Oct

17

Three… Two… One…Start Writing !

Filed Under "At-risk" students, Learning Strategies 

“Three, two, one go,” I said with enthusiasm. I look at my students and smiled because they were laughing and writing furiously in their journals, but it wasn’t always so. Before I hit upon this strategy I wasn’t smiling, and they weren’t laughing. Getting my students to write paragraphs in their journals used to be very frustrating for me and for them. I would assign some topics; they would sit and whine about how much they hated writing. Thankfully, that is no longer the case.
Why? Well, for a few reasons. First, I went to our local Dollar Store and bought some thin notebooks which I cut in half horizontally, and a timer. Now, when the kids open to a page, the page doesn’t look as intimidating because there are not as many lines to fill with writing. In fact, there are only half as many lines to fill. Fewer is better, as far as my student are concerned. Second, they no longer have to worry about how many sentences they have to write, or about spelling and grammar. All they have to do is write as many words as they can for five minutes. I set the timer for five minutes, and they write until the time is up. I told them that some days they will write more words, and some days they will write fewer words. That’s just how it is, and they shouldn’t sweat it. The last thing I have them do is count the number of words they have written on that day and then graph that number using a bar graph. I usually review how to do a bar graph.
As you can imagine, at first not much writing gets done. I find this phase only lasts about three days and then things start to happen. They start to compete with one another. They compare the number of words they have written. Talk about peer pressure! It’s amazing. They’re laughing and having a great time writing furiously, egging each other on and comparing bar graphs. There’s lots of energy in the classroom. They love the timer and remind me to use it.
After they have written five entries, I ask them to choose one entry that they are to edit and hand in to be marked. I invite them to affix their bar graphs to the walls of the classroom. They do so with pride. I read their daily journals and write a few words back to them. Some kids who hardly say anything in class will tell me the most amazing things in their journals. We’ve had some great private conversations in those journals. It’s amazing.

Comments

3 Responses to “Three… Two… One…Start Writing !”

  1. Alvaro on October 19th, 2006 4:25 pm

    Hi Elona, just wanted to pay you a visit and say that, yes, maybe some people have only used 30 pairs or shoes…(maybe I have used a few more!), and found this nice post.

    1) What strategies do your students use to maximize the number of words? could they just write: “a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a” (not the most fun strategy, but it would train their patience and for sure let them win :-))

    2) It is great that you have helped them produce that quantity. I agree that is the first step. Now, how can we add a fun element of quality? what if peers would review each other’s papers and count how many sentences fit X criteria? or maybe that is the entry they edit and present for your review.

    3) You could then explain to them what averages, and normalization, are, giving them an average rating of quality and quantity.

    Sounds fun! keep enjoying

    PS: am enjoying Mel Levine’s books very much, great to see you do too

  2. Elona on October 19th, 2006 6:11 pm

    Alvero, thanks for the comments and thanks for the great ideas. I have actually had one student who wrote “the ” for the entire five munutes. We all had a good laugh. I really like you suggestions about working math into the activity. I’m going to do that when I do the stats part of the math course. Should be fun. As for the Mel Levine book, I hope to take the five day course called “Schools Attuned” that is based on his books this February. A teacher friend took it and thought it was great. His books really help me understand the kids I teach. Thanks

    Ps: I am enjoying your site. I wish I had more time though. There’s do much that I’d like to read. I’ll be hitting the archives over the holidays.

  3. Alvaro on October 20th, 2006 12:31 am

    Well, it seems you have one good, creative and logical mind there :-) He will be a good lawyer…

    Thanks for coming back to the site despite time pressures, glad you enjoy it. It will be great to hear your experiences with the Schools Attuned class.

    You may enjoy the post I wrote this afternoon on Neuroscience and Education-let me know what you think!

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