So I’m only two days into this class, and I’m now officially a full day behind schedule. At this rate, I’m going to need a whole extra week! Did I ever really think I didn’t have enough material??? Some things take less time than I expected (like writing…it doesn’t take a kid nearly as long to write a story as it takes me!) and other things take much more time than I expected (like SHARING…who knew that just about every kid would want to share just about every piece of writing they do??? We haven’t gotten to the “critiquing” part of the class yet…I’m curious to see if they’re still so anxious to share then…)
We wrapped up “ideas” today. Yes, it took me two full days to talk about where ideas come from and go through a few idea generating activities. Tomorrow we’ll move into character.
I’m enjoying these kids very much. They’re interesting…they’ve all had some interesting experiences. (I know this because that was one of the activities I had them do…make a list of 10 interesting things that have happened to you.) I have one student who was born in Argentina, another who spent a year in Jordan, another who swam with dolphins (something I would LOVE to do…even though I don’t really “swim”), another who was born with a broken collar bone…I can’t even remember all the interesting stories I heard.
And once again…the TALENT in that room is absolutely staggering. One of the kids (going into fifth grade) writes amazing beginnings. (We haven’t even talked about beginnings yet.) Okay, I’ve only heard two of her beginnings, but both of them were real attention grabbers. A couple of the kids have a good sense of voice. They probably all have a great sense of humor. And they’re all so original…it’s fun to give them an assignment and hear all the different takes on it.
I’ve got one boy in the class. One boy and twelve girls. But that one boy just takes it all in stride…I know he wishes there were other boys (he said something right away yesterday when he realized he was the only boy…I think he said something today, too), but he interacts and participates as much as anyone.
Very cool class!
And I swam with dolphins while on a Mexican cruise. It was an amazing experience! Hope you get to do it someday.
Oh, lucky you!!! This girl did it in Mexico, too…(I don’t know if she was on a cruise…)
Your class sounds like fun! 😀
I HOPE it is…one of the kids asked if there was going to be homework. I said no, and she was disappointed. She WANTS homework. I’ll have to see what I can come with…
How about sending them home with a writing prompt at the end of each class, which they can do if they want, but don’t HAVE to. 😀
That’s exactly what I did! 🙂 (Though after I read your comment, it occurred to me that there could be others in my class who actually WANT homework. So bringing homework for just one wouldn’t be very nice. Instead, I made up homework for anyone who wanted it. They all came up and took a look at it. Two of them took it…we’ll see if they turn it in tomorrow…)