Young Author Playlist

The Young Author Playlist is a series of online creative writing lessons for Chicago City of Learning designed to support young people along a journey and practice of being a writer. Aligned with the Learning Pathways Framework developed by Jennifer Steele and Sybil Madison of Digital Youth Network, the Young Author Playlist provides a series of prompts and activities mimicking the habits of mind of a writer including: journaling, explore the world around you, publicly sharing your work, curating a collection, discovering and developing a writing community, and publishing. Completion of these activities earns users a digital badge which acknowledges skill attainment and completion of a task that unlocks special opportunities such as an invitation to writing workshops with professional writers, tickets to an event, etc. These series of pathways speaks to the frameworks’ key elements of Identity, Social and Academic Capital, and Equity and Access.

Along the way, students submit their creative writing for personal review and feedback provided by writing coaches.

In partnership with CPS middle and high school teachers, universities, professional writers, and college students, the Young Author Playlist has served hundreds of students across Chicago online and in the classroom.

To take a look at the playlists, visit https://chicagocityoflearning.org/yap.