Last month, I gave my students their first "fun" challenge. On the board I wrote 4 prompts. They ranged from the fantastical to the realistic, first person to third, and silly to serious. I told them nothing about them, simply allowed the kids to come back into the room from recess to see them on the board. Questions started to fly.
I explained a "word war". We already keep track every other week of how well they can read aloud for one minute working on fluency and comprehension. Now they were to get 5 minutes to continue with one of the prompts. It was one of those glorious moments when they were getting out binders and paper before I even had to ask!
At the end of five minutes the war was won by a student with 163 words. A close second, and fourth followed in the 150 range. Every student wrote over 125 words in the five minutes. Of course they wanted to share them. Immediately, I had 9 eager readers with 9 short works that were in high demand.
We've since done several of these and added things like a list of words to try to fit in, or "dare" scenarios. Long before I ever mentioned NaNoWriMo, my students were already starting to ask. "Hey, can we keep writing a whole story?"
Of course I told them, "Sure you can!" ;-)
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Welcome to My "Novel" Classroom
When I first heard of the National Novel Writing Month, it came at a perfect time in depths of my writing misery. I was stuck with an idea in my head and a lot of failed attempts to put it onto paper. Organization, thought generation, and mostly confidence were my undoing. A quick trip to the NaNo forums and I felt invigorated. Resources were at my fingertips. My brain salivated with desire to chew out a novel in thirty days with this story that had been bouncing around hollering for a way out.
Thirty days and 50,000 words later, my novel was no where near complete. It still isn't. However, I have tackled other writing projects since. I've won a short story contest, published a few short stories, and started a couple more novels. Becoming rich or famous is not one of my writing endeavors. I write because I like to. Its fun.
At the time I first did NaNoWriMo, I was not working as a teacher. This year I am. I'm teaching fifth grade at a private school in my town. Last month, when it dawned on me that NaNo was just a couple short months away, I sent the information about the Young Writer's Program to my administrators. They were positively thrilled with the idea.
October is upon us and my class is excitedly awaiting their chance to embark on this adventure. Ten year olds are fabulous that way. I've used a few strategies to get them going. Their enthusiasm is invigorating. But, being the realist I am, I know November hasn't actually arrived. The pens have yet to hit the page on an actual story. Writer's block will rear its ugly head, discouragement will weigh us down at times, and we will have to be able to push on. I love to trudge. I'm good at it. With eagerness, I await the moment I get to show my class how to strap on the mud boots and keep lifting each leg until we get through the slop.
As we do, I will share it here. I'm a writer after all and the bug to write out journey bit me like it does in so many other ways. For any other NaNo teachers out there, please share what you are doing. Even if you don't NaNo, that's okay. If you spend a significant time opening young minds with lots of reading and the power of creative writing, join in. Noveling is a novel idea to teaching language arts and inspiring the motivation to learn about other subjects too.
Thirty days and 50,000 words later, my novel was no where near complete. It still isn't. However, I have tackled other writing projects since. I've won a short story contest, published a few short stories, and started a couple more novels. Becoming rich or famous is not one of my writing endeavors. I write because I like to. Its fun.
At the time I first did NaNoWriMo, I was not working as a teacher. This year I am. I'm teaching fifth grade at a private school in my town. Last month, when it dawned on me that NaNo was just a couple short months away, I sent the information about the Young Writer's Program to my administrators. They were positively thrilled with the idea.
October is upon us and my class is excitedly awaiting their chance to embark on this adventure. Ten year olds are fabulous that way. I've used a few strategies to get them going. Their enthusiasm is invigorating. But, being the realist I am, I know November hasn't actually arrived. The pens have yet to hit the page on an actual story. Writer's block will rear its ugly head, discouragement will weigh us down at times, and we will have to be able to push on. I love to trudge. I'm good at it. With eagerness, I await the moment I get to show my class how to strap on the mud boots and keep lifting each leg until we get through the slop.
As we do, I will share it here. I'm a writer after all and the bug to write out journey bit me like it does in so many other ways. For any other NaNo teachers out there, please share what you are doing. Even if you don't NaNo, that's okay. If you spend a significant time opening young minds with lots of reading and the power of creative writing, join in. Noveling is a novel idea to teaching language arts and inspiring the motivation to learn about other subjects too.
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