Slice of Life is sponsored on Tuesdays by Two Writing Teachers. For the month of March we are posting a slice each day on our blog. Join in!
I’ve been
thinking a lot about choice recently. Choice, engagement, relationships – it is
all circling around in my mind. My students will be completing the final day of
state testing today. I have wandered the room, putting my hand on their back
for encouragement, as they work – and boy have they worked. This class has floored me. They are fun, chatty, silly, and like to often
find a shorter way to do any assignment. If they don’t see a purpose for
something, it is a hard sell. And truly, this made me wonder what they would do
on these tests. Yet, they have worked hard.
Yesterday was our writing portion. Wowza. I wish I was allowed to read and copy
their writing, because just what I saw when I walked around impressed me. And
yet, it is simply for a test.
As a result
of the morning schedule being exhausting, our afternoons have been filled with
what they love – reading, writing, choice. Yesterday we sat on our carpet
meeting space and I shared with them my presentation from the night before. My
student, Delaney, asked me to share her blog with the class, and so I did.
Questions began firing from every corner of the room – how did she do that? Do
you have to know how to create a website? Can we all create one right now?
I had to
smile. These kids are tough sells at times. Write
me an essay on the importance of recycling? No, thanks. Too much work. Go create a blog of your own that you will
have to do all of the work on, all of the writing, and manage regularly.
Yes, sign me up.
This made
me think a lot about students today. Unfairly, I think they often get a bad
wrap. What I see in my students is passion, creativity, a desire to help, a
desire to create. We just have to figure out a way to tap into that. My
students left with directions on how to start a blog, if they wanted to begin one. I told them I would be
their mentor and could help them, but because of their age they needed parental
permission and to create it at home. Judging by the messages I received last
night, Delaney’s blog is no longer the only one in our class – several have
been created and more are in the works.
Choice,
engagement, relationships. I see that those three tenets are what hold my
classroom together. I think that the relationships make me see the importance
in choice and both lead to deeper engagement in my students, but it is something
I want to come back to and think about more. Until then, happy last day of
testing, my fabulous kids. You’ve got this.
