alexis, 5th grade

I reached out my hand.

The birds flew away.

 They all flew away in a flock.

  They were pink like a heart.

   As they flew away I waved goodbye.

    I waved goodbye until they were out of sight.

     I ended up seeing the birds later that night.

      They were at my window lighting up the night sky.