Take Two

There were a few things that I knew needed some cleaning up as I got back to work today. Number one on my list was the way my students were responding to the first part of our 100-Day-Writing Challenge. 

The challenge began on March 1st with a month of Slice of Life writing. After reading their entries last week I knew a little reteaching was in order. 

My hope was that students would not see writing 100 words about a slice of their life as impossible. I wanted to show them the possibilities.

I started by comparing the idea of writing fluency to that of reading fluency- something most have mastered. We went back to the old motto, "practice makes perfect."

If asked for one thing I've noted as a fallout of the pandemic it would be writing skills. Students struggle with initiating writing tasks and many avoid them at all costs. I reminded them the world around them is waiting to be written about. The experiences they've had in life are a great jumping-off point. Field trips, family gatherings, vacations- there's so much more to write about than what they had for breakfast.

I'm smart enough to know that not every student heard me. According to Anthony, he'd never been on vacation or a field trip. Over the weekend he did nothing. NOTHING.  So yea, it's going to take a little more work to knock that wall down.

Max heard me. Last week he wrote: "Hello this is day 3 and I already hate this." 

Today, he took a more positive approach and began with "One of the best experiences that I have experienced is Space Mountain in Disney World."

I agree with Max. Space Mountain is pretty awesome, and so is teaching. Especially when you can see a student has learned something.