Let Them Help You Revise…

It’s scary to put your written work on the line, or more correctly, up on the electronic whiteboard. Making your words public is one of the bravest things I can imagine anyone doing. When you write, and let others read your writing, you lay your soul bare for the criticism of others, good or bad. Even if your audience is a room full of 10-year-olds, it can be scary.

Few teachers feel confident enough to routinely put their work in front of students or ask others to read our work and pass judgment on that work. Authors often find the editing process in publishing (which is really revision) the most painful part of the process. You have to let someone in, and let them pick at your words, and make suggestions, which is like letting them take a crack at your soul.

In the classroom, I like to write a piece with the kids sitting right there watching. Whatever type of writing we do, it’s helpful for the kids to watch me struggle with it. They often make suggestions if I get “stuck” for a word. We have that relationship. If I ask them to let me help them with their writing, I’d better be ready to reciprocate – seek their help. When I go back and revise – or re-see – my work, I always choose a particular lens to “see” it through. I take numerous opportunities to revise a piece. The more important the piece is, the more time I spend revising it.

We are working on friendly letters this week, writing to someone at our school. The letter I modeled for students is a letter to my boss, the principal.

I thought I had done a pretty decent job with the writing, until the students and I sat down to take a look. I read it aloud, and just to give them a hint of where I was going, I began emphasizing the each place where I began a sentence with the word “I.” In my best dramatic voice, I said to them: “I, I, I …Gosh it looks like this letter is all about ME, doesn’t it? Friends, help me fix this and make it better” I pointed out the sentences, then I asked the kids to help me. Well! Ask and you shall receive!

They read over the sentences thoughtfully and began to offer me many great suggestions. Changes were made, many changes, actually. The need product was a much better letter. That’s the whole point of the exercise. Once they see that my own work could be made better, they are much more willing to go back and work on their own. Truly, if they see that I seriously take my own advice and do the actual work of revision, it legitimizes the task for them. The end result is much, much higher quality final copies.

Here are my first and final drafts. All changes were directed by my students….

First draft

                                                              April 23, 2012

Mrs. Makowski

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Dear Mrs. Makowski;

            I hope this letter finds you well. I have been wanting to write to you for a long

time. I'd like to let you know some things about Pinehurst that are fabulous.

            Something that is really great about Pinehurst is that the students are great

readers. They work very hard to choose good books, and they spend a lot of time reading

independently. Sentz-sational!

            Another thing I really like about Pinehurst is that the teachers are very friendly

and helpful. They have made me feel so welcome this year. I have made many new friends

since I arrived in September.

            I want you to know that you are an excellent principal. I like the assemblies and

activities you plan for the students. You do a great job helping the students learn and

keeping students safe. It is a pleasure to come to work. It doesn't seem like work at all.

It's fun to teach at Pinehurst!

            I think Pinehurst is a great place for students and teachers. These are just some

of the reasons I am glad to be a Pinehurst teacher. 

Sincerely,

Mrs. Sentz

Second draft:

                                                              April 23, 2012

Mrs. Makowski

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Dear Mrs. Makowski;

            I hope this letter finds you well. I have wanted to write to you for a long

time. I'd like to let you know some things about Pinehurst that are fabulous.

            Something that is really spectacular about Pinehurst is that the students are great

readers. They work very hard to choose good books, and they spend a lot of time reading

independently. Sentz-sational!

            Another thing that is really splendid about Pinehurst is that the staff and students

are very friendly and helpful. They have made me feel so welcome this year. They have

made me feel very comfortable since I arrived in September.

            Did you know that you are an excellent principal? We all enjoy the assemblies

and activities you plan for the students. You do a great job helping the students learn and

keeping students safe. It is a pleasure to come to work. It doesn't seem like work at all. It's

fun to teach at Pinehurst!

            As you can see, I think Pinehurst is an extraordinary place for students and

teachers. These are just some of the reasons I am glad to be a Pinehurst teacher. It's a

once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Your friend,

Mrs. Sentz

P.S. The Sentz-sational students in Room 110 helped with the revision of this letter.

They are Sentz-sational Smarties!

Letter writing, Day 2

Yesterday I told you I was going to launch letter writing with my students. I wasn't sure how seriously they would take it. I shouldn't have underestimated them. I began sharing with them what I shared on this blog about letters and how important they can be. 

Then we talked about who we would like to write to. We are writing friendly letters, and we have the following ground rules:

1. Pick someone at school to write to

2. It can't be Mrs. Sentz, or the other teachers in our classroom

3. It CAN be anyone else in our building

4. It should be very heartfelt

5. Topic, your choice - What do you want to say?

Some of my students are writing to another student in the building. For this first round, I'm allowing that until these kids build up their confidence. Round two -- they will have to pick a grown up! 

One student is writing to a teacher in another school because he just came to us in January. I was proud of him for not taking the easy route and writing to a new friend. When we discussed it, I could see from his face that it is important to him to make that connection back to his old school. There is a teacher that he misses; this is his chance to reconnect. Score one for Mrs. Sentz. I love it when a project helps a kid overcome a struggle!

So, today, we will go back to drafting, make sure we have the format/structure correct. We'll finish our thoughts and get ready for final copies. Later in the week, when we get some done, we'll start sending miniature postal people out to start delivering our letters.

Can't wait!

April, National Card & Letter Writing Month

There is just something about receiving an honest-to-goodness letter that is thrilling to me. Whether from a friend or a relative, seeing a handwritten letter or card with my name on it tells me that I am loved. Someone took the time to pick up a pen, compose their thoughts, and send them my way.

Letters were at one time a mainstay of communication. Today, with email, social media, instant messages, and who-knows-what-else, letter writing has taken a dive in popularity. Just ask the Postal Service. The art of letter writing is losing ground in our high tech society.

There was a time when it might take a letter several months to reach the reader. The reader? They were desperate to get their hands on it, and very glad it arrived at all. The news ended up not being new by the time it arrived, but it was a connection to home.

For me, I wrote letters back and forth with my cousin as a child. We carried on a friendship through letters back when long distance phone calls were insanely expensive (or at least that’s what we all thought!). My mother and grandmother exchanged letters between twice yearly visits and sporadic phone calls. Today, having those letters, seeing my grandmother’s writing warms my heart.

Perhaps no letter has been more desperately anticipated than those from my sons while they were in Basic Military Training. For those long weeks of physical and mental exhaustion, the men and women are virtually locked away from all that is familiar. Letters – writing and receiving them – are a great privilege. They are more precious than gold!

So you know what I’m going to say next, right? Kids need to write letters, with pens and paper. They need to mail them! Yes, that’s right!

Today, just because it’s National Card & Letter Writing Month, we are going to write letters. I hope you join us and do the same thing too! We are going to pick someone who is important to us – not our Mom or Dad, brother or sister – but someone we care enough about to send a letter to. Then we will start writing – topic will depend on who we are writing to, but we will craft with care.

Just for fun, I think we’ll use that old Hamburger graphic organizer:

            Top bun – Introduction

            Lettuce/Tomato – Support paragraph #1

            Cheese – Support paragraph 2

            Meat – Support paragraph #3

            Bottom bun – Conclusion

I don’t know who invented that organizer for writing, but it is awesome! Kids can visualize a sandwich so easily… Me too. Yum! We can write delicious pieces that way!

We will do a draft first, then a good copy because our reader deserves the best work we can do! Of course we’ll put a proper salutation and a closing, sign them and off they will go!

What are you going to write today?

Remembering a friend

Today my mind travels back almost three years to a time when writing a poem as a group helped heal the broken hearts of a group of fourth graders and their teacher.

It was at just about this time in the school year that my dear colleague, Mrs. Lois Koss, took ill. One day she was doing her thing, going into classrooms and sharing her reading magic. And then, suddenly, she wasn’t there any longer, too ill to come back to us.

Lois was a reading specialist, and her work was truly special. She spent an hour every day in my room, working magic with her group of struggling readers. All the kids knew her and loved her. She loved them right back! When she walked in, her presence filled the room up. She was a quiet, calming force, but a good joke or some fourth grade antic would cause her to laugh so. Her laugh warmed us all.

At first, we thought Lois would be out a few days; then it looked like it might be longer. Everyone thought that for certain she’d be back. We waited, and so did the kids. Every day they looked for her return, thinking about things they’d like to ask her, ready with books they’d like to share with her. Soon enough, however, the faculty and staff learned that Lois would not be coming back, and worse still, she was terminally ill. How would we ever tell the children?

I began prepping the children for what was to come by working on a writing project with them. I asked them to write one line that described Mrs. Koss. Most students wrote quite a few, then decided which one was the very best. At this point, they had not been told that she would not be back, but I did tell them the poem was for her. That was enough for them. They drew pictures and made cards that she would never see.

We wrote the lines out on sentences strips. I arranged them into an order that flowed well. Once all the strips were attached to a six foot length of yellow roll paper, we titled the poem “Mrs. Koss” and decorated all around the edges. We hung it on the wall and went on with our days.

Finally, the awful day came when Lois really left us all for good. Compounding our sorrow was the knowledge that on Monday morning, the first task of the day would be to tell the children. The days were a blur. No one’s heart was really in their work.

The day following the funeral, I knew it was time for closure. I had typed the poem out for the students to each have a copy. It seemed like a natural part of the healing process to visit the poem one last time. We stood in a circle, and thought of Lois. Then I read the title. The students followed, each reading the line they had written. It was quiet, and it was respectful. It was a love-filled moment. It was our way of saying good bye.

            Some of the lines in the poem would have made Lois laugh:  “Mrs. Koss is fun and quirky, like beef jerky.”  Yes, she absolutely was, and that would have been her favorite line!

           Other lines would have humbled her with the tenderness they revealed.  “Mrs. Koss is as bright as the sun.”  Yes, she was. Out of the mouths of babes.

No one who knew her will ever forget her, but Lois lives on in the words of my little friends and the memories she made with us all. Those words helped us all heal.  

(Look for the complete poem in the Young Authors section.) 

Progressive Poems progress

So.... let me tell you about our first crack at progressive poetry. It was awesome! I started by telling the class Mr. Sentz and I were invited to a "progressive dinner" and what that is. We talked about what the word progressive means and linked it to progress (which makes them think of progress reports). Then I reminded them that April is National Poetry Month and told them we'd be creating some progressive poems. They were very willing writers. This group always steps up for a challenge!

Well! They exceeded my wildest expectations! I enlisted the help of my two classroom partners in crime, Mrs. Zimmermann and Mrs. Vernon. With no prior planning, I asked Mrs. Zimmerman to start us with a line. She gave us:

"Fluffy, Happy, Sunshine, Bright"

Then Mrs. Vernon added:

"Wagging his tail and smiling"

And I couldn't wait to put my two cents in:

 "With delight."

So that gave us a really good start and gave the kids the idea of what we'd be doing:

"Fluffy, Happy, Sunshine, Bright

Wagging his tail and smiling

With delight."

Now we had their wheels turning! At each table, a set of six collaborative, progressive poems was constructed as the papers rotated around from student to student. They turned out so cool! When they got done adding lines to each others' work, they did final copies and illustrations. I began calling them one at a time to add to our BIG poem. That was something to behold. They typed in their own lines, adding it to the document which was also being displayed on the Smartboard. It was pretty neat to watch the poem grow.

Here is our final product:

Room 110 Progressive Poem

                                                                                                  

Fluffy, Happy, Sunshine, Bright

Wagging his tail and smiling

With delight.

While everyone drinks Sprite

The sun is shinning bright

Still continuing the fight

The moon is dark but also bright in the night

The sun was shining so bright

I think I might be blind, I just might

Tonight on the flight I might be blind by the light

Then plants will blind the sun.

Awww that wont be fun      

Airplane, HUGE, bird, small not good.

I saw mouse in my house

The suns now light not bright

The fluffy clouds a BIG HUGE POODLE!

Humans get muddy in the puddle! Ewwwww!

Soaking wet sloppy mess I wonder what will happen

I hope It’ll stay bright for awhile, my bunny is sad!

Filling Up With Anger I Terribly mad!

Maybe its just one of those days sad and mad, day I had and sort of BAD.

I’m REALLY mad! What should I do? I guess I’ll get my bunny cleaned up.

 It’s just one of those days!

My bunny is fluffy and got all clean!

We shaved the fur, now it is lean!

Trying to run away from the water!

Trying to run on water.

Its just one of those bright days.

It was so interesting to witness the process, how children built on the work of others. In some cases, it looks like when they were really stuck, they switched gears, which, in my book is perfectly okay! Important to remember that we wrote this in about 50 minutes – 24 students adding to the work of the others, typing in their own words – not  bad. Actually, I think it’s an amazing feat of quick creative collaboration. I love my class!

No one said “I can’t…” Early in the year, we established a culture built on the premise that “I can’t” means “I quit.” There are no quitters in my class!

Tomorrow I will share some of the mini progressive poems from the tables. They are equally cool!

Now I Can Teach Again...

Here in the great state of New York, we wind up our annual celebration of gauging student reading and writing abilities. It's like a marathon, the 3-day ELA event my students experience each year -- New York State testing. Ahhhh.... when I think of the hours of preparation, the anxiety of the children and the teachers, the dread while waiting for scores. It warms the heart. No child left untested.

Just to be clear, my little 10 year old friends (actually some are still only 9) still have baby teeth in their mouths, still believe in the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny and Santa. They like to color and paste. They love to read, and they love to write, but they live in fear and trembling of those stinky state tests. It was three days of torture (90 minute sessions!) for my lil peeps to sit and read, write, and ruminate on whether this would keep them in fourth grade for another year. Kids do say the darnedest things!

Now that we have hopped over that hurdle (who knows what the tests will actually show or prove, probably not much that I didn't already know, frankly!), we can get back to the business of real reading and real writing in our real world. We can go back to enjoying what we read and write, without that sense of foreboding. We can't wait!

So, first on our agenda is a little teamwork. We will start writing a progressive poem tomorrow. I got my idea from a blog I follow, The Poem Farm, http://www.poemfarm.amylv.com/ written by my dear friend Amy Ludwig Vandewater. If you haven't been to her blog, you should visit. She is an AMAZING poet, teacher, mother, and friend. But before you go, let me tell you what my kids are doing tomorrow! We are writing a progressive poem. Actually we may write a couple of them.

April is National Poetry Month, but my students have been prepping for ELA. So... with ELA done, we can celebrate poetry in our class. A progressive poem is simply a group effort, a collaborative work. The exciting thing is that you don't really know how it will turn out until it's done. Have you ever done a progressive dinner? Kinda the same idea, only with words.

My students sit in groups of 6, at tables, and are very good at group work. I will give each student a sheet of pastel colored composition paper. (It could be plain, but I use colored paper, fun border paper, etc., whenever humanly possible.) Each student will compose a first line, then on my signal will pass the paper to the person seated at their left. That person will read the first line, then they will add the next line. We will continue passing the paper, with the next person adding lines until it finds its way back to the original author. Done! Simple!

The students can mix with friends from other tables and share their masterpieces. We will probably illustrate the edges and hang them up for the world to see. But that’s not all. We will finish our progressive work with a class poem. I’ll draw names to get a really random order. We will read our class progressive poem on the morning announcement next week.

Horrible Harry’s Secret Pal

 This is the time of year when the fur can start to fly in the classroom. As the year winds down, standardized tests and exams lead to frustration. Conditions are ripe for feuding friends and hard feelings.

My current fourth graders are the most delightful children, but after 30 weeks of togetherness, the seeds of discontent were being sewn. Despite the best efforts of my colleagues and myself to keep things calm, it was getting rocky.

A small click of girls had been on the outs for a week: Someone didn’t want to play tag on the playground, but while the others were playing, someone else waved, but someone didn’t wave back, which meant that someone else was pretty sure that no one liked anyone anymore, and now no one wanted to be friends. You follow, don’t you? Ten year olds can’t remember to tie their shoes, but they have no problem forgetting a slight on the playground days ago.

So how does that tie into writing, you may ask…

About the same time the drama was flaring up, my colleague, Mrs. Kathy Zimmermann, was reading Horrible Harry with a friend. Horrible Harry and his classmates were in the throes of similar circumstances. The solution of the teacher in the book was one Mrs. Zimmermann wisely suggested that we try something similar. I was all for it. One more day of snappish children would surely put me over the edge!

With about a week to go until Easter recess, we launched the Secret Pal project. Each student made a little bucket, a pail, (we were going for a pal/pail play on words) put their name on it, decorated them with stickers, and hung them in various spots around the room. Then we did a random drawing of names. The name drawn was that student’s secret pal.

Each day for the next week, the students observed their secret pal’s behavior. When they noticed that person being kind in some way, they jotted it on a little slip of paper and placed it in the person’s pail. They had to be surreptitious when placing the slip in the pails. That proved to be as much fun as anything!

Each student had a packet of letterhead, one page per day of the project. On these pages they wrote some very nice letters and words of encouragement for their pals. This is a type of writing that almost has become a lost art. We were very glad to revive it among our fourth graders.

On the last day of the project, we did a “big reveal.” Students retrieved their own pails and read the small notes within. They tried to determine from those notes the identity of their secret pal. Only two of my 24 students actually were able to correctly identify their pal. After each guess, the true identity of the secret pal was revealed. At that time, the packet of letters was given to the student by their pal. There were many, many surprised looks and smiles as the students read.

This project was a definite keeper, worth doing again. It was easy to set up, and students got to know each other even better. All went away with the glow of kind words surrounding them.