The stories are coming fast and furious. The quiet sounds of the writing students are music to my ears. I circulate, making sure the less engaged students are working, their hesitance to write more a product of their own insecurities than the lack of ideas in their heads. "Close your eyes." I tell one of my 6th grade boys and wait for a beat. "Now open them and tell me the first thing you see." "The soft pillows." He responds. "If you were laying down on those pillows, what would you be looking at?" I prompt. "All those fish!" His eyes get big. "Write about that! Tell me what you see and hear and smell! Are the blankets heated, are the pillows hard or soft?" I walk away as his pencil hits the paper, not lifting for another 12 minutes. I start -every single- language arts block with a writing prompt. The students have turned in their 'to be graded' writing assignments, this is just writing because people write. Or draw. Or sketchnote. Or diagram. All of those are acceptable in the ELA journals. They write to a prompt but if their ink runs dry they are allowed to go back and find a previous prompt to respond to, I try to write questions on every entry every day, encouraging them to continue their thoughts, detail some new images, or get a new chance on a story that went sideways. We call it "Daily 3" and eventually we'll get around to three things, but our focus is on the short stories we're about to crack open. We're looking at a variety of things, depending on our skills and confidence with texts. Some of the students are looking for metaphors or similes. Some are looking through their stories for new vocabulary, words they've never seen before. The more confident readers are huddled around a poster, excitedly searching for a new hint. "The bitter almond tea. I think that's a sign of poison!" One student says "Oh yeah!" Another student is grabbing his phone, searching for the answer. I have to ask them to head to the learning center, an empty classroom at the end of the hall so they can talk and work and not disturb those who need quiet to read and think. Two of my low students wave to me as they head out the door together. They are going to the elevator room and will be back near the end of the period, excited to show me how far they got working together. They know that it's a privilege to be collaborative on this assignment. It's not actually, but no teacher has ever let them express the language arts as a social activity so they take this very seriously. These two boys self describe as 'not good' at school. They are creative, bright, active young men that take gym seriously, and work well when they are laying down on the floor. They do need support, and definitely don't perform at grade level, but they need to be given appropriate steps, not just left to fend for themselves. Their journals get special sticky notes every day, asking guiding questions and giving very specific feedback, formative and direction oriented. This way they can read on their own and not get singled out in a special 'low group'. They can learn in a safe environment, without being publicly outed as needing special help. Some of my students do need to be pulled into small groups. They are usually targeted to a very specific skill on a very specific story. 'Examples of hyperbole in The Tell Tale Heart', 'Citing character traits in The Three Brothers', 'Concrete imagery in Lamb to the Slaughter'. The groups have to work independently first, but then they can collaborate after they've each found an example. Working together their language around the texts and confidence with new texts are becoming stronger. We have a poster in the front of the room that shows various responses we sometimes make. "Compliment, Comment, Connect, Question" it says with examples and prompts of starter conversations. "I like that... I agree with.. I wonder why.. This reminds me of..." I'm proud of my students. They work hard and they deserve to find and express their own confidence and knowledge, being fluent in the language arts have been an 'elite' skill for too long. They all can own the 6 strands, and I'm hoping they realize it too.
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AuthorI respond to Sarah, Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Smoore, Miss Sarah, (and sometimes Mom!). I have been an DL (homeschool!) teacher for 2 years and am now a proud member of the SD35 team! Archives
September 2018
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