We are getting ready for our schoolwide writing celebration in April. Every student in our school will pick a favorite piece of their writing, revise it, and publish it as a cartonera, or cardboard book. The books will be on display in our main hallway during Special Person Lunch/Scholastic Book Fair Week the week of April 10th.
On Monday, we pulled out our writing treasure chests and I gave the students time to read through their past writing pieces to choose the one they wanted to revise, publish and share.
There were lots of "Oh, I remember this!" and "My mystery!" But there were also some "Wow, this is really terrible. I didn't use any punctuation" and "Did I even proofread this? It doesn't make any sense."
As a writing teacher, I was happy to see my students' excitement at revisiting some of their earlier writing pieces. It was a buzz I wish I could have captured in a bottle. It shows that writing has taken a priority in our classroom and my students see themselves as writers.
But I also couldn't help but smile and the "Wow, this is terrible!" comments too. They showed me how much my students have grown as writers since September.
At the time that they completed those pieces of writing over the past six months, they thought they were pretty terrific. They did the best they could with where they were at. Now, with six more months of writing under their belts, they can look on past writing and recognize what they couldn't see before.
This is growth. This is progress.
After selecting their cartonera piece, my kids got busy revising. Post-its were splashed across pages. Peer conferences were happening in corners around they room as the students helped each other revise their original piece. My writers talked about adding plot twists, replacing their "tells" with "shows", and developing characters with dialogue. Some of those who chose an informational piece began revising with text structure and topic sentences in mind.
I can hardly wait for April so our writers can share their books with their loved ones and our school community! It makes this writing teacher's heart happy.
These are the cartoneras my class published last year
On Monday, we pulled out our writing treasure chests and I gave the students time to read through their past writing pieces to choose the one they wanted to revise, publish and share.
There were lots of "Oh, I remember this!" and "My mystery!" But there were also some "Wow, this is really terrible. I didn't use any punctuation" and "Did I even proofread this? It doesn't make any sense."
As a writing teacher, I was happy to see my students' excitement at revisiting some of their earlier writing pieces. It was a buzz I wish I could have captured in a bottle. It shows that writing has taken a priority in our classroom and my students see themselves as writers.
But I also couldn't help but smile and the "Wow, this is terrible!" comments too. They showed me how much my students have grown as writers since September.
At the time that they completed those pieces of writing over the past six months, they thought they were pretty terrific. They did the best they could with where they were at. Now, with six more months of writing under their belts, they can look on past writing and recognize what they couldn't see before.
This is growth. This is progress.
After selecting their cartonera piece, my kids got busy revising. Post-its were splashed across pages. Peer conferences were happening in corners around they room as the students helped each other revise their original piece. My writers talked about adding plot twists, replacing their "tells" with "shows", and developing characters with dialogue. Some of those who chose an informational piece began revising with text structure and topic sentences in mind.
I can hardly wait for April so our writers can share their books with their loved ones and our school community! It makes this writing teacher's heart happy.
What an awesome idea. That is wonderful experience for writers and teachers.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I wonder if you could tape some of these conversations to play for next year's students to show them what's to come.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. I wonder if you could tape some of these conversations to play for next year's students to show them what's to come.
ReplyDeleteWhile the celebration in April sounds amazing, what's happening in your classroom today is certainly something to celebrate!!! Love to see writers grow and I love to see when they notice their own growth! You are such ann amazing teacher!!!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to first support writers, and then to celebrate their work!
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful to first support writers, and then to celebrate their work!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea. Those displays are so happy! Isn't it fun to look back this time of year and see how much they have grown?
ReplyDeleteMy students were excited this week to work on their covers in art class. I was so excited and surprised that a big group of them picked some of their non-fiction writing. :) We've done so much of that this year!!! Excited to read everyone's stories.
ReplyDelete