Category Archives: Amy Rasmussen

Teaching and Reaching Kids in Poverty

Amy Rasmussen May 15, 2013 Leave a comment

I sat in a meeting last week. It’s May. Week one of two weeks of testing. Kids are tired. Teachers are weary. We read an article called “How Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement.” Not surprisingly, the discussion fell flat. It’s not like we haven’t heard this information before–we teach in a Title I school, 74% low SES. The subtitle of the article read “Students from low-income households are more likely to struggle with engagement.”

 I quote the teacher next to me: “Duh.”

 According to the article, there are 7 reasons for struggling engagement:

1. Health and Nutrition. Doesn’t every human listen better, learn better, FEEL better when they are well-fed and well-rested?

2. Vocabulary. It’s not hard to figure out that kids from affluent or even not, print-rich families will know more words than kids who don’t. No surprise they struggle with reading.

3. Effort. If the student likes the teacher, he’s more likely to work for the teacher. Pretty logical.

4. Hope and the Growth Mindset. Encouragement, positive feedback, hope all lead to better student input and output. Pretty much like for every person everywhere: make me believe I can do it, I probably can.

5. Cognition. Teach cognition. Sometimes you just have to teach a kid how to think. This point above all the others is the one most overlooked. Don’t most teachers assume students know how to do this already?

6. Relationships. What matters most to the child is the relationships that make him feel safe, comfortable, cared for. Positive comments result in much more compliance and movement toward success than continual negative ones.

7. Distress. We all feel it at some point. How can we work effectively when we are stressed to the max? Remove the stress. Have more fun. Kids will respond, and hey, achieve more.

Yeah, tell us something we don’t know about our kids.

 After we read the article, we chunked it and added a few testimonials of how these things impact student achievement. Then we left.

Really? We talk and talk and talk about recognizing the issues that smack us in the face when we try to help our students, but how often do we take action on creating solutions? Yes, the article offers some, but nothing that the best teachers are not already trying. Trying doesn’t always work even for the best. We have to decide to do something more different.

 Ironically, I had a rant session (you know you have them, too) with a colleague earlier in the day, and we discussed these very things– except we made a list of our own hopes.

photo by Mike Bitzenhofer

Here’s four ideas we hope to get put into our practice next year:

1. Whole school read. I’ve heard of this done in communities and schools. I know that Dallas ISD is supporting Read Across America with their DALLAS Reads program and wide reading of The Lorax. I’ve heard of whole grade levels reading something as wonderful as Wonder. Other places engage in One City One Book programs where the whole community is encouraged to read the same book. Imagine the talking points!

So what if during the first quarter of the new year, every student and every teacher read the same book? This could be done in Advisory classes (30 minutes every day set aside for administrivia and silent reading). And it could be complemented with paired readings, analysis, and writing in English classes.

Of course, we are open to suggestions, and purchasing the books might be an issue (my grant app is open in another window), we think something like Sean Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teenagers would be a good pick. They don’t have organization skills; they don’t have study skills; they don’t have strong work ethic. How could these seven things NOT help our kids?

The 7 habits

1.    Be Proactive

2.    Begin with the End in Mind

3.    Put First Things First

4.    Think Win-Win

5.    Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood

6.    Synergize

7.    Sharpen the Saw

2. Expand the walls of our classrooms. Have you ever heard of a Mystery Skype? I’ve only read about it on Twitter, but this is something that needs to happen–one classroom making a connection with another classroom, sometimes on the other side of the globe. Teachers arrange it. Students prepare questions. Skype connects the classrooms. All students participate in a guessing game of “What is your Country,” or “Where are you from”? Or, something like that. Sure beats learning about Spain or Tanzania from a textbook or lecture.

Other ways to expand the classroom include field trips–real and virtual, and even walks to the nearby elementary school. My 9th graders can read with your 1st graders if we take a little time to coordinate that. The DART station is less than a mile away. We can walk a group of kids there and travel to downtown Dallas for a mere $2 per kid. Oh, the Places We’ll Go: art museum, newspaper office, JFK Memorial, Holocaust Museum, Dallas Theater Center, aquarium, and the brand new George W. Bush Library.

“Most of those things cost money,” you whine. Yes, but we have a BUSINESS COLLEGE on our high school campus. Shouldn’t the business college be about creating businesses–that, you know, make money?

I read an article that I have to hunt down. It said that the best way to raise kids out of poverty was to teach them entrepreneurship. Yes, let’s.

 3. Real-life projects. Take fundraising for example. What if students hosted a design contest for t-shirts?  Every student, and most teachers, wear some kind of t-shirt with some kind of design on it at least sometimes. We could have a contest–or several. The winner’s design gets imprinted on tees that are sold, and the money goes into the field trip fund. Or, instead of t-shirts it’s wristbands or backpacks or pencils for heaven’s sake. Kids will buy things if they are cool, and contrary to what some may think: many kids from poverty have cash in their pockets.

YouTube videos. Somehow, someway there has to teach Language Arts by connecting students’ craze for YouTube with the standards they are supposed to learn in class. I’ve started watching more, and there’s some great stuff out there that requires lots of literary allusion, knowledge, and know-how. One example that made me laugh: Paint

4. Guest speakers. The most animated I’ve seen students be about reading is when Simone Eckles, author of the Perfect Chemistry books, spoke at our school. She was warm, funny, and engaging. She talked about her books and her writing process and ideas. She showed book trailers, and had our kids cheering about reading opportunities. The librarians had won some kind of contest, and the prize was this author visit. The books are still a huge hit, especially with our reluctant Hispanic readers. We need more home runs like this. Fortunately, we have one author visit lined up thus far:  Matt de la Pena, author of We Were Here, Mexican White Boy, and others will be on campus in September. His story mirrors that of so many of our students:  poor, hates to read, loves sports. We need to bend the ear of someone and make sure there’s money to buy multiple copies of his books for many classroom libraries.

Maybe I’m an idealist. Maybe it’s the end of the year, and I’m just tired and wondering if all I’ve done with my students this year has done a bit of good. I’m not hopeful that they’ve done well on their standardized tests. The gaps in reading and writing are too wide for a fix in such a few short months.

Maybe I need to believe that next year I can do things better. I can focus less on a test and more on what tests life will hand these kids. I can give them opportunities to explore and question, and just maybe I can give them hope– because while it is #4 on that list at the top, I think it’s number 1. Without hope. . . well, there’s kind of a big fat nothing.

I get it.

Do you have ideas that might help? Please share!

Zombie Test Prep–Continued

Amy Rasmussen, Project Based Learning May 8, 2013 Leave a comment

I wish I could definitively say that I know my students performed better on STAAR because of the activities we did with this zombie project, but that would be a bit like being overconfident in surviving when 200 of the “Undead” are trying to eat my arm off. The English I Reading and Writing tests are hard–at least for my non-readers.

In response to several requests I received via Twitter. Here’s an outline of the project:

First, I did some backwards planning. What are the primary skills students need to master in order to achieve satisfactory scores on STAAR?

  • Write a literary essay with engaging characters, plot, theme, etc

  • Write an expository essay with a strong thesis, good organization, solid supporting details, etc.

  • Respond to reading–literary, expository, poetry, etc.–in paragraph form with embedded textual evidence

  • Read critically and answer questions about content, text structures, author’s purpose, etc.

No Sweat! Well, actually, a lot of sweat, tears, blood. . . Well, not blood. Not really. But I worry about my students A LOT. They come from homes in poverty with hard-working parents. By and large, they are sweet, good-hearted teens. But– they do not read, and this one thing impacts their learning in pretty much every aspect of my English class.

Thus, Z O M B I E S. I can hopefully get them interesting in the reading, which will hopefully get them interested in the learning.

I set the project up like PBL, but since I have limited training in how to actually carry out a PBL project, and my students have no experience with the requirements of this student-centered approach, which requires strong student leadership, the PBL part of the project was the first victim of our zombie attack. PBL lingered but it didn’t take an active part of the learning process. My students were too needy, and I felt rushed for time.

Introduction:  Entry Document/s

Part I. Silent Discussion. In my last post I shared the Intro to Zombie Project I used first  to spark student thinking about the project.  After students watched the video, they completed a Poster Activity (strategy idea from Bob Probst) where I gave them each a colored marker, and on each table I put a poster-size paper. I told students that they must use their marker to think on the paper. What things did you see in the video that you think you will be required to do in this project? Students wrote their thoughts in a silent discussion for about 15 minutes, and I circled the room, reading their comments and writing comments and questions to promote more thinking on their posters.

Part II. Memorandum. Next, I gave each student a copy of Zombie Apocalypse entry doc. They had to read it, and then I gave them time to talk with their table mates about their thinking. I gave each group a sheet of paper. On the paper, I had them make a T-chart. On the left they wrote what they KNOW about the project, based on their reading of the memo and the video; on the right they wrote what they NEED to KNOW. Finally, we had whole class discussion, and students helped me complete a class KNOW/ NEED to KNOW chart that stayed posted on the wall throughout the project.

[This intro worked better than I could have imaged. We did it on a day I happened to have a group observe my classroom: Student engagement high. Evidence of student thinking high. Collaboration high. Literacy in action high. Higher-level questioning high.]

Reading and Writing 

Part III. Self-Selected Reading, Throughout the year I’ve required students to read books of their choosing. If you’ve read other posts, or seen Reel Reading on Fridays, you know I talk YA books incessantly. In an attempt to get students to read something that might tie into the texts and topics we were talking about in class, I wanted to bring in as many books about zombies as possible.

I turned to my Twitter PLN first, and with their help, I build this Zombie shelf at Goodreads.com. I hit the bookstore and spent way too much money on books for my classroom library. Then asked the awesome librarians at my school to pull all the books they had that dealt with zombies. They gave me about 45 titles that I book talked with my kids. The first book to go? World War Z. I had two copies and had to start a waiting list for checkout. Personally, I read the first two books in the Rot and Ruin  series by Jonathan Maberry. Good, gory books. Too thick and intimidating for my kids though.

I didn’t care if students read a book about zombies. I just really wanted them reading something. If I do this project again though, I think I would like them all to be reading a book that ties in thematically. I have to think about this more.

Part IV. Expository Reading to Become Better Expository Writers. Expository is a big umbrella, but the state of Texas defines it as INFORMATIONAL. Our students must write an explanation of a topic, using a clear and organized structure and evidence to clarify their points and support their explanation. Essays only have to be 26 lines handwritten, or about 300 words typed. It sounds easier than it is–especially for non-readers.

Students also have to be able to answer short answer reading questions. I kind of hate that we call these short answers–they are really essay questions that require essay responses. You know, with embedded text evidence: Quote something, analyze it, make your response a complete paragraph? Again, it sounds easy, but for my students it is the most difficult thing. Ever.

I know that before I can get students to focus on the writing skill. I have to get them interested in the reading passage. I struck zombie gold when I typed “zombie” and “Valentine’s” into Google. Here’s a sampling of the articles and the questions my students answered to practice writing short answer responses.

Zombie Valentine expository article; SAQ with Zombie Valentine article

SAQ Test- What Rhymes with Undead

We also read the introduction to SAQ Zombies vs Unicorns and practiced short answers. (These folks are serious and even have a Facebook page.)

News Articles. Most of my students have no idea what is going on outside of their own communities. I try to bring news of the world to them as often, and in any way, I can. To prepare them for their expository essay on STAAR, I wanted to expose them to as many types of expository writing, and as many topics in the news that I could. So, under the guise of “You are the survivors of this zombie apocalypse  What would people 100 years from now what to know about your civilization?” I had students look up news articles, practice writing summaries, and explain.

Part V. Literary Writing. Another part of the Texas STAAR test for English I is a literary essay. Students are given a prompt, and they must write a little story that shows evidence of their understanding and ability to develop characters, conflict, plot, setting, and theme. Here’s the Literary Story- Zombie Project we used for our project. If you’d like student essay samples, let me know.

Part VI. Poetry. Finally, although students do not have to write poems for their STAAR test, they might have to read and analyze it. We had already read many poems in class, so for this project, I really wanted students to just play with word choice. Most did a zombie-like job on their poems. Plagiarism 5 times. Way below grade level work at least a 100 others. Here’s a sampling of Zombie poems. I especially like a few of the blackout poems:

the helpless

are able

to

be

a little daring

Rubric and Reflection

If I ever do this project again, I will allow for more creative time in class. Most of my students rarely do homework, so if I don’t capture the time I have them, I rarely see work once students leave the room. Most groups did not pay attention to the Zombie Project Rubric. They focused on one area much more than they focused on others. For example, I had one group that did a sensational job on the items in their survival backpack, but they did not take the time to write engaging stories or read and evaluate news articles. Therefore, their overall grade was low. A lot of this was my fault for not allowing equal time in class for each part of the project.

As our final event, the day after our second STAAR test, we watched the first episode of “The Walking Dead.” I wished that the movie “Warm Bodies” was on DVD because that would have been a great lead into our next unit:  Romeo and Juliet. It’s loosely based on Shakespeare’s play, you know? Check out this video for a fun re-mix:

Do you have any ideas for Zombie test prep? I’d love to add your resources to my growing file. Who knew zombies could be so . . . well, alive?

It’s Monday. What Are You Reading?

Amy Rasmussen, Books, Readers Workshop April 22, 2013 Comments: 8

Mon Reading Button PB to YAToday I am reading something for me. All me.

I’m tired.

I’m tired of school and kids and teaching. I’m tired of testing (and my students’ tests has been over for a while now.)

I’m tired of reading YA novels about punk kids, drugs, gangs, and so much angst.

Get it? I’m tired.

So, this Monday? What am I reading? This inspiring book that has helped me see some things clearly for the first time in a very long time. I’ve written inside the front cover: “Stop trying to be God.”

It’s a start.

Zombies and Test Prep–Who Knew?

Amy Rasmussen, Readers Writers Workshop April 17, 2013 Leave a comment

Let me tell you about my Zombie Project.

It all started when I heard my husband and sons talking about that one episode of “The Walking Dead.”

“Oh, man, I didn’t expect that ending.”

“Sheesh, he got it out of the blue, didn’t he?”

“Merle just died. Died. And he was the tough guy.”

I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, nor why they were so talkative. (I live with four men. It’s true: they usually use up their word allotment by lunch time.)

So, I slipped into my teacher hat and asked some book-chat type questions:  Tell me about this show that has you all riled up. Does this character remind you of anyone you know? Why do you think the show ended this way? Did the characters learn anything?

“Really, Mom?”

One thing led to another, and we were talking about how this zombie craze is a pretty good metaphor for our society.

Then, I talked to my friend Trista, and she told me she was doing this zombie project with her students.

Hmmm. I’m thinking.

Then, like a flailing limb, it hit me:  Standardized testing. Test prep. Zombies. Pretty good metaphor.

I teach English I to mostly non-readers. They are sweet kids with bright smiles and fun personalities, but they are below grade level when it comes to reading and writing. Many of them need a lot more help than I can give them. We have little time for one-on-one when my class size is 32.

Our state testing date is looming. I know I need my students engaged, and I need them thinking and reading critically, and I need them writing effectively. The Golden Question: HOW?

The creepy, undead, flesh eating answer:  ZOMBIES.

First, I made a list of the most pressing skills students needed to review, and then I became a zombie expert.

Did you know there are zombie poets and zombie poems?

Did you know there is an ongoing argument about which is more awesome zombies or unicorns? There’s even a Facebook page.

Did you know that a high school librarian, at a teacher’s request, can find 37 or so books that all have something to do with zombies?

Did you know that there are websites that “match” zombie-loving people to other zombie-loving people? and you can upload a picture and turn your image into a blood oozing zombie?

Really, now. Who knew?

So, I created this Zombie Project that included some pretty intense test prep and a whole lot of fun.

The video below is how I introduced it to my students. They watched it, and then on large poster paper at each table of four students, they did some silent thinking. I gave them each a different colored marker, and they had to write, based on the clues in the video, what they thought they’d have to do in the project.

You try it. Watch the video and see if you can come up with all the parts of the project. I’ll post more –handouts, articles, book lists, etc., as soon as I have a chance.

Mrs. Rasmussen’s Zombie Project

It’s Monday What Are You Reading? ONCE, THEN, NOW

Amy Rasmussen, Books, Readers Workshop April 8, 2013 1 Comment

Mon Reading Button PB to YA

 

 

 

 

 

Once I escaped from an orphanage to find my Mum and Dad.

Once I saved a girl called Zelda from a burning house.

Once I made a Nazi with toothache laugh.

My name is Felix.

This is my story.

 

A friend told me about these lovely books a long while ago. I love the covers. The simplicity, the intrigue of the soft pictures: a boy on a barbed-wired tightrope,  a boy and a girl on that same tightrope, a locket in the shape of a heart. Heather, you should have tied me up and forced me to read these tender books much sooner?

I want to expand my students’ thinking and get them thinking about the world beyond their neighborhoods. I want them to learn what empathy is and the value of it in their own lives. In past years, I’ve taken students to the Holocaust Museum in downtown Dallas. These books are a sweet reminder of why that is such a worthy activity.

The author reads the first chapter: “Once I was living in an orphanage“

Spine Poetry: A Hit and a Bonus

Amy Rasmussen, Books, Strategies to Add Some Zip April 2, 2013 Comments: 2

I didn’t carefully read this post Wanted: Any and All Book Spine Poems, but I took the idea and ran with it. Now, I need to let 100 Scope Notes know about our fun as we kick off National Poetry Month.

The Friday before spring break I needed something engaging to do with students whose hearts, minds, and souls were already on vacation. Classes were short, and we only had 35 minutes.

Creating spine poetry did a few key things:

1. Students had to read book covers–and, BONUS, some kids even checked books out from me after class.

2. Students had to think about words that would create topics and themes in order for their poems to make sense.

3. Students had to read their poems aloud, making sure that even without punctuation, their poems could be read with some kind of rhythm.

4. Students got a little introduction to the much more rigorous study of poetry we will do this month.

The Process:  I have eight round tables in my room. I took a big stack of random books from my classroom library shelves and stacked them on each table. I showed the one model in the link above, and told students to get to work.

  • Create a poem, using only the words on the spine of the books.
  • Your poem must make sense–if it has a theme, even better!
  • You must use at least five books.
  • Someone in your group must read your poem aloud to the class.
  • Let me know when you are finished creating, so I can take a picture of your stack of books to show the class.

Here’s what my 9th graders created. Some make me proud.

Picture1

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It’s Monday, What Are You Reading?

Amy Rasmussen, Books, Readers Workshop March 25, 2013 Comments: 2

I’ve said it before. I wish I’d never have to say it again. But– I have reluctant, sometimes hostile, readers.

Mon Reading Button PB to YALast year I won a grant from the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Education Foundation, and with the money I purchased a whole set of these gritty, urban, teen-angst filled books that my students will at least smile (sometimes smugly) and commit to read. I know some lie, but every single student who finishes one of these roughly 120 page books has rated it at least an eight on a scale of 1 to 10. That’s pretty good, right?

I am grateful for the folks who’ve helped me get some of my chronically fake readers to at least try a book. ORCA Soundings, you are my hero.

I know to have the most success getting my students to read, I have to match books with students’ lives and interests. The only way to do that is to read books. Lots of books. My goal is to read every book in this 65+ title set. I have a long way to go, so this Monday? Here’s what I am reading:

Overdrive by Eric Walters

 

 Exposure by Patricia Murdoch                                                                             Bull’s Eye by Sarah N. Harvey

Reflection: I Really Want to Have That Bad*** Celebration

Amy Rasmussen, Readers Workshop March 20, 2013 Comments: 2

I sat in the conference room with eight other educators as we tried to figure out how to save one kid. He’d been recommended for special education services, but it was clear within the first few minutes of the meeting that he did not qualify. He rarely attends class– and so many other factors. There are gaps in his learning wider than should ever happen in the life of a child.

“He says he didn’t attend third grade,” one teacher said.

“I thought he repeated third,” another said as she flipped through his file. “He jumped to fifth,” she finally says.

“He spent most of one year out of the country. Never was in school.”

“Father was deported.”

“Foster care for a while.”

“How did this child ever get through middle school?”

Silence. No one has the answer.

He’s 15, and he can barely read and write. He’s easily five years behind his peers in basic skills. No wonder he doesn’t want to be in class. 

kunalnagi.blogspot.com

kunalnagi.blogspot.com

This is the tall and husky, bright eyed young man who told me a month ago that he’d never read a whole book. I got him to try one: 4 grade reading level. He gave it 10 minutes before he started messing with his headphones. When I asked him why he gave up, he told me he’d read the first two pages three times, and it didn’t make sense. I gave him another book: 2.5 reading level. He agreed to try. He read for 20 minutes. The longest I’ve ever seen him attempt anything remotely academic.

At the end of class he asked me if he could take the book with him. “Sure, I said, will you really read it?” He told me yes with a shy smile, and he tucked that Bluford High book into his backpack. “How do you think it will feel when you finish that book?” I asked. “It will be badass” was his honest reply, and he waited to see how I would respond. I told him that if he’d finish that book and have a talk with me, we’d have a celebration– a badass celebration. He grinned his approval.

Sadly, I’ve only seen him twice since that conversation. He came to class once, but we were in the middle of a district assessment, and he sat playing with his new red headphones. The other time I saw him was in passing–literally. He passed by my room instead of coming in for class. Sigh.

I left that meeting today feeling like a failure, but I know it’s not my fault. This child needs one-on-one instruction. He also needs a mentor, a tutor, a life coach, a sponsor, a guide, a therapist. I am just one teacher who gave a $1 book to a kid who can barely read.

It’s a bit unsettling. And it’s quite disturbing. What happens to this child? What does his life look like when he’s gone from here? And, always the question: Could I have done more?

Somehow, someway, I really want to have that badass celebration.

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading, Yo?

Amy Rasmussen, Books, Readers Workshop March 11, 2013 1 Comment

Mon Reading Button PB to YAI’ve had this book sitting on my shelf for some time now. The red’s been calling to me. The scrawl on the front cover, meant to look like some rotten student wrote on my book, says:  “Baby the first thing I need to know from you is do you believe I killed my father?”

 

Today I while searching for book trailers to show my kids on Friday, I came across this Audiobook excerpt. Take the time to listen. You’ll feel the chill, too, and you’ll think VOICE. Oh, my, gosh, what a great way to get my students to think about voice.

 

I am forever searching for books that will engage my reluctant readers, especially my boys. Maybe part of the problem with getting them to give a book a try is because they cannot hear the narrator’s voice. I doubt–for those of us who are readers–we think about that much, but imagine you struggle with fluency. Your reading is slow and laborious, so the meaning gets muddied. Honestly, I haven’t thought about that much. I need to do a better job at helping my struggling kiddos understand that the voice in the book can be as real as someone reading in their ear.

So, it’s Monday, and I want to read this book before I get it into a student’s hand. I’m reading:  UPSTATE by Kalisha Buckhanon. Do you know of other titles that might appeal to my reluctant boy readers?

On Writing: It’s the Process That Creates the Craft

Amy Rasmussen, Writers Workshop March 5, 2013 Comments: 6

I try all kind of things to get my students to write. Sometimes they work, other times not so well. Awhile ago it seemed like the entire class was sitting behind the same concrete wall. Glassy eyes, pale faces, limp hands. Not one kid could think of a thing to write on the page. The clocks kept ticking, and the hands stayed still. I was at a loss. I’d had a couple of kid refuse to write, but never the whole class.

Then it dawned on me: I’d set it up wrong. I began the year allowing my students to think that writing was easy. Big mistake.

I paused, allowing myself a moment to re-frame my thinking. I knew I needed to take some time to rewind a bit, slow the pace, and let students grapple more with the thoughts they put on the page.

This was difficult because here’s how my students work:

Me: Write.
Them (5 seconds later): I’m done.
Me (leaning over a shoulder): Where’s your punctuation?
Them: Oh, I guess I forgot that.
Me: Yeah, and while you’re at it, where are the capital letters?
Them: Oh, I guess I forgot those.
Me: What’d you mean by this sentence (pointing at whatever on the page)?
Them: Umm, yeah, I guess it doesn’t make sense.
Me: How about you take some time and think about what you’re writing?
Them: But, Miss, I’m DONE. I did it! You can see I did it!

<Sigh.>

I wish I were joking. I have a whole room full of 9th graders that think their first shot is their best shot. Every year it’s a challenge to change that thinking.

So, the day we’re facing the blank page blues? I knew I needed to change their thinking about what writers do. They needed to know that writing is work. It takes time and effort. It takes practice and more practice, and even then, real writers often think what they’ve done is not good enough.

I needed to call in the experts. I didn’t have much time, so no Skyping or personal connections. I did, however, have time to turn to Google images. I found some quotes that creative people made into lovely inspirational messages. I quickly pulled up a few and led my kids through a discussion about what these writers think about writing.Poppy field --- Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis

EL doctorow32ca3db628eef9e0e61f91a85cba3235
time concept, selective focus point, special toned photo f/xLord Byron images

The next day I put them in teams and gave each group a quote about writing. They had to discuss and analyze what the writer meant and present the message in some form to the class. Most groups did a great job, and students began to see that even authors who make their living writing words on a page struggle. It’s the struggle that makes the writing worthwhile.

It’s a simple lesson, I know. But I got big returns for the time investment. The next time I asked my kids to write, not only did they think about their topics more, they thought about the process more. That’s what I wanted all along. It’s the process that creates the craft. I just needed them to realize that.
Note to Self: Do this lesson FIRST next year.