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In one fell swoop, I have doubled my intake of writing assignments. (Or what.)
So I wrote in a previous entry that I was bogged down in student essays and my professor suggested that the students keep reflective journals that can be dated and collected periodically - thus spreading the reading out over time. Today I finagled 85 composition books out of the purchasing department (I don't know how...) and on Monday we begin The Great Reflective Writing Experiment (aka: My Ticket to Graduation). I plan to combine the reflective journals with an idea from Penny Kittle's book (Write Beside Them) and ask students to not only reflect, but also to quick-write in the journals. They will stay in class (for now...) and our first entry will be Monday when students discuss the choices they made writing their Patrick Henry Biographies.
Which leads me to a new topic - Patrick Henry. The writing assignment was to create a biography suitable for use in a British textbook - short, succinct, and purely negative. I gave students access to two Patrick Henry biographies, one from their textbook and one from the Patrick Henry Memorial website, and a copy of an article "Buried History of the American Revolution" that paints the Heroes of the Revolution as nothing more than Greedy Backwoods Hicks out to Make a Buck off the Benevolent British Motherland. Students who on Monday were whining and dragging their feet were totally in to the assignment today. Here's why: I wrote "AMAZING SENTENCES" at the top of the whiteboard and asked students to write the amazing sentences they found while peer editing other people's work. The original writers would never have volunteered their own work, and seeing your peer write your words for all to see really makes them feel good about their work. I got some great sentences, too.
"The Colonial Rebels, when cornered by Britain's greatest Generals, fought like mongrels."
"Patrick Henry was born with a bad attitude." (How's that for a hook?)
"Henry's "gift of oration" did no more than arouse the backwards colonials with false promises of hope for the future." (Straight from the McCain campaign?)
"Henry was an opportunistic businessman who used the argument "taxation without representation" as an excuse to smuggle."
"What kind of people would listen to a man who speaks like a pirate?"
Fantastic!
Finally, I handed out the writing survey today - students could hardly wait to answer the questions! Most students started immediately and seemed enthusiastic. It will be interesting to compile the results next week.
Observation
Students were much more engaged with peer editing today. I had short conversations with several students as they were working, and most seemed eager to do right by their peers. For the first time, students were less concerned with marking their five things and more concerned with helping their friends do a better job. Most students made more than five suggestions on their partner's paper (hooray!). I have decided to change my teaching vocabulary from "mini-lesson" to "craft lesson" because it's more like what I want students to be doing with their writing. During today's craft lesson, we discussed the difference between a rough draft (I equated it with vomiting on the page...complete with sound effects) and a second draft (where you sort through the chunks and see what's useful and what should be flushed...disgusting, but I held their attention.). Students were more invested with their drafts and were much more involved with this peer review that the previous. They were also happy to share other students' work. I was encouraged to see so many sentences on the board - about 10 per class (except 5th, which had only 12 students today). Students really liked seeing what other kids had done and I encouraged them to use their peers for inspiration.
reflection
It was very gratifying to see students finally taking the peer reviewing seriously and not as a hurdle to be cleared. I also had a short conversation with a colleague who had these same students last year, and he confirmed what I suspected - these kids have been at a disadvantage because their high-performing peers have been removed from the classroom. After that I became much more zen about their work ethic and ability level - it is what it is and I have to teach what arrives at my door. So, no more griping. These kids are operating at a disadvantage, but it doesn't matter; I still have to do right by them. I'm very curious to see the results from the writing survey - and they are too. I'll have to figure out some way to compile all that information (I'm sure my husband will help...I'll ask him) in to something manageable. It's my baseline for my study. Then, on Monday we'll begin the real reflection with journals and prompts and writing time and everything. It's going to cut in to my teaching time in a huge way...maybe I can cut Macbeth later in the year...
Sacrilege!!
OK, I won't cut Shakespeare. But something's got to go if my students are going to be writing reflections with every essay - that's 1/2 to 2/3 of a period lost every 10 days (or so)! The hardest part about teaching is choosing what to teach. There's so much great stuff out there that I always feel like students are missing out. I wish we taught on modified block so I could see them every other day for 80 or 90 minutes a period instead of every day for 38 minutes. It's just not enough! I really just need another 15 minutes, but barring that I'd go back to block schedule.
Finally, questions:
- I need to think more closely about the reflective journal prompts - I have this weekend to really figure it out (procrastinate? me? just this once).
- How will students respond to the journal?
- I love what I'm reading, but I still feel unfocused. I just want the students to be better writers, and I think the reflective journaling will help, but there are so many other things I want to try. How can I stay focused? (discipline, discipline, discipline)
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