Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1017146
In this year's e-book, stu d e n t s p o u r th e i r t h o u g h t s , e m o t i o n s a n d humor into poems on a vari- ety of topics including love, family and friendship. In a reflection of the times, many poems focus on the political climate, social justice issues, and the need to prevent gun violence in schools. Published through Smash- w o rd s , a L o s G a t o s - b a s e d company that is the world's l a r g e s t d i s t r i b u t o r o f i n d e p e n d e n t e-books, the publication is available for purchase through Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Amazon, and Kobo. " The best thing is that Smashwords is free for any teacher," says McQ uad e. "Al l y ou have to do is go to their website and find guide words to get you started . Within a week you can have your book available for the public." e students are more than just poets and artists. They sp e n d s e v e ra l w e e k s e d i t - ing, designing, creating and marketing their own product to gain inside knowledge about book publishing, under the guidance of their teacher. The students work together in Author, Author! Students discover rhyme and reason through published e-books By Sherry Posnick-Goodwin Tonya McQuade, far left, with some of the students who worked on this year's e-book. Los Gatos High School students at the party celebrating the e-book's publication. onya McQuade's students at Los Gatos High School are just freshmen, but they are published authors who can express their thoughts and feelings in deeply moving ways. He r E n g li s h 9 h o n o r s c l a ss e s recently released their fifth annual poetry e-book, Voices from the Poet- Sea, with nearly 200 poems from eight classes, embellished with student art- work. Classes taught by Kathleen Wehr and Zachary Davison-Wilson also con- tributed poems for the project. "I want to give students an opportunity to share their voices with a much larger audience," says McQuade, a member of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District Teachers Association. "Poetry is a powerful way for students to express themselves emotionally and show their parents and the community how thoughtful they can be. I love seeing them shine in a new light." T 52 cta.org Zachary Davison-Wilson Teaching & Learning