Opportunistic Teaching
UPDATE: WRITING WORKSHOP -
There’s a lot going on at once. Thankfully, there are two teachers in the room - one of the best things to come from Title I grant money is that I now enjoy regular backup from a retired English teacher, working as an aide. We conference at random with whoever seems to have a need.
Because of events beyond my control, an essay writing contest offered by our school’s community business partner, a local bank, pops up on the radar just before spring break. Now we’re back, and with only a few days before the deadline. The principal “suggested” that my students participate. Yes, we’ll do that. But we’re also writing letters to the Supreme Court about the Exxon Valdez damages hearing.
I introduced the kids to the I say… / They say… format for the contest, “Why I am Proud to Be an Alaskan.” And I suggested that they might begin with something like “Many people believe that Alaska is…… but I know that….” I suggested a few different options. We brainstormed the up-sides and the down-sides of living in Alaska - and they were off and writing.
Like I said, there is a lot going on. Some kids are writing in notebooks, and some are at computers. It’s pretty businesslike, and I’m reading some of the contest essays, and a few of them almost bring me to tears (no kidding) they’re so heartfelt. I say how moved I am, and somebody comments that they didn’t know I was so sensitive. Sometimes I surprise even myself. But I let the kids know when their writing affects me. These little meetings are powerful.
When they were done with the contest draft, a few kids asked if they should finish typing their letters. “Sure, you bet.”
I was walking by one youngster at a computer, and I noticed her scrolling through a long, almost two-paged letter to the Court, and down near the bottom where it says, “Respectfully,” she wrote “I think Exxon should pay punitive damages.” And then, while I’m watching, she deleted “I think.” So it just says, “Exxon should pay punitive damages.”
Why’d you delete that? I asked.
It sounded better this way, she said.
I was blown away that she figured that out on her own. You’re right, I told her. Your opinion has more punch without the “I think.”
She smiled. I moved on, smiling also. She was really thinking this through, making her argument stronger. I’ve never seen elementary students pay that kind of attention to their writing.
Sometimes our best teaching amounts to telling students, “That’s right! Way to go!” because we can’t anticipate how their genius might emerge at any moment. And, of course, we have to give them opportunities to soar. I don’t know how to package this.
Steven Kimmi wrote,
I am currently having similar problems. My students are creating books to be sent to a publisher and bound, but we only started three weeks before spring break and the way our silly schedule works I only see each class once every three weeks. Therefore, I have seen each class but once. Not to mention, that W-F before spring break was State Test time for math. I am simply exhausted. I plan on forgoing math for a while, we’ve worked hard enough…we’re going to do some serious writing.
Link | March 19th, 2008 at 5:55 am
Doug Noon wrote,
It’s amazing how out-of-teacher-control the schedule is sometimes. I feel it every time a project opportunity comes along.
Link | March 19th, 2008 at 6:11 am
Jenny wrote,
It also seems like writing opportunities like these have such relevance to students they will learn more through them. Making writing powerful is easier to do when it has a real purpose. It’s just hard to find ways to have students do ‘real’ writing all the time.
Link | March 19th, 2008 at 6:19 am
Doug Noon wrote,
Good point, Jenny, about the power of relevance and purpose. That’s one of the selling points of student blogging. But even that has limitations since it doesn’t work for everyone, all the time.
Link | March 19th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Betty wrote,
It’s good to see kids reread and change what they are writing. Although it is sometimes hard to hold back and just let kids work, it sounds like you are doing a great job getting them to think for themselves.
Link | March 19th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Paul Schwan wrote,
I sent my kids off on Spring Break (we have Easter Break at our school) after we spent 2 days this week writing research papers. We scrambled to finish rough drafts on our Alphasmart Neos (alphasmart.com) before we left, so nobody had to work over Break. Alas, many have a bit more to write. Hopefully, they’ll take my advice and finish right away so they can enjoy the rest of their Break without home-work! I share your frustration, trying to squeeze it all into the schedule.
Link | March 19th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Doug Noon wrote,
Betty, I’m not “holding back” so much as I’m just too busy to be everywhere at once
But it amounts to the same thing, because I have to rely on the kids to make good choices, which, of course, is a good day when it happens.
Hey Paul, You’re another AlphaSmart user! I really like them for simple data entry jobs. They help with writing project management when there’s not a full class set of computers.
Link | March 19th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Artichoke wrote,
I often think that one of the most compelling reasons for using the wordprocessing facilities of computers with kids is the iterative nature of the text -when they write on paper it is hard to think of what is written in terms other than draft or publishing - but with digital text all is draft - making changes is easy, problems are identified and solved at any stage - student writing is encouraged to evolve.
Link | March 22nd, 2008 at 12:07 am
Doug Noon wrote,
Artichoke, I agree with your view, but only if students are indeed using the wordprocessor to write. Poor typing skills, and the distractions afforded by formatting options, plus a myriad of possible file management problems makes the paper and pencil an attractive option for both students and teachers when using the computer is problematic. I’m glad for this comment because it expresses a point of view that I’ve had to rethink to deal with some classroom management problems that have been more common for me this year than they’ve ever been. It’s amazing how much time can be flushed by kids who don’t want to write but are entertained playing with computer features, who can’t find their files, who “accidentally” delete everything they’ve done for an entire class period.
Link | March 22nd, 2008 at 12:35 am
rebecca wrote,
This essay about your kids inspired me. We are all in process — teachers and learners. Seems like the best thing we can do is give each other “opportunities to soar.”
Link | March 24th, 2008 at 12:07 pm