CLASSROOM SOLSC FOR STUDENTS: DAY 8 OF 31

Tuesday March 8, 2016Monday March 7, 2016 Kathleen Neagle Sokolowski

Welcome to Day 8 of the 4th Annual Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge!

If your students are writing for the Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge, this is where you will post the link to their writing. It’s Tuesday and today is the one week mark for our challenge!

Yesterday, I posted a link to a padlet for us to share student blog posts that might make a great mentor text for other bloggers. As you come across interesting and well crafted posts from your students, please consider adding them to this digital bulletin board so our students can learn from each other. I see this as a resource for teachers, to help us find student writing that has structural or craft moves we want to teach our students.

Published authors are, of course, fantastic mentors for our students as well. Consider making a list with your class of favorite authors and tweeting them to ask their best writing advice! My third graders have been considering the idea of natural talent vs. effort when it comes to being a success. I sent Katherine Applegate, author of The One and Only Ivan, a tweet asking her that question. I wrote this letter as a model for my students, as they would be composing letters with the same questions for some of their heroes.

.@MrsSokolowski @sheehank11 A famous writer said: “A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.”

— Katherine Applegate (@kaaauthor) March 3, 2016

.@MrsSokolowski @sheehank11 Most writers will tell you writing is the hardest work they've ever done. And the most fun they've ever had.

— Katherine Applegate (@kaaauthor) March 3, 2016

.@MrsSokolowski @sheehank11 I was afraid to fail at writing, until I realized that failing is the most important part of learning.

— Katherine Applegate (@kaaauthor) March 3, 2016

Katherine’s advice on writing sparked the idea to ask other favorite authors for their best writing tips. Using social media to get to know published authors helps students realize that authors are real people and builds enthusiasm for both reading and writing!

Reminders:

If you haven’t read the Essential Information post, then please click here to read it now before you post the link to your students’ slice of life stories. Don’t forget to keep your students’ identities anonymous for their protection.
If your students are slicing from their personal blogs, then you should link their blog posts together using your classroom or personal blog. Then, share the permalink to the location of the “round up” of student slices. (Click here for more information on how to do this.) Individual students CANNOT link here directly. Students who are under 18 must have an adult linking for them. Any student links left without an adult link will be deleted.
Only post the link to your students’ slices of life here. Do not post the link to your personal slice of life stories here. Go to the daily call for individual slice of life stories to post your personal slice.
If this is the first comment you’ve left on Two Writing Teachers, then we will have to moderate your comment. We will be checking throughout the day in order to get your links up for the community as soon as possible. As long as you use the same username/email to log in going forward, your comments should appear instantly in the future.
Any questions, please contact one of us.

If your last name begins with the letters A – G, please email questions to Anna, AnnaGCockerilleLiteracy{at}gmail.com.
If your last name begins with the letters H – M, please email questions to Deb, DebFrazier4{at}gmail.com.
If your last name begins with the letters N – S, please email questions to Kathleen, Mrs.sokolowski{at}gmail.com.
If your last name begins with the letters T – Z, please email questions to Tara, elibenoli5{at}gmail.com.