Connecting Text

This chapter discusses the act of connecting text. The benefit of a connected text is not as simple as merely 'having an audience'. The act of choice in sending something out into the world, under one's own name, and of one's own creation is a singularly autonomous act. This assertion of self is not uncommon for students in a school classroom, in fact it is an important part of what makes the school such a real and authentic place for students and teachers alike, but the formalisation of this in text is unique. The affordances of this self-assertion are often immediately clear. The text, which frequently represents the most tangible product of the classroom experience for students, extends their voice. The value they place on it is reinforced by the fact that they have the power to publish the text to the world.