Samantha Varano

A zine is definied as "a small magazine that is written by people who are not professional writers and that usually has stories about a particular subject" (Webster Dictionary).  It is basically a project that involves several different genres on one topic and can be presented in a variety of different ways.  It allows for the writer to be creative and unique and gives them freedom and choice to create what ever they want to.  

In my LLED 401 writing class, we had the opportunity to make our own zines.  I chose to do mine on Italian food.  I did a lot of research on the topic and used several different genres to present what I had learned.  We did this project because it gave us the opportunity to evaluate decide whether or not it would be a vaulble option to use in the classroom.  

During this process, we were paired up with a third grade classroom at a local elementary school and helped them create their own zines. We were able to study them as writers during this process.  We assited them while they worked on their project and reflected on the time we spent creating our own.  On top of helping them to write their zines, we also helped them create the covers and put all of their information together in artistic way.  This portion was done with my art class.  The students had to do their zines on specific artists and we were there to help them create a cover similar to the style of art their artitics used. 

I was paired up with a student wo did his zine on Andy Warhol.  Over the course of my experience with him, I was able to help him with some of the research and genres he did on his artist and then create a cover for his zine similar to the techniques of Pop Art that Andy Warhol used. I had a lot of fun helping my student create his zone and definitely think that this is a good way to allow students to gain a deeper understanding on a specific topic and present their findings in a creative way.