Teaching Writing
Finally, a quiet moment at home to catch up on all the entries that were made during the last Writing Marathon. I'd seen the digests coming into my email, just hadn't taken the time to enjoy them.
I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the 'musings' in the various coffee shops and restaurants. It was like I was there. I was transported to blueberry picking, riding bikes by Margaret, and most importantly, teaching writing by still others that I am not so familiar with.
Teaching writing. This was the second year that I worked with young writers in my classroom and it was very enjoyable. We wrote in journals nearly every day until just after testing. We shared, laughed and learned how to share without hurting the tender psyches of the 9-11 year gifted child. We had great conversations about being a kid and being gifted based on some of those entries.
But after testing, things changed. The classes (I taught two Language Arts classes) seemed bored with writing so I felt a change of pace was needed.
I started a long term project I called, "Invent a Character". We 'birthed' our character, made up special memories and relationships with family members, took them on vacations, and gave them actual report cards complete with teacher comments. We wrote about their summer camp experiences through a letter to mom. We brought them through school, getting a car, having their first car wreck written up on the local newspaper and graduated them. We even filled out a job application and gave them special recognition for their work.
The pièce de résistance to the long term writing project was a mystery or suspense story. Our characters were the protagonist, with a sidekick, clues and atmosphere, and all the other elements that come with this genre. During this whole time, we drew and colored life-size drawings of our character that had to be bigger than the length of our foot but shorter than Michael Jordan.
I wrote all this to get to the point in time when the students were reading/sharing each other's stories and looking over their character writings.
Near the last day of school, I had assembled their character details and mystery in a book and arranged all the books on the back table. Every single student read, chatted quiety with the author and traveled back and forth from that table for 45 minutes at least. They handled each of their classmate's books with care and respect. It was awesome!
I firmly believe in daily journal writing yet I took a chance on this idea. I'd done a smaller version of this a couple years earlier so I had some confidence in its appeal to the students.
I think teachers take a risk in allowing students to write in the classroom. It's time consuming, doesn't cover the GLE's, isn't measurable by a skills test, and so on. It is sharing something dear and deep, opening up oneself up to the world. It is a creation from their thoughts, their experiences, their dreams.
My former students now have something to share with families and friends. They have something to reminesce? about when they are rummaging through old trunks and boxes as a 40 year old - a little piece of their thoughts as a 9-11 year old in 2006. I hope they smile inside and treasure their work for years. At least, that is what I was aiming for....
I especially enjoyed the descriptions of the 'musings' in the various coffee shops and restaurants. It was like I was there. I was transported to blueberry picking, riding bikes by Margaret, and most importantly, teaching writing by still others that I am not so familiar with.
Teaching writing. This was the second year that I worked with young writers in my classroom and it was very enjoyable. We wrote in journals nearly every day until just after testing. We shared, laughed and learned how to share without hurting the tender psyches of the 9-11 year gifted child. We had great conversations about being a kid and being gifted based on some of those entries.
But after testing, things changed. The classes (I taught two Language Arts classes) seemed bored with writing so I felt a change of pace was needed.
I started a long term project I called, "Invent a Character". We 'birthed' our character, made up special memories and relationships with family members, took them on vacations, and gave them actual report cards complete with teacher comments. We wrote about their summer camp experiences through a letter to mom. We brought them through school, getting a car, having their first car wreck written up on the local newspaper and graduated them. We even filled out a job application and gave them special recognition for their work.
The pièce de résistance to the long term writing project was a mystery or suspense story. Our characters were the protagonist, with a sidekick, clues and atmosphere, and all the other elements that come with this genre. During this whole time, we drew and colored life-size drawings of our character that had to be bigger than the length of our foot but shorter than Michael Jordan.
I wrote all this to get to the point in time when the students were reading/sharing each other's stories and looking over their character writings.
Near the last day of school, I had assembled their character details and mystery in a book and arranged all the books on the back table. Every single student read, chatted quiety with the author and traveled back and forth from that table for 45 minutes at least. They handled each of their classmate's books with care and respect. It was awesome!
I firmly believe in daily journal writing yet I took a chance on this idea. I'd done a smaller version of this a couple years earlier so I had some confidence in its appeal to the students.
I think teachers take a risk in allowing students to write in the classroom. It's time consuming, doesn't cover the GLE's, isn't measurable by a skills test, and so on. It is sharing something dear and deep, opening up oneself up to the world. It is a creation from their thoughts, their experiences, their dreams.
My former students now have something to share with families and friends. They have something to reminesce? about when they are rummaging through old trunks and boxes as a 40 year old - a little piece of their thoughts as a 9-11 year old in 2006. I hope they smile inside and treasure their work for years. At least, that is what I was aiming for....