Linda Kolling Pedersen Skanderborg, Denmark

School: Veng Fællesskole Subject: Danish

Students: grade 3–4, aged 10 years old

Students with spelling and writing problems were given an assignment to write and publish a book for beginner readers. They had to create the story, find pictures and publish the book. Students then presented their work to younger pupils at the elementary stage of the reading process. According to Kolling Pedersen, the younger students liked the books so much they asked for more and suggested topics to the ”authors”. “The beginner readers were really motivated by the authors, giving the work a double spellbinding effect for both the writers and the readers,” Pedersen says. “It was a project where joy, motivation and curiosity made a difference for the pupils by helping to improve their self esteem. Suddenly there was something they could do and they were thinking of themselves as writers.”