Something really awesome happened today in class. One of my students--one that I hadn't really connected with (or so I thought)--confided in me. This 8th-grade girl told me that she wanted me to read her book. She told me that it means a lot to her and asked if I would read it.
I would be honored, are you kidding me.
So here it is--well, a picture of it anyway. This young girl has really produced fifty-something pages of material. It's really impressive, and I'm honored that she wanted me to read it.
I think I know why she gave me this honor: our journals. I think I've done a good job at making the journals a place where students can write anything and feel comfortable with it. Sometimes I'll start them with a prompt:
For example, today, I wrote this on the board:
"The course of true love never did run smooth."
--A Midsummer Night's Dream
So I then tried to relate the quote to the students, spoke a little about relationships and love. Then I gave them 7 minutes to write about the quote in their journals.
Because this isn't something that they're truly interested in--hey! I'm honest--they write the bare-minimum then daydream for the rest of the time. Well, instead of having them daydream, I ask them to fill in the time when they're done writing about anything. I mean... ANYTHING.
I told one student--to make the point that they can write about anything--to write about how ugly my tie was. I recommended to a young girl to write to me about her favorite band (she had scribbled the logo all over her binder).
Now, instead of getting a bland response about love (which we'll discuss and argue about later), I get over a page of carefully thought-out response (on all sorts of subjects). It's really great. Really great.
Some of the responses I get in the journal are priceless, and Miss Burgess agrees that they are incredibly effective; it's like pulling teeth to get some of these students to write a sentence or two. Students get excited to write in their journals now... not too shabby, huh.
We're going to start doing some cool tech stuff too (for those who were concerned that I wasn't being techy enough... you know who you are). No, seriously, it is important to have the students create and collaborate. I have plans for both. The wiki will come in early October (for the plays they are going to create and perform--I have the auditorium booked and everything... PARTAAY!), and we'll be weaving in important apps throughout.
Whew... that's a long one. Cheers.
Oh, and by the way... you can check out some pictures of my classroom on my Flickr page.
Comments