First-grade teacher shows how kids can learn and give back

By Lauren Grasso

Amy McLaren was always looking for something that could combine teaching in the classroom, language, and helping others, but would also be something that would excite kids.

On a late November night about two years ago in Ontario, Canada, the first–grade teacher with the Grand Erie District School Board came up with an idea: Kids are going to write books and sell them.

This idea is the basis for McLaren’s Write to Give program.

She decided it would be fun if one classroom could write the beginning of a story, the next write the problem, another write the solution, and so on. It began with just her and a few friends that she recruited who were also teachers. They each had their classrooms write a part of the book and then e-mailed the next person in the chain to add to the story.

Once the story was completed, McLaren found a printing press, made order forms, and sent letters home to the parents. The first book published was called Sir Blur and the Giant Dragon, and it sold more than 150 copies.

From there, the project grew. More and more teachers wanted to become involved, so McLaren was fortunate that her husband’s company could develop software that allowed everything to be done on the Internet instead of through e-mail. Now, it is easy for any teacher in any part of the world to get involved. All they have to do is go to the Write to Give website at www.writetogive.com, pick the book they want to work on, sign up, and start writing with their classes.

Teachers get a login and password that gives them access to instructions and resources. “Being a teacher myself, I know how busy they are, so we want to make it as easy as possible for teachers to get their classrooms involved,” says McLaren.

Write to Give is only a part of McLaren’s efforts to further education. All the proceeds from the program go directly to her organization, World Teacher Aid (www.worldteacheraid.org), which is committed to improving education in the developing world. McLaren founded World Teacher Aid a few years back as a result of her “love of traveling to off the beaten track destinations and helping others.” She travels to Africa once a year and has contacts there in order to monitor the activities of the organization.

Currently, World Teacher Aid is sponsoring two projects—one in Uganda providing funding for teachers’ salaries and one in Kenya building a school that is set to open in January 2011. McLaren has won awards for the Write to Give program from the Grand Erie District School Board and from the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario.

To date, 21 books have been published (selling more than 100 copies of each) and over $10,000 has been raised. Some titles include The “How To” Book for the Holidays, Countries Around the World, The Coconut Monster, and Halloween Trouble.

McLaren’s goals for the future of the program include promoting it more, getting every school in her district involved, expanding to new provinces in Canada, getting more exposure in the United States, and doubling the number of books published each year. The ultimate goal, however, is to get these books on a shelf in bookstores.

In the meantime, Write to Give continues to grow, having recently partnered with Scholastic Canada. Together they plan to relaunch the program in January 2011, McLaren reports.

Lauren Grasso, a senior at the University of Delaware, serves as an editorial intern for Reading Today.

Giving through writing (December 2010/January 2011). Reading Today, 28(3), 28.