Big Time. Seriously. It wasn’t pretty. But it was a good experience.
Here’s the scenario —
A classroom of first graders
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Exploding folders filled with stories
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Each story is written across pages
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NO staples
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A weak focus lesson
=
Monster Chaos
The teacher took a photo & I must say a picture is worth a thousand words. As soon as she emails it, I’ll add it to this post.
So what was good? Well, I recognized that we were out of control and headed downhill in a hurry. The classroom teacher & I had a quick discussion. Then she pulled the kids back together for a “midworkshop share” (read: last-ditch-effort-of-pulling-the-plane-out-of-a-nose-dive) and reminded them of the purpose of the workshop.
In the end their folders were cleaned out and the remaining drafts were stapled. They had chosen a story they would like to work toward publication (ie: revision & editing + publishing checklist for approval AND FINALLY the big hurrah of publishing!!!).
And I became a better educator. Why does it work that way? When we fail miserably we become stronger teachers? The classroom teacher & I analyzed the issues, discussed ways to make them better and had a good laugh over it all. (Aren’t giggles always better than tears?)
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 