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Back to Writing for Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Writing for Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest by Commonwealth Education Trust

4.7
stars
1,253 ratings

About the Course

This course is for curious students and aspiring authors with a passion for writing for young readers. Participate in a dynamic online community of writers as you experiment with your own writing and develop your voice. This course will guide you with a combination of video lectures, online readings, peer reviews, and guest appearances from world-renowned children’s authors. As you work through the writing exercises, you will give and receive feedback from your peers and gain tools and techniques for improving your writing. During this course you will identify stories that matter to you, explore cultural significance and boundaries, and shape your identity as a writer; become familiar with standard elements of narrative (character, setting, plot, theme, language, dialogue, point of view); reflect on your own work and practice essential self-editing skills; see the different ways in which words and art interact, and the possibilities of longer narrative forms; come away with practical insights into publishing options; and create a plan for pursuing your enthusiasm for writing. By the end of the course, you will have ten to twelve extracts of writing that you can develop into a portfolio. Join a dynamic community of many voices from around the world. Find inspiration in your own voice, heart, and place so that you can tell the stories for young readers you’ve always wanted to tell....

Top reviews

DB

Feb 6, 2016

I am a beginner wantabee author and publisher, first steps are elementary, as I need. Self paced, life can get in the way. Instructors are wonderful, as are the guest speakers and interviewees Thanks.

SV

Aug 25, 2023

its one of the best courses I have completed. just wonderful..very precise, revelant subjects and topics and very good activities. thankyou coursera. it was like meditation to me doing this course.

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401 - 425 of 517 Reviews for Writing for Young Readers: Opening the Treasure Chest

By Victoria N

•

Mar 15, 2021

Overall the course was done very well. I was able to apply my learning each week by demonstrating a new set of skills through my writing. I liked how the learning platform operated from the prompts, the closed captioning, the ability to take notes, highlight and go back to where I left off in the course. The deadlines allowed me to stay accountable however I feel I could have stayed even more accountable with a course facilitator in real-time. I also am okay with peer reviews however I would have liked an subject matter expert reviewing my work. Overall, the course was very good!

By Ariana L

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Jun 29, 2018

I very much enjoyed this course! Lots of opportunites to write and learn about every area of writing and publishing. I wish there was more information on publishers/magazines. Most of the publishers that were listed do not accept unsolicited applications. Also, having more magazines listed would help people trying to publish shorter pieces than novels. It would have also been wonderful if we could have had at least one of our pieces reviewed by a professor. In general, I found peer reviews not very helpful. But overall, very satisfied with this course!

By Laura M

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Jul 11, 2022

Great introduction to writing for a younger audience. It touches on all the basics and is a spingboard for future, more in-depth courses. I find the system of peer review not always fulfilling. It was hard to review stories in a different language as you had to machine translate them, which leaves an awful lot to be desired. I also suspect some people use the course to improve their English, rather than their story writing.

I thoroughly enjoyed the course and it has set me on my path to become an author :)

By Christine K

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Sep 15, 2020

I enjoyed the course very much and learnt a lot. Unfortunately, there is no feedback from established authors or tutors about the writing assignments which would really have helped. The 1-500 word limit on assignments was misunderstood by some peers and I had to have an assignment re-marked because marks were taken off for being under 500 words.

The videos were not great. The content was good but the jumping camera angles and arm movements were distracting.

By Angélica V

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Apr 22, 2016

One of my favorites parts of all the course, was the interview with the playwright. The course is about guiding the participants, or those who want to start to write, with the most important and necessary advices. In addition, the profesor wants to make us understand that writting is more than just a profession: it's passion, and the most effective way of see that point is by hearing a writter who feels that way about litterature active and also pasive.

By Lizmer M

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May 20, 2020

I really enjoyed taking this course. I love to write but I was having a difficult time since the pandemic started. This course helped me forget a little about the situation that humankind is facing globally and gave me the opportunity to challenge myself to write in English, since I'm a native Spanish speaker/writer. Thanks Coursera for this gift! I would recommend this course to anyone that would like to be a writer.

Lizmer Montalvo Juliá

Puerto Rico

By Loretta F

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Feb 15, 2021

I had an engaging 5 weeks learning new skill sets and honing current skill sets as well. The instructors were pleasant and easy to understand, yet their professionalism was top notch. The interviews with other dedicated authors was extremely helpful. I enjoyed reading the peer reviews in each section and was able to gage my own progress with their submissions. The course helped me to start writing and that was my goal. Thank you!

By Aisling F

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Jan 30, 2017

This course is great so far - really helpful and specific - but I feel like there is an unnecessary amount of repetition of certain points. We were told "use your own experiences to fuel your stories" in 2 videos with David Hill, a reading assignment and then again in a video talking to another author. While I appreciate the "look, they say it too!" idea of backing up their ideas, I feel like this is overkill.

By Julia S

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Nov 18, 2015

Wonderful to see and hear so many different authors giving advice and being able to learn from them. The instructors were well spoken and neatly organized or an online audience. Definitely a treat for the unpublished and aspiring authors. New tips for old dogs and pups. You can have others review your writing style and format. The only problems you may run into might be the students submitting for review.

By Christine J

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Sep 20, 2015

This course is really meant for beginning writers for Young Readers. The information is good and at a pace that is easy to follow. If you are an advanced writer or have experience, it may not be as valuable for you. However, if you are just starting to look at becoming a professional, or have limited experience beyond writing for yourself, you will find this a very valuable learning experience.

By Joy G

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Jun 26, 2020

It was a very good class and the videos were very helpful in learning the craft of a beginning writer and their need to find the tools necessary to start a book. I liked the pieces that I was able to read. It gave me a broader sense of culture and diversity in the readings and the comments were enlightening in the forum where we could share our experiences of each assignment. Thank you!

By Amelia G

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May 17, 2020

I really enjoyed the course. It gave great guidance on the art of crafting characters and plot, as well as the pacing and editing of a story. It was interesting to hear from published authors and their experiences. I found the publishing module of particular interest as I didn't know how the process worked prior to this. I found the writing exercises helpful in stimulating my creativity.

By Punam P

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Aug 21, 2015

An excellent course. The inclusion of excerpts allows one to develop a greater understanding of the different topics dealt in the MOOC. Also, several excerpts are from stories written by authors based in different continents; this makes reading the excerpts all the more interesting. Also, the course allows one to adjust the deadlines for submitting assignments, which is a good thing.

By Lino C

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Dec 11, 2015

The instructors are great and the interviews are very useful. I would have liked to learn about tone and pacing of the stories. Is there a common structure (at least a basic one that we can later break?). Hollywood uses the three-act structure. Is this also useful for stories for young readers?

I learned a lot but perhaps there should be a second course. I'd be interested.

By Robyn L

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Apr 22, 2020

I thoroughly enjoyed the course and how it covered both structural elements required to write a story as well as the editing and publishing process. The interviews for me where the highlight of the course. I would recommend this course for anyone who would like to develop their writing style for kids or who wish to become professional writers. Thank you!

By Elisa B

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Jan 28, 2016

I did the MOOC just to break the ice and have a general idea about this world of writing for young audiences. I think the course is fair and quite complete, has some very interesting insights, and the videos as very informative and the perfect lenght (by the time your head can't take more info, they are over). Thank you very much, it has been a pleasure.

By Em

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Sep 14, 2017

Great course that develops your confidence on book writing. Well-tailored with regard to the needs of a beginner writer, showing clearly what editing, proofreading and publishing involves and the various existing types. It was such an opportunity to know more on writing and especially on how to approach publishers and get your book published.

By Geetanjali P

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Oct 6, 2015

This is a really nice course, it has actually help me grow in the way i write a story! There are many things i am taking away, key tips and suggestions. One thig that could be improved in this course was the assesment, noone has assesed my work becase of which my course it said to be incomplete. That could change, otherwise AWSOME!!!!

By Ruth R

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Jun 28, 2020

Excelente curso, aprendí mucho, sobre los diferentes puntos de vistas. pensar para quien va dirigido la historia, que tipo de historia me gustaría realizar, recordé cosas que había aprendido de niña, excelentes instructores, y las entrevistas muy dinámicas, valoro cada intervención.

By Jim O

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Nov 11, 2020

I've graded it 4 out of 5 because I feel that it was so short. I feel like there are no next steps. I feel that the course gave me the tools I need to write a solid story, but it lacked guiding me through the process of moving forward (e.g. publishing).

By Kavita J

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Aug 14, 2015

Great if you literally know nothing about writing but want to write. Otherwise, the first three modules cover basic story writing information. What's great is the interviews with authors and the ability to peer review and so, read all sorts of things.

By Jane K

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Dec 9, 2016

This is the first MOOC I did and it was a great experience. The instructors and guests were pleasant and informative. The assignments were fun to do and the peer reviews were all respectful, most were very constructive.

Would recommend!

By Megan L

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Mar 8, 2017

The course is great! However, there are no written examples of expectations for weeks 4 and 5 At least David Hill shows examples after lectures. Not everyone is an audible learner therefore written examples should be posted for week 5

By Quenntis A

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Mar 28, 2017

I found the course to be a very good introduction and review for beginner writers and also experienced writers who just need a refresher of sorts. Comments from peers are the most helpful and motivational aspect of the course.

By Keith L

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Jan 27, 2017

The course gave me some insight into the processes involved in editing and seeking publication. However, I feel it was too skewed toward writing for VERY young readers, whereas it was marketed as including Young Adult fiction.