I have a student, a boy, who began the year refusing to write anything. He wasn’t rude. He was just resistant. At most, he would quickly jot down a few sentences and that was it. He was done. He didn’t care about writing nor did he see any value in his words. I learned from his mother that this had been the case for some time. While he is an avid reader, his writing was always a struggle.

Over the course of the year, though, I have been watching him slowly emerge from that shell. It began around December, with our video gaming unit. Here was something he is interested in, and his game as well as the writing components that were part of it were exemplary in many ways. He was pushing himself to write, and to write well, and to connect his writing to something meaningful: the video game he was designing for publication.

I admit. I was worried that once we moved past our video game design unit, he’s revert back into the one-sentence writer. Happily, that has not been the case. And now, he is writing outside of school (unheard of, according to his mother), and he is in the midst of a novel that is clearly inspired by his devouring of The Hunger Games series, The Lightning Thief series, and a host of other book he is now cruising through. It’s as if some light suddenly went off in his head and he is full-in.

Look at this section from his novel, which he has been sharing with me in periodic bursts. The story involves two siblings, who are to become apprentices in a cultural system that is defined by the elements.

James instantly felt pity for his sister. Amber, a dark brown haired girl at 5’11 and her brother, Brutus, were the two that found James and Abby in the woods and nursed them back to health. Even after they were old enough to care for themselves, Amber and Brutus still watched the twins every move, always fusing about how they could be hurt and keeping everything a secret from them. James couldn’t stand them; the only good part is that they’re friends with each other and Jack, meaning that Abby and Tim will train together a lot.

Amber materializes from the crowd and extends her hand, which Abby reluctantly shakes. After Amber gets in the same position as Jack, Boulder wraps things up. “James, please step
forward.”

James immediately does on queue.

“In honor of his extraordinary find…”

“Oh no!” James thought.

“…And his continuing part in your life, your mentor will be Brutus!” Boulder shouts.

My role here has become a little less teacher, and a little more editor with him. I’ve been writing him letters about his story, hoping to encourage him to keep going. Here is a bit of what I wrote to him last week.

Dear xxx,
Thank you for sharing your story with me. I was excited to read it and I want to encourage you to keep working on your ideas.

Here are some things I noticed:

• I liked the main characters, and the ways you are hinting at their history and backgrounds. Good novelists do that: they introduce a character, but hint at further character developments to come. I wondered about James and Abby’s history (you give some info – but I wanted to know more about the fate of their parents)
• I can see you have a larger vision for this story, and for other possible offshoot stories already developing. The use of the elements as your story metaphor makes a lot of sense, since it opens up the doors to other stories from the other areas. You may want to keep weaving in hints of other stories unfolding outside of this particular book as a way to set the stage for future stories.
• I could see all of the influences of what you have been reading: Hunger Games, etc.  That’s good. As you continue, use what you have read as a template, but then keep an eye on moving beyond the structure of those stories. That’s how you can make your own book an original.
• I like how you are already developing some tension among the characters, and the situation of the tribes.
• I was struck by the introduction of the bamboo stick, and wondered about the power of that magic, and how it might become part of the plot.
  —-

Again, I loved the story and hope to read more. I am also honored that you would share your story in progress. I hope some of the writing we have done this year has helped you see yourself as a writer, and that as a reader, you are gathering ideas, strategies, suggestions for your own writing.

I’d like to offer up a piece of advice. You may run into a point with your story when you don’t know where to go with it. Don’t give up! Step back from the story, read it with fresh eyes and don’t be afraid to take a chance with a plot direction. Keep on writing, and write because you have a story to tell (if it is a good story, as yours is, then people will want to read it.)

Sincerely,

Mr. Hodgson

I can see the excitement in his eyes and voice as he talks about his story and where he sees it going. I’m a bit sad that our time together is nearing an end, and I’ll be encouraging him to email me updates, and I will find time to respond. I can’t say that I did much to help this shift happen, other than provide the scaffolding and opportunities for him to write this year in a variety of ways. The gaming unit caught his attention. Who knew that would happen? Not I. But I am thankful it did.

He is a writer.

Peace (in the sharing),
Kevin

I like how my students’ invented words look in that Olde English font with Wordle. They had a great time trying to find their words on the board yesterday. Even more than that, I love hearing the podcasts we made of them sharing their words and definitions. (This is part of a multi-year collaborative wiki dictionary project).

 

Peace (in the sharing),
Kevin

Argnloth: The time of the day when your eyes turn into donuts shaped like frogs

Yesterday was one of those days where, if the superintendent or top school officials popped into my classroom, I’d probably have some explaining to do.

Picture this: computers are spread out about the room, with students milling about, using our class wiki site. Others are jumping up on the back table, using markers to write on chart paper on the wall. A few more are mingling behind my desk. And I am at my computer, with Audacity up and pointing to students sitting in my comfortable teacher seat. There’s the loud hum of activity and social interaction.

It no doubt seemed like unstructured chaos to an outside viewer. But it wasn’t.

Junglebum– The act of getting stung by a wasp while reading a book.

The task at hand was adding invented words to a multi-year online collaborative dictionary project. At the computers, the stations were set up around letters of the alphabet, and students were editing the wiki pages to add their words and definitions. Later, I will have some student “editors” go in and clean up any grammar or other issues.

Quangadoodle –An animal that can draw anything in less then 3 seconds

At the back of the room, they were adding their words to the chart paper, so that this year’s crop of invented words would also exist in physical space, so that all four of my sixth grade classes would have access to the words (for a writing prompt and just because they are always interested in what the other classes are up to).

And my desk was our “podcast” station where I was recording them reading their words and definitions, and creating MP3 files, which have been uploaded and will be connected to their words in the larger dictionary project. And that project is a creative way for us to end our entire unit on Word Origins, and our inquiry into how words make their way into the English language.

It may have seemed like chaos but there was rhyme and reason, and rationale, behind it all. Really.

Wumpyflapy– amazing, engrossing, fantastic. example: This book is so wumpyflapy!

Peace (in the words),
Kevin

I was gathering some resources for an upcoming presentation around digital storytelling and came back upon this project — The Virtual Art Museum — from three years ago. It is a collaboration between myself, the art teacher and our librarian. They secured a grant to gain access to the artwork and then helped students compose reactions to the art. I worked on the technical side of things, with the podcasts and then with the digital stories. My colleagues than arranged a day when computers were set up for visitors to listen to the digital stories and learn more about art. I love how the voices of students get into the mix, and the collaborative nature of the project that touches on different curriculum.

Peace (in the art),
Kevin

We’re almost at the end of our unit around Word Origins, and the final activity is for my sixth graders to invent a handful of new words (think: Frindle) and then put their very best one into our online wiki Crazy Collaborative Dictionary. This growing home to invented words has been underway in my classroom since 2005 and each year, my students add to it. It’s a fun assignment that involves creativity, writing, wikis and podcasting.

Here is a collection of words from the past that I will be sharing with our students today before giving them the assignment (which is basically to invent three new words with definitions, and then use those three words in a one-paragraph story.)

And here is the link to our Crazy Collaborative Dictionary.

Peace (in the words),
Kevin
PS — Check out the origins of the novel, Frindle. Funny.

I almost always write with my students. If its a writing prompt, I am sitting there, in their midst, creating. And sharing my process. If it is a project, I am working on it in the days before I assign it. And I am sharing my process. Students need to see their teachers as writers if they are to view writing as an authentic experience. And they are always very interested in what I am up to.

Yesterday, I decided to make my writing even more visible. We were working on a short story prompt inspired by The Mysteries of Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg. We’ve used the odd illustrations through the year, so they are by now pretty familiar with the concept. This time, instead of sitting in their midst, I sat at my computer that is attached to my interactive board, and I wrote. This made me somewhat naked as a writer at the board — as I was typing, making mistakes, rewording phrases, reworking ideas, shifting voice, correcting tense …. my students were watching and taking it in.

Of course, they were writing, too, but I could feel their eyes on me from time to time. I’d look up, to gather a new idea, and see about six to eight students staring at the screen. I’d smile. They’d smile. I’d get back to writing and then, they’d get back to writing. By the end of the day, after four class periods, I had the start of a story that may or may not go somewhere next week as we keep working in our notebooks. More than a few asked at the end of each class to read what I had written. Of course, I let them.

What I didn’t do this time is process what I was doing with my writing out loud. I just let my writing speak for itself, and I think it was enough for them to see a story unfolding before them to give them some inspiration. Teachers need to write because writing is not easy. A finished, polished piece of writing doesn’t just come off the fingers of authors like some sparkle of magic. There’s a lot of back and forth, crossing out, revision, reworking and stumbling that goes on, and I was doing my best to make it all visible to them on the giant board.

This is the story I came up with. It is inspired by the illustration called Archie Smith, Boy Wonder.
Archie Smith, Boy Wonder short story
Peace (in the writing),
Kevin