Incorrigible Children and Writing Circles

Students had the honor of listening to Maryrose Wood, author of The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, discuss her life as an author on Monday.  From attempting Broadway to working as a director, Wood's unique experiences helped build the foundation of her writing career.  Not only were we treated to a dynamic read aloud, complete with character voicing, we were also given quite a few writing tips.  For me, two stood out from the rest.  First, she reassured all of us that first drafts need not be perfect.  Often, writers get blocked because they worry too much about the 'best' word, or how to beautifully phrase the next idea.  It's not that these issues aren't important, but they can be dealt with during revision.  The second bit of advice follows from the first.  Writers need to adopt a 'yes, and' attitude instead of a 'no, but' one.  If, after every sentence, we were to say, "Yes, and..," our writing would would be filled with ideas, details, and elaboration.  Throughout the week, students have heard me repeat these kernels as they worked to develop their writing.

In class, we launched writing circles this week.  Modeled after literature circles, writing circles emphasize student choice while providing an authentic audience.  In groups of four, students will be responsible for choosing the week's topic, composing a draft, sharing writing, and providing feedback. After seven or eight meetings dedicated to generating ideas and drafts, the groups will transform into publishing circles.

One of the things I like most about writing circles is how decisions are left to the groups and the individual writers.  To begin, groups need to reach consensus regarding topics.  This requires some flexibility as well as the ability to compromise.  Initially, we practiced an activity called 'Stack the Deck'.  Using notecards and a simple rating system, writers were able to submit and vote on topics anonymously.  After selecting a topic, students were given time to write (typically, they will have six days to complete a draft as writing circles will meet on D or E days).  I asked them to reflect on what our visiting author, Maryrose Wood, had said about composing a first draft.  After 15 minutes of uninterrupted writing, students shared their work with one another.  This time only, reviewers offered no response.  Various types of peer feedback will be taught and used in subsequent meetings.  I am excited to join the writing groups as well.  Each week, in each class, I will write with one group, share my piece, and receive feedback from the kids.  I suspect I might have a thing or two to learn myself!

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Two-Sentence Stories

Mark Twain once said, "I didn't have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead"  Twain speaks succinctly about the difficulties of concise writing.  When words really count, composition must be precise.  Magazines and Internet sites alike have created competitions for short writing.  In 2008, Smith Magazine challenged its readers to write their life stories in six words. The magazine was inspired by an anecdote in which Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a novel in six words.  The result?  "For sale: baby shoes, never worn."  While the validity of the Hemingway story is questionable, over 760,000 writers have published their own six-word memoirs on the site.  In a similar manner, the two-sentence story has gained popularity.  When Reddit asked writers to come up with their best two-sentence horror stories, the Internet was abuzz.  Check out these creepy tales.

 You hear your mom calling you into the kitchen. As you are heading down the stairs you hear a whisper from the closet saying “Don’t go down there honey, I heard it too. — comparetivelysane

I begin tucking him into bed and he tells me, 'Daddy check for monsters under my bed.' I look underneath for his amusement and see him, another him, under the bed, staring back at me quivering and whispering, 'Daddy there’s somebody on my bed.' - justAnotherMuffledVo

I woke up to hear knocking on glass. At first, I though it was the window until I heard it come from the mirror again. - therealhatman

What better occasion than Halloween to try our hands at a few two-sentence horror stories?  It was the perfect opportunity to teach about word choice, conciseness, and brevity.  Armed with bags of treats and listening to scary sounds playing in the background, students created some of their own.  Frankly, many were downright frightening.  Here are a few of my favorites.  Enjoy!

She saw the power went out and then she heard a blood-curdling scream, getting closer and closer. When she reached for the flashlight there was a hand on it already.

I started watching a zombie movie. Until the zombies started watching me.

I was alone in the house when I heard my sister’s footsteps coming towards my room.  Then I remembered that my sister was out with friends and my parents were at a talk.  

I heard a scream coming from the bathroom.  I went and opened the door to find it was empty.

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Progress and Participation

With the quarter coming to a close, we have been preparing for reflection.  Because grades are based on progress and participation, students have been organizing and polishing artifacts that represent their effort and thinking.

To begin, they will need to prove a commitment to their writer's notebooks.  Specifically, students will participate in one-on-one conferences focusing on these criteria: flexibility and fluency; thoughtfulness; and grammar, usage, mechanics, and spelling.  A notebook that demonstrates flexibility and fluency is one that contains entries that are more than just two or three sentences.  Writing doesn't end abruptly, and ideas are fleshed out.  Likewise, writers should show a willingness to try new ideas, forms, and genres.  If every entry is a soccer narrative, it's time to attempt something new.  On the other hand, assessing thoughtfulness is a little more subjective.  Entries that reveal new insights to the writer's thinking and that are reflective meet this criterion. Thoughtful writing is neither a list, nor a diary entry. Finally, students should consistently employ what they know about good writing.  Sixth grade writers should be able to differentiate between homophones, use correct capitalization, and apply appropriate end punctuation.  Notebooks are not expected to be perfect, but patterns of errors will provide opportunities for additional practice.

Students are expected to actively read assigned texts.  For each, I will ask students to 'notice and note' specific details.  This quarter, they read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor.  As part of their interaction with the text, readers needed to annotate for glimpses of Taylor's father, the author's use of thunder, and the marginalization of the Logan family.  Those annotations will serve as tracks of the students' thinking.  Like the writer's notebook, readers will participate in one-on-one conferences with me.  They will be expected to show how they interacted with the text to make meaning, and how their annotations shed light on the author's intentions.

Next week promises to be a reflective one as we work together to construct a picture of individual growth and participation.


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Simulating Reality

Students were buying and selling cotton last week in an activity designed to simulate the challenges faced by sharecropping farmers in the 1930s.  As a supplement to reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, the sharecropping simulation provides students with a firsthand experience of what it feels like to struggle and stress over financial decisions.  At the same time, they can begin to look more critically at the power structures that were in place during the setting of the novel.  While the protagonists, the Logan's, were not sharecroppers, many of their less fortunate neighbors had no other choice.  A relatively common practice in the post-Civil War South, sharecropping gave white landowners a way to reestablish a cheap labor source.  Simply put, tenant farmers rented land in exchange for a share of the crop. Unfortunately, a cycle of high interest loans and exorbitant rent (frequently as high as 50% of the total crop yield) took advantage of underprivileged blacks and whites, and many became attached to the land for life.  While sharecropping like this is no longer acceptable in the United States, agriculture is still a challenging business.  Today's farmers have a tough row to hoe.  Unexpected spikes in cost, unpredictable weather, and a fickle demand name a few.

It is my hope that as students make some tough choices, they will begin to empathize with those tenant farmers as well as appreciate the difficulties that were endured.  Kids will determine what seed to buy based on its current price, and they will be at the whim of the market come harvest time.  Mother Nature will throw in a few cruel tricks, and the plow might not make it this season. Additionally, students will need to weigh the pros and cons of securing a loan.  By making choices like those families did not so long ago, kids may understand why sharecropping has often been called "slavery by another name."






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Racing Sausages and Gummy Worms

It proved to be an absolutely beautiful afternoon as the whole school assembled on the Ken Laird Field to cheer on the home teams this afternoon.  Thirteen original cheers, beginning with a catchy SK hurrah and ending with a Harlem Shake performance by the seniors, launched the Homecoming 2013 Pep Rally.  The excitement crescendoed as the division heads competed in an unexpected gummy worm eating contest! Pie plates were filled with whipped cream and gummy worms, participants were given towels and shirts, and the messy challenge commenced. While Mrs. Nosbusch may not have come in first, she was certainly a winner in the eyes of the Middle School. Surprises were to be found around Willie's Corner, as the Klement's Famous Racing Sausages made their way to the field amidst a crowd reaction befitting an appearance made by Justin Bieber.  After watching the sausages race, Willie the Wildcat threw down the gauntlet.  In an unprecedented athletic event at USM, Willie raced the sausages, emerged victorious, and capped off an amazing pep rally.  Go Wildcats!

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