My students have to write every day in a journal/planner that I’ve developed for them. Most of the time I don’t care what they write about, as long as they do it. I always give them a prompt in case they can’t think of a topic, but rarely do I require them to write on it.
So most of the time it’s just mundane everyday stuff. Sometimes it’s filled with the drama of eighth grade social strife. Sometimes it’s stories. Sometimes it’s poetry.
A few years ago I stopped letting them draw pictures. I hated doing it because I hate limiting creativity, and I love the visual aspect of literacy. But it got to a point where there was more drawing going on than writing or reflecting. And it wasn’t even good or thoughtful drawing. It was just filler.
This year a particularly talented student has discovered a loophole. I only saw these while checking their binders before Christmas break. So I had no prior knowledge of them. After her first entry of the kind, it didn’t take long for her buddies to catch on.
Sometimes teaching sucks. And then sometimes–when you see stuff like this–it totally rocks.
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2 responses so far ↓
1 Darren // Jan 2, 2008 at 10:37 am
Wow!
Chris, I’m not sure what to say on this other than I am SO envious at the feeling you must get witnessing the unleashing of creativity such as this and knowing you played a role in it. Kudos both to the students and to their ‘heroic’ teacher!
Hi Darren,
Thanks for the comment. Teaching can be fun. I love creativity in any form.
Chris
2 Lyrical Fool // Jan 2, 2008 at 9:24 pm
And stuff like this is what makes me want to teach younger folks.
What sort of prompts do you give them, Chris?
Hey Fool,
Yeah–in my book, there is absolutely nothing cooler than creativity. Nothing.
Prompts: Check back here in a day or so when I have the energy to give you a few examples. It’s time for bed. But it’s a good question I don’t want to short.
Later,
CW
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